When to Hire an In-house Social Media Specialist vs. Social Media Firm

Companies engaged with social media as part of their digital marketing and selling strategies have won up to 50% more new business than companies that ignore social.

In this way, it’s obvious that social media does much more than build awareness of brands — it’s part of real sales pipelines.

What can social media team members bring to business owners?

• Knowledge of social media marketing tools
• Expertise in making social media posts across platforms (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok etc.)
• Content strategy, copywriting, and SEO tasks
• Content marketing training
• Graphic design for social media
• Years of experience handling social networks
• Experience in broader marketing campaigns
• Online presence management skills
• Influencer collaboration experience and contacts

Want to boost your brand and sales using social media? You’ll likely need some extra help to realize that goal.

When managing social media, companies have two primary options: hiring an in-house social media teammate or outsourcing to a social media marketing agency. Both options have their advantages and disadvantages, and there are best use cases for each.

To determine which option is right for your business, assess your current social media needs and review our recommendations below.

What is an In-House Social Media Marketing Manager?

An in-house social media teammate is a full-time employee dedicated to managing the company's social media accounts.

This individual is an integral part of the company's marketing team and is responsible for creating and implementing the social media strategy, managing content creation and curation, engaging with followers, analyzing data and metrics, and reporting to upper management.

What is a Social Media Marketing Firm?

Outsourcing work to a social media agency involves hiring a third-party organization to manage the company's social media accounts. This agency typically has a team of experts with a broad range of social media expertise.

They also generally have the resources to keep up with the latest trends, tools, and best practices.

Additionally, agencies garner experience by working with multiple clients across various industries. This wealth of expertise can bring new ideas with social media strategy.

5 Benefits of Hiring In-House Social Media Specialist

In-house social media teammates can bring social media content to your team with a deep understanding of your company and its culture. On a day-to-day level, there are clear advantages to bringing social media support internally.

1. Dedicated resource for your brand
2. Reliable accessibility
3. Better understanding of your brand
4. More control and customization
5. Long-term investment

An in-house social media manager can make all the difference for online marketing strategies employed by both large and small businesses.

1. Dedicated Company Resource

An in-house social media marketer is a dedicated resource focusing solely on your brand's marketing efforts. Digital marketing agencies and social media firms will have other clients to attend to, but in-house employees will be exclusively focused on your efforts.

With an in-house teammate, you won’t need to worry about fighting for time or attention from an external agency. Instead, you can rest assured that the internal employee will closely collaborate with the rest of your team to understand the brand's unique voice and tone deeply.

This will enable them to create social media strategies that best represent the company and contribute to better brand awareness.

2. Reliable Accessibility

An in-house social media marketer will always be available to you within the confines of your own office. That means that you can immediately access them whenever you need to communicate, brainstorm, or give feedback. With someone in-house, the communication will be faster, and the turnaround time will follow suit.

For instance, a question around a content calendar entry would be solved much faster with a quick face-to-face clarification than it would be over Slack or email.

In addition to being accessible to managers, in-house teammates are also embedded in the team culture. They can work more closely with other team members across marketing, sales, and customer service departments. This means that your social media presence will be more integrated with broader business goals.

3. Better Understanding of Your Brand

An in-house social media marketer has a deeper understanding of your brand's values, mission, and audience because they are immersed in and participate in your internal team’s culture on a day-to-day basis.

Since they have more opportunities to interact with your team and the product they’re promoting, they’re more likely to develop a more nuanced and intimate understanding of your brand than an external social media firm.

4. More Control and Customization

An in-house social media marketer gives you more control and customization over your campaigns because you have more oversight on their work.

Because in-house teammates are able to be more collaborative and embed themselves in your team culture, you’re better able to work together to build campaigns.

With regular check-ins and reviews, you can make small corrections to steer them in the right direction over time. A social media firm may do a decent amount of work that doesn’t align with your goals and not realize it until weeks later.

The power to adjust small things over time through several touchpoints with your social media resources shouldn’t be undervalued when choosing a social media provider.

5. Long-term Investment

Hiring an in-house social media marketer is a long-term investment in your brand's marketing efforts.

This person can build relationships with your audience over time and establish a consistent presence on social media that reinforces your brand's identity.

Small businesses may hesitate at the upfront costs of adding a permanent social media employee to the company, but the returns on investing in a teammate should be convincing.

5 Benefits of Working with a Social Media Company

Social media companies offer skills to their clients that individual in-house employees aren’t able to. Here are the 5 top ways that social media companies differentiate themselves and add value to their teammates:

1. Diverse skill sets
2. Cost-effective
3. Scalability
4. Limited oversight needed
5. Industry experience

If you’re looking for full coverage and knowledge of an agency, they might be the optimal choice for your operations.

1. Diverse Skill Set

Social media agencies typically have a team of professionals with diverse skills and expertise, including content creation, social media advertising, analytics, and community management.

This means you can access a range of skills and experience that you may not be able to find in a single in-house specialist.

2. Cost-effective

Outsourcing social media to an agency can be more cost-effective than hiring an in-house social media specialist. The monthly agency fees are generally less expensive than the salary of in-house teammates, and you’re getting the skills of a whole team rather than just one employee.

Agencies also often offer flexible pricing options and can scale services up or down as needed, which can be beneficial for businesses with varying budgets.

3. Scalability

Social media agencies have the resources and expertise to handle large-scale campaigns and sudden increases in workload. Because they have a larger team of employees that can be staffed on different projects as needed, agencies can easily ramp up or scale down their services according to your needs.

4. Limited Required Oversight

Outsourcing social media to an agency frees up your time and resources, allowing you to focus on your core business operations. With social agencies, they’ll often staff a project manager to be in charge of your account. This means that you won’t need to worry about moving individual tasks forward in the project.

This allows you to concentrate on your strengths while delegating marketing responsibilities to the agency.

5. Experience and Industry Knowledge

Social media agencies have experience working with a range of businesses and industries, which means they can provide valuable insights into industry trends, competitor analysis, and other emerging opportunities on the industry's cutting edge.

Further, social media agencies can pinpoint the latest and most impactful tools and technologies. As a result, many agencies will already have access to social media listening tools and analytics platforms before engaging with you.

5 Challenges of Hiring In-House Social Media Teammates

Further, social media agencies can pinpoint the latest and most impactful tools and technologies. As a result, many agencies will already have access to social media listening tools and analytics platforms before engaging with you.

1. Higher costs
2. Limited skill sets
3. Limited bandwidth
4. Possibility of burnout
5. Potential for bias and limited creativity

If these disadvantages seem particularly taxing, it may be best for your business to consider hiring a social media marketing agency.

1. Higher Costs

Hiring an in-house social media specialist comes with higher costs than hiring an agency or freelancer might. Here’s why:

Costs associated with hiring new in-house teammates:

• Salaries
• Employee benefits
• Training and onboarding costs
• Cost of hiring process

The long-term nature of a permanent internal hire can also make the choice of an in-house teammate seem a bit daunting. This can be a financial burden for small businesses or those with limited budgets.

2. Limited Skill Set

An in-house social media specialist may have a limited skill set because they’re simply one person.

For instance, an individual might have more specialized experience in social listening but not be as skilled in design. There are undoubtedly individuals with a broad skill set, but they will always have more experience in some areas than others.

In contrast, an agency will have numerous teammates specializing in different areas of social media marketing, granting them a stronger execution as a unified front.

Additionally, social media agencies are more likely to have experience working across a broad spectrum of industries, which enables them to tailor their work to meet client needs.

3. Limited Capacity for New Tasks

An in-house social media specialist has limited capacity, which means they may be unable to handle a sudden increase in workload or a large-scale campaign.
This can result in delays and missed opportunities for your brand.

Unfortunately, this can come at a great cost to your business. To mitigate these risks, companies may need to hire additional in-house employees, freelancers, or outsource to a social media company.

4. Risk of Burnout

Due to the nature of social media marketing, there’s a potential for burnout.

Suppose you choose to hire an individual in-house teammate. In that case, they’ll need to concern themselves with all of your social media platforms, responding to comments, analytics, content design, and overall strategy.

This could lead your teammate to experience burnout, which will later cause reduced productivity and lower-quality work.

5. Potential for Bias and Limited Creativity

An in-house social media specialist may have limited exposure to new ideas and strategies, resulting in a lack of innovation and diversity in social media campaigns.

Internal biases and politics may influence an in-house social media specialist within the organization, which can impact the effectiveness of social media campaigns.

5 Disadvantages of Hiring a Social Media Marketing Firm

Social media marketing firms can raise brand awareness and drive conversions with their industry expertise, but at what cost?

Keep track of these potential pitfalls when considering an outsourced collaboration:

1. Lack of direct control
2. Communication challenges
3. Potential for misaligned goals
4. Limited availability
5. Limited brand knowledge

Organizationally, there are some drawbacks to choosing an SMM company to handle social media rather than an in-house employee. Be sure to take note of those that could potentially impact you.

1. Lack of Direct Control

Outsourcing social media to an agency means giving up some degree of direct control over your social media channels.

It can be challenging to ensure that the agency accurately captures your brand's voice and messaging and makes decisions that align with your overall marketing strategy.

2. Communication Challenges

Working with an outsourced agency may create communication challenges, particularly if the agency is located in a different time zone or region.
This can result in delays and miscommunications, which can impact the effectiveness of social media campaigns.

3. Potential for Misaligned Goals

Outsourcing social media to an agency can result in misaligned goals and expectations. The agency may have different priorities or objectives than your in-house team, which can create conflict and reduce the effectiveness of social media campaigns.

While outsourcing social media to an agency can be cost-effective, it can also lead to higher costs if unexpected changes or additional services are required. Agencies may also charge additional fees for services not included in the initial contract.

4. Limited Availability

An outsourced agency may have limited availability, especially if it is working with multiple clients. This can result in delays in responding to customer inquiries, complaints, or issues, which can hurt the brand's reputation.

5. Limited Brand Knowledge

An outsourced agency may not deeply understand your brand, its values, and its unique voice. This can result in social media campaigns that do not accurately reflect your brand's personality or messaging.

5 Factors That Influence Social Media Hiring Decisions

Social media has become a crucial part of any business's marketing strategy. While there is no one-size-fits-all answer to whether to hire in-house or outsource, several factors must be considered before making a decision.

These factors are what will move the needle between an in-house social media specialist vs. a social media marketing agency:

• Cost: In-house social media support comes with fixed expenses like salaries, benefits, and training, while outside social media firms are usually a flexible monthly or project-based cost. The right choice depends on whether you need consistent daily support or specialized help without long-term overhead.
• Collaboration: An in-house social media specialist can collaborate more seamlessly with internal stakeholders and quickly adapt to shifting priorities. External social media support may require more structured communication, but often brings efficient workflows and clear accountability.
• Scope of Work: In-house social media support is best for ongoing, integrated brand management across channels. Outside social media support is ideal when the scope is clearly defined or tied to specific goals or campaigns.
• Type of Projects: Day-to-day posting, community management, and brand voice development often favor in-house social media support. One-off campaigns, launches, or platform-specific initiatives are well-suited for social media agencies.
• Expertise: In-house hires typically offer deep brand knowledge but may have narrower skill sets. Social media agencies bring diverse, up-to-date expertise across platforms, tools, and trends that would be difficult to maintain internally. 

While making these considerations is important, don’t lose sight of your company’s needs and aims. By acting on the goals and needs of your target audience, companies can make informed decisions that best support their social media objectives.

Social Media Management Hiring Decisions Depend on Internal Priorities

Hiring an in-house social media teammate and outsourcing to a social media agency have advantages and disadvantages.

Your final decision between in-house social media support and a social media agency must consider your priorities and budget. However, by strongly considering the benefits and drawbacks of both options, you’ll make your choice with the most confidence.

About the Author

Sydney Wess SEO Manager at Clutch

Sydney Wess is a SEO manager who focuses on strengthening organic performance and building topical authority for Clutch.

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