Top Social Media Agencies in Chicago

What is social media marketing outsourcing? 

Social media marketing outsourcing is just one of many examples of business process outsourcing that many companies utilize. In this case, outsourcing to a social media agency means calling on outside expertise to help you develop a strategy for the various social media platforms you can use, understand the technical differences between them, guide the development of content for each social media platform, and evaluate the results of each campaign with in-depth metrics and analysis. 

Social media marketing firms also offer the full spectrum of services and consultation across digital marketing. These include researching competitors’ approaches and successes, graphic design and copywriting, account management, ad spend and budget management, and much more. 

Types of social media marketing services 

There are numerous examples of services offered by social media marketing agencies, but some of the key services to look for include: 

• Account creation and branding - Social media marketing agencies should also be able to help you get started even if you have no presence on social media sites currently. They can guide you through creating accounts, choosing platforms, and ensuring that your company branding is applied effectively.

• Research and analysis - Additional research and analysis social media marketing agency services include gathering data about your target audiences, key demographics, behaviors across different social media platforms, and more. 

• Social media strategy - Agency partners will help you develop a comprehensive strategy for utilizing various social media platforms, the types of content to post to each, scheduling of content, audiences to target, and any other information that can help you create a roadmap for success. 

• Content creation and sharing - This is one of the biggest areas where SMBs rely on social media marketing agencies. Creating content, editing photos and videos, designing graphics, scripting, and posting content are intense duties and benefit from expert assistance. 

• Social media advertising - Social media marketing agencies will be experts in helping businesses run paid advertising campaigns across social media platforms. Their expertise will include demographics and targeting, platform-specific formats and content types, user behavior, and more. 

• Influencer marketing - Developing a database of credible influencers and deciding when and where to apply influencer marketing is another key service that many agencies provide. The best social media marketing agencies already have information on potential influencers across multiple platforms and industries. 

• Social media audits - A good agency partner should be able to perform an audit of not only your owned social media accounts and their performance, but also your competitors. This information will help inform your strategy for social media marketing. 

• Community and response management - Engaging with your audience and online community, ensuring timely responses, and addressing any issues that might come up is another incredibly valuable service that agency partners can provide.

• Social media monitoring - The process of tracking and analyzing online conversations, hashtags, mentions, keywords, and more in order to understand customer feelings about products, services, and the brand. 

Benefits of outsourcing social media marketing

Countless benefits come along when working with a trusted partner for your social media marketing needs, and some of them include: 

• Ensure efficient business operations Time savings - Your marketing team is likely already operating at capacity, and adding paid and organic social media marketing duties to their task list can be overwhelming. It also takes time away from other in-house marketing efforts which may be critical channels for your brand. Working with a social media marketing agency brings their expertise to your efforts without depleting your in-house teams of time and availability. 

• Boost brand growth - Brands that have brought in an agency partner have seen their reputation and recognition online grow across all channels. This is because the expertise, strategy, and content creation offered by social media marketing agencies is incredibly effective. 

• Actionable information and immediate customer engagement - Social media marketing outsourcing firms stay up to date on all platforms, social media trends, memes, and online conversations. This allows them to guide you through jumping on the latest conversations and trends online, take advantage of the topics and patterns, and keep your business in the conversation. 

• Increased lead generation - Businesses that are successful at growing their audiences online and developing relationships with current or potential customers see their databases grow along with their conversion rates. Nurturing those leads online and crafting content to support those relationships is an area where a great agency partner will make a tremendous impact.

• Easily scalable efforts - Working with an agency partner will make it much easier to identify areas where your social media strategy is particularly effective. You can then quickly and easily scale up your efforts to take advantage of messages, outlets, media, and engaged audiences for further growth.  

How much does it cost to outsource social media marketing?

The price range for social media marketing outsourcing can vary dramatically depending on the size of your business, the number of channels you want to advertise on, and how much you are able to spend on paid ad placements. The amount of content you need to have developed, and the total scope of social media marketing agency services you need will also impact the social media marketing agency cost. 

Still, there are some basic ranges you can keep in mind as you consider whether to outsource social media marketing to an agency partner. According to some sites, you can find price ranges for social media marketing services that fall between $5,000 and $20,000 each month. [2] Other sources and estimates put the range between $1,500 and $25,000 per month. 

Freelance social media managers are also an option, with some prices ranging from $500 per month all the way up to $2,000 per month. You may find yourself needing to work with multiple freelancers, though, in order to gain all of the services your business needs (photography, design, video production, analytics, etc.). 

Remember, too, that these costs are in addition to the amount you will be spending each month on your paid placements. But even when combined, these costs are often several times less than it would be to hire a dedicated social media staff for your organization. 

Considerations when outsourcing social media marketing

Before you decide to outsource your social media marketing needs, there are a few important points to consider and discuss with your team. 

First, spend some time reviewing your full marketing budget and strategy. Understanding how much money you can devote each month to social media marketing, and how you see social media fitting into your overall marketing strategy, is key before conversing with prospective partners. 

Next, review your existing marketing results, audience information, and performance. The more comprehensive information you have when discussing options with a social media marketing agency, the more customized and tailored to your needs their recommendations will be. 

Finally, put together a list of questions for your potential partners, including: 

1. Does your agency have experience working with a company our size? 
2. Are you familiar with our products and services? 
3. Who will be working on my account and what is their experience?
4. Do they do all aspects of campaign management [including creative design/creation] in house or do they outsource anything?
5. How much time will they dedicate to my account each month?  
6. Which metrics and tools do they use to evaluate social media performance?
7. How will our team be involved in the review process?
8. How long will it take to onboard your team and get moving on the campaigns? 
   

These are all great questions to help guide the conversation and learn more about which agency is the right choice for your brand. 

1. Social Media Users 2024 (Global Data & Statistics) 

2. Outsourcing Social Media Management Guide