You need to choose the right social media agency

The power of social media as a marketing and advertising channel is hard to deny.

42% of all Internet users use social networks to find more information about brands. Plus, 27% of UK and US users say they discovered new brands via social media ads this year. (It shared the top spot for brand discovery with TV ads). 

With this much potential, you need to know that you’re doing it right. You might want to work with a social media agency if you:

• have a budget but aren’t sure how to get the most from it

• are struggling to increase performance

• don’t know how to measure the results of your social media efforts etc.

Once you know that you’d like to work with a social media agency, the next step is, of course, figuring out how to choose the right one. So, here are some mighty useful tips for you:

Know your goals and targets

The first thing you must establish is what you hope to achieve through social media. Your goals will inform your social media strategy and how you measure success, which can only benefit your business… 

Research shows that companies with a defined content strategy achieve 27.1% higher win rates and 18.1% higher quota attainment rates.

Having goals will also help you to allocate your budget and resources. When you know what’s most important to your business you can delegate wisely and get more bang for your buck.

Here are some fundamental social media goals you may wish to strive for:

1. Increase brand awareness

Your goal is to reach a bunch of new people on social media. You want to increase your online presence and to get people talking about your brand or content. So, you might work on upping your following, mentions and share count.

2. Generate leads

You want to use social media to plant the seeds of interest and encourage potential customers to enter your sales funnel. For example, you can gather email subscribers from social media by posting your best gated content as ads.

3. Boost Sales

You aim to use social media in a way that directly impacts revenue. You might, for instance, use audience insights to advertise relevant products to the right people.

4. Increase engagement

Your goal is to get people to interact with your social media posts. This boosts customer loyalty and makes people feel more of an affinity with your brand. Thus, you’ll work on getting more likes, comments and so on.

5. Create a community

You may wish to boost engagement even further by building a dedicated community around your brand. For example, you might focus on creating an active Facebook group or use a branded hashtag to encourage regular conversations about your brand or products.

6. Provide great customer service

It’s now common practice for people to reach out to brands for help (or to complain) on social media. Therefore, your goal might be to stay on top of those communications in order to keep customers satisfied.

Once you know what your goals are, you can share them with a social media agency and create milestones to reach together.

Three things that make a particular social media agency a great option

Bear in mind that there are a few key elements you need to look for when choosing a social media agency:

1. They Offer a Customised Service

Some agencies use the same social media strategies for all of their clients. This simply doesn’t work. 

Each client has a unique target audience and their own business objectives. So, social media strategy can’t be a one-size-fits-all thing. You need to find an agency that offers a personalised experience catered to your needs and goals.

2. They Have a High Level of Expertise

There are thousands of digital agencies in the UK alone. Many offer a broad range of similar services. It’s no wonder then that it’s difficult to choose between them when they all offer the same thing.

Thus, the differentiating factor has to be a refined level of expertise. At Honest London, for example, we know what we do well and we know what’s going to perform. That’s why we’ve perfected our specialism: creating impactful organic and paid social campaigns.

3. They’re Proven to Get Results

A great social media agency can prove they create high-performing campaigns. Hence, you should look for case studies, testimonials and reviews that show the agency is capable when you speak with them. 

All in all, you must seek out an agency that has credibility, expertise and offers a service catered to your needs.

How to Work with a Social Media Agency

Working with a social media agency is a two-way street. Here’s what you need to do to get the most out of your collaboration:

1. Be Clear and Realistic About Your Goals and Expectations

The social media agency you work with can for sure help you with goal-setting if you don’t know where to start. 

However, if you do have goals and expectations in mind you need to communicate them clearly. Because otherwise, they won’t be able to meet all of your expectations… unless they have somebody with the psychic powers of Professor X working at their agency.

The simplest way to make sure your goals are clear and realistic is to have SMART goals. They should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound.

2. Share the right info

A social media agency will be able to achieve more on your behalf if you share relevant documentation, guides, plans and reports with them. 

For instance, you might have a documented content strategy across multiple channels, including your blog, email newsletter and so on. The social media agency will need to align what they do with your overarching strategy.

Or, perhaps, you have a strict brand style guide. Share the guide and the agency will be able to choose the right tone and design elements for any creative that they produce.

The purpose of sharing the right information is to make sure the agency gets on the same page as you as quickly as possible.

3. Communicate well

It’s not only important that you communicate your goals and the right information at the beginning of your working relationship, but also that you keep up communications throughout campaigns or projects.

If you’re able to communicate effectively and efficiently, all of your social media ads and content will go out on time and meet your requirements. This means you have to do the necessary work on your end, too, for example, sharing new company information you want to post in advance or approving content as scheduled.

Above all, communication is key throughout the entire process. A social media agency will want to help you achieve your desired outcomes, but you have to empower them to do so.

Interested in finding out how Honest London can help you with your social media needs? Get in touch today to discover if we are the right agency for you.