79. When You’re Ready to Hire a Social Media Manager—And When You’re Not
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I won’t lie to you—today’s episode is going to ruffle some feathers, but that’s exactly why we have to talk about it. We’re going to talk about why most businesses hire a social media manager too soon.
First, a little backstory: I actually used to be a social media manager, so it’s really important for me to preface this discussion by saying that I think social media managers are so needed, often undervalued, and can be such an amazing asset to your team and to your business.
In fact, if we're being honest, unless you're a full-time creator and creating content on every single platform is your job, I really don't think it's possible to continue to grow your content ecosystem without some type of support in place. Support that a social media manager can offer.
However, a really common mistake I’ve seen people make is thinking that hiring a social media manager will solve their business problems.
Here’s the hard reality: if you aren't already seeing results with your social media strategy, if you aren't already showing up in your content, if you don't have a clear vision of what you're supposed to be creating for, or you don't really have a product or offer that is already growing your business, hiring a social media manager will not fix it.
So to help you avoid hiring help too soon, I'm going to let you know how to tell when you are ready to hire social media manager help, and how to know when you're not.
Why You’re Not Ready to Hire a Social Media Manager
There are three core reasons why you are not ready to hire a social media manager.
Firstly, you’re not ready if you do not have brand clarity. I'm not talking about the fonts and the colors and the logos; I’m talking about when you don't even know what your brand message is. (That’s totally valid, by the way. That’s something that takes time to build. Sometimes it even takes working with an expert to help you!) Essentially, you have to have a clear idea of why you are using social media and what message you're trying to convey for your brand.
Another reason why you're not ready to hire a social media manager is if you don't have a proven offer or product. What I mean by that is that we want to make sure that you're already making some type of sales—they don't have to be on social media, but we want to make sure that there's actually a need for the product or offer that you're creating.
The last reason you're just not ready to hire a social media manager—the one that might ruffle your feathers—is that you're just being lazy and you don't want to show up.
That’s right, friends. We have to go there.
To get ready for hiring a social media manager, you need to be in your content. If you want to grow a community rather than a following, if you want to grow your authority in your industry, if you want to attract opportunities and dream clients, and if you want to make sales with social media, you physically need to be in your content.
What’s really important to note is that showing up in your content is the one thing you can never outsource. You talking, you moving, you being in your video content, you cannot outsource that to a social media manager.
Of course, you can include other people—in fact, I think including your team in your video content can actually be quite beneficial. But your social media manager shouldn't be the only one in your video content.
What I'm trying to get at here is that the magic happens when you are in your videos, and often people think hiring a social media manager can replace the effort required for them to show up in their own content.
I remember that when I was a social media manager, I used to have to pull teeth with my clients because whenever they were in our content, it always performed better. It always resulted in more inquiries or more sales, always. Period.
That's why social media managers can be really helpful when you have all the foundational pieces that I already mentioned. You have that brand clarity, you already have a proven offer or product, and you're willing and able to show up in your content.
When You’re Ready to Hire a Social Media Manager
Now that we've gone over why you're probably not ready for hiring a social media manager right here and now, let’s talk about when you are ready to hire a social media manager, and what exactly you should choose to outsource.
The key here is to outsource your pain point, because as I already mentioned, you are the only person that can be in your content. Your brain is the only brain that is so close to your business and knows it better than anyone else.
Let’s say you struggle with writing, or maybe scheduling content feels overwhelming for you. Maybe it's editing that takes forever. Maybe you feel like you want to start growing your content ecosystem, but you need help with repurposing content you already have. Or maybe you just need help recording video footage or getting brand photos, or maybe you need extra support for a launch.
These are the types of things you should be outsourcing with a social media manager or other types of marketing help. And inside my mastermind, a big thing that we talk about is why it's really important when you're building authority and scaling your business and really leveling up your brand as a thought leader to make sure you are outsourcing really intentionally.
Intentionally outsourcing is what will allow you to grow, because when you delegate the right things, it will help you drive the results that you want. It allows you to show up in a way that only you can, and you're not going to get bogged down by the unimportant things that you physically don't always need to be doing.
For example, for this podcast, I am outlining it and creating the content. I am the voice that is actually creating this episode. I am the only person that can do that in my business. However, I have someone that's editing it for me. I have a graphic designer that creates graphic templates to help me promote my podcast episodes. I have a video team for my long-form YouTube videos and creating little promo content and repurposed reels. I've also gotten email support, where they essentially are taking my ideas and my notes and my outlines and turning that into our weekly email strategy.
Basically, I'm doing the thing that I'm the best at, the thing that I enjoy the most and the thing only I can do, but I'm outsourcing the things that eventually allowed me to start my podcast, to go up to weekly podcast episodes, to start my YouTube channel, to go up to usually two emails a week, to start repurposing across platforms, etcetera.
When I have the support to allow me to do that, I'm not literally being a creator 24/7 in my business, because hey—I still have to run a business, right?
What Happens When You Don’t Show Up
One last thing I want to leave you with: if you really, really wanted to hire a social media manager and 100% outsource social media management, and you really wanted to barely be a part of it, they’re going to do their best to create a social media strategy without you in it…
But it will not drive results.
When we add you into your video content, that is what adds personality and fun and energy and warmth and connection. And your social media manager can be amazing, they can be the best social media manager out there, and they can still never achieve that. And I guarantee you, if you go to them and say, “Hey, I want to do more video,” they will literally jump out of their little office chair and do a victory dance. They will be so excited.
If this resonated with you and you're beginning to think, “Well, maybe I do need to start outsourcing a little bit more intentionally,” I highly recommend you join the waitlist for my mastermind, the Video Content Camp. Applications are going to be opening super soon, and these are the types of high-level conversations we have inside our calls and inside the community.
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