Should You Outsource Social Media?

Things have changed a great deal in the last 18 months. Companies are getting serious about social media. And we've seen enough cases recently about mishandled situations in social media to be thinking about what makes sense as a team mix.

In a quick email exchange about his post good agencies don't hire social media strategists, Sean Howard and I were musing that outsourcing digital is as much a risk as is hoping that a social media expert will save the day. Is there a role for agencies in the digital space?

Should companies outsource social media?

It's no fun wrestling with a question alone, so I reached out to 93 of my connections on LinkedIn to find out what they're thinking along with us. My selection was based on diversity of perspective -- corporate, agency, consulting side -- and geography -- Australasia, Europe, North America.

The question was also posted on the public LinkedIn Q&As and in addition to the responses I received from my friends, which were 20 (19 on LinkedIn and one by email), 11 more people added their take, 2 of whom did not have some form of connection to me. 

Let's take a look at the responses.

When you read through the public Q&A, you will see that most answers are a blend of all of the themes that follow. A few core themes that emerged: authenticity, agency and company can work together, and that it may make sense to partner with an agency to ramp up, especially for an organization with scarce resources and internal know-how. A few were totally against outsourcing any of it.

Part of the answers that represent the main themes:

Authenticity is important

One of the opportunities for business to enjoy the benefit of social media is to express value to customers in an authentic, unmediated voice enhanced by the potential for immediacy.

Without doubt there are practices and skills that are needed in social media but it is important that organisations begin to acquire them directly, rather than mediating through third parties.

It is a significant trend that brands are moving away from a core obsession with how their image is projected to how well they engage with people (and I shy away from terms like consumers or customers intentionally - in an always-on world we are more than walking wallets). The metaphor of conversation takes on an altogether more literal meaning. [more online - view David MacGregor's profile]

As usual, the answer is "it depends". There are many facets to social media, some of which make perfect sense (e.g. monitoring, measuring, reporting, app development) and other things - mostly in the content development space - that really need to come from an authentic place within the client. [more online - view Simon Young's profile]

The thought of outsourcing something that is so personal makes me nervous. Part of the beauty of social media is it's authenticity. I feel that once you begin down the road of having individuals not intimately tied to the product, service and/or industry, you risk sliding down the slippery slope. [more online - view DJ Waldow's profile]

There's a line here that shouldn't be crossed. Any company or organization can benefit from outsourcing the "how to" of social media to a credible consultancy. The rub is when you lose authenticity by outsourcing "go to" implementations. [view John Pope's profile]

Agency and company can work together

Outsourcing does not have to be such a dirty or negative term, nor is it so black and white of a decision. The choice to outsource must be determined on a case-by-case basis based upon the company's culture and objectives. It is alright to outsource as long as the company and consumers have clear expectations of responsibilities.

Some areas I can see where it would be helpful to outsource are:
- aggregating data
- gleaning insights from large data sets
- filtering through data stream to highlight items requiring personal response [more online - view Lauren Vargas' profile]

From the corporate perspective, I think that you have to approach this answer strategically. What's the attitude and approach your company already applies to marketing and advertising, to customer service, to outsourcing in general? If outsourcing is already a core tactic your company uses to create campaigns or implement programs, them outsourcing some social media functions may make sense for your company. If most of these programs are run in-house, then I think working with an agency should be handled very strategically so that efforts align with your internal efforts. [more online - view Tiffany Monhollon Wilson's profile]

getting started in social media is daunting for most brands because to those who don't have this in their bloodstream, it's a buzz word - a box that needs to be checked. The CEO heard that Twitter is all the rage, that smart companies are blogging, or that they need a Facebook "presence," and it becomes a quarterly objective. It also comes with a 10 page contract for internal employees before they post their first tweet, describing what they can/can't say under penalty of termination. It's enough to make you cringe.

Hiring an expert - an agency or a consultant - to provide guidance on the tools and potential strategies is smart, as it will shorten the learning curve. But you can't outsource your voice. [view Stephen Denny's profile]

the creation of a social media strategy is best done with the help of a social media consultant or outside agency.

I think the day-to-day is probably best done by someone internally provided they have the time and autonomy to engage on behalf of the company.

Ultimately it's a question of resources and core competencies. Much the same as a company with no knowledge of accounting might outsource their accounting, I think certain companies may struggle, at least initially, with social media. Having an outside perspective from an individual or team that is passionate and well informed about social media can be exceptionally valuable for a company and could help avoid future mistakes. [more online - view Jeff Gibbard's profile]

While I strongly believe in keeping functions like marcomm in-house, I do believe organizations just starting adding social media to their marcomm mix should consult with an experienced professional to ensure it starts off right if they don't have staff already working with social media. [view Ann Marie van den Hurk's profile]

[...] There are some tasks that may or may not make sense to in-source. For example, companies that want to produce high quality audio or video podcasts (the kind we produce for clients) may not want to make an investment in equipment and training, and while inexpensive tools like Flip cameras are available, we don't encourage clients to depend on them for sophisticated productions that require professional equipment.

Content development should always originate at the client with input from the consultants about what works and what might not, but it has to be a closely integrated partnership, and doesn't necessarily all belong in-house. [view Steve Lubetkin's profile]

Outsourcing makes sense when

If you truly "get" social media and have the time to nurture it, you can do it yourself, but most CEOs and company owners don't have the time or desire to do so. So, outsourcing makes sense.

I run one of those companies that gets the outsourced work. We are an internet marketing and PR firm. It all blends together and is semantics, but I tend to think of branding agencies as dealing with the bigger strategy, and smaller firms like mine being able to be nimble and react quicker to the changing tides of social media.

The key is: do it, however you do. [more online - view Susan Payton's profile]

The common reason people outsource is that Social Media all seems a bit scary; companies don't know where to start, how much time to invest, how to prove ROI - even the very basics such as WHY they need to use Social Media.

When I started a Social Media strategy for my own company, it was quite overwhelming. What tools to use to save time, how to attract more followers / fans, what content will people be interested in? What worked for me was attending various seminars and training sessions [disclosure: 2e2 provide Social Media training]... [more online - view Emma Henry's profile]

Companies ready for social media (willing to invest time/money, resources)

--------- YOU SHOULD OUTSOURCE IF YOU NEED TO ---------
- Gain knowledge and training for your internal staff
- Build processes to streamline with your existing marketing
- Assess current needs (facts, numbers, traffic, engagement..etc)
- Help your internal staff to scale campaigns (lead and educate)
- Quickly ramp up your social media needs (time to market)
- Accountability, ROI (from agency to client and vice versa)

Ultimately from the business owner's perspective, I recommend to teach someone how to fish instead of giving them the fish and charge them every month. But they need to know the implication of both to decide what's good for them.

However; agencies come in handy to scale and provide the missing pieces from a resource perspective such as production and ideas... [more online - view Eric Tsai's profile]

[...] there is a role for outsourcing digital in the social media space. Surprisingly, there are still many companies out there who are not familiar with how to use social media to build and monitor their brand. That said, if I were to hire an external supplier to run my social media campaign, I would choose someone who had expertise in social media - and social media only. [more online - view Karen Hegmann's profile]

it is much better to outsource to a social media expert, than fumble through and make a big PR mistake. Once you start a viral brush fire it's hard to put it out. Of course I'm biased as this is what I do for a living, but I believe that you need someone to do your social media, you can't just assign it to someone who's already got a job.

You need someone experienced in reputation and brand management, someone who can track it and give you daily or weekly statistics. Someone who also knows how to get ranked in search engines as that's part of the game. This can't be learned in a week or a month, some are obviously more talented than the rest. [more online - view Patrick Curl's profile]

For the great majority of companies, social media should be outsourced. How and to whom depends on the company's goals (and budgets, of course). If the social media is a video blog or music based, for example, the work will be handled differently than if the main goal is customer service communication. So, yes, the outsourcing will make sense for most companies simply because of the specific and evolving technology tools that can help make the most of social media efforts. [view Glenn Hansen's profile]

[...] A lot of people (usually people who run "social media consultancies") talk about social media as if it stands in complete isolation from other types of media.
I am inherently biased because I run a PR agency, but we are finding a lot of success in integrating digital and social media activity into wider PR campaigns for clients. This is all about communicating with an audience, whether that's through the filter of traditional media, or more directly through social media, and this is a skill that PR consultancies are naturally very good at, with the caveat that specific skills such as SEO and online monitoring are often best left to experts in those fields. [more online - view Eddie May's profile]

I think it first depends on how large the company is and how much time and financial resources they are willing to invest. [...]

I am saying digital media agency rather than PR or branding agency only, because a digital media should be able to understand the principles of online reputation management. And that is what a company needs. A digital media agency should be able to consider PR and branding as well when developing a social media strategy, but add the online bit to it. [more online - view Daniela Badalan's profile]

Communication results matter

Agencies can provide teams that are more scalable, and benefit with the learning from other clients.

[...] for clients that have a long time partnership with an agency, the downside of business knowledge or authenticity isn't much of a problem [...] there are agency people that are also authentic, conversational, inspiring and with a sound knowledge of the social web. And with decades of practice in communication, not 2 years on Twitter.

In the end, it's the result that matters: you can have an internal team with 10 people but with no freedom to act, or partnering with an agency that sometimes is free from the corporate culture and more agile on shipping things. [more online - view Armando Alves profile]

As social media evolves, I believe people will come to see it less and less as a separate business practice, or even a marketing channel, and more as simply another communication tool -- and an essential one, regardless of the size of the company and your role in it.

So in that regard, it's kind of like asking whether companies should outsource email or their telephone. And the answer is that there are some pieces that definitely should be outsourced, but other parts, it's ludicrous to even ask the question. [...]

So the "plumbing" -- the technical infrastructure -- makes sense to outsource. [more online - view Scott Allen's profile]

Company drives, with some counsel

Social media culture implies a different approach to internal organization, Human Resources, R&D, production and customer care, it's not only a communication and marketing business.

Companies need to rethink themselves in order to fully embrace the culture of open conversation, and good consultants (digital strategy ones, I'd suggest) should help them to understand the tools and define effective strategies, keeping in mind branding and business objectives.

You can not externalize your daily conversation (be it CEO's blog or the answer to a customer in trouble), nor you can fully delegate the definition of your objectives, or the evolution of your corporate culture and ethic.

Nonetheless, good external experts can contribute with their expertise, and bring an external point of view which is precious to define an effective strategy. [view Alessandra Farabegoli's profile]

my take is that this is not a black or white situation for several reason: the company structure, the attitude toward relationship with clients, the market, the consulting agencies roster (adv, pr, etc.). 

I believe that companies should not outsource social media function, because social media is strictly related to brand perception as well as brand value. Indeed, companies should look for advisors able to carry them across the perils of the social web: when to answer and when not to answer, how to answer, to whom give the first answer, etc. To be honest I see a majority of consultants prepared on the social web but not on some marketing and branding basics..... [view Gianandrea Facchini's profile]

In general terms though, Social media is a two-way, or multi-directional 'conversation' that you're having online. It's the same conversation that you'd have off-line.

So if you're confident in giving responsibility for someone else, external to your company, to speak, engage and converse on your behalf (off-line AND online), then perhaps outsourcing is a possibility for you.

Myself, i would not feel confident in an external company having the same passion, experience, drive or vision as my own team, so from that perspective i would never contemplate outsourcing. [view Matthew Ogston's profile]

How do you decide?

The quick answer: if it is transactional, not core, someone else can do it for you. If it is relational, keep it as close to home as possible.

An organization should outsource the engine, but own the strategy. [view Joe Raash's profile]

It depends on what kind of Social Media it is. You refer to PR , so probably it concerns Communication.
Social Media does have lots of other applications as well.

Outsourcing the Communication itself is a tricky one, outsourcing the Social Media Architecture, Yes! [view Gianluigi Cuccureddu's profile]

Should a company outsource it's employees? Same question. Social media is a direct communication platform, which is a unique opportunity to ask, listen and engage. Why would you outsource your R&D, customer service and marketing? Easy: you don't care about your business OR you strive for a 4 hour workweek.

An agency's role is to help develop strategies, guide implementation and train internal staff how to manage social media. [more online - view Kent Lewis' profile]

No. Social media is deeply personal. You've got to live and breathe the message and no one does that better than you.

Can you go outside to learn tips and tricks? Yes. But the everyday stuff needs to stay in house. [view Brian Olson's profile]

However social media is handled, whether internally or outsourced, the person(s) handling it should be conversant with the various social media platforms, how they work and what are the appropriate protocols that make for good manners on those platforms.  The person(s) must also be familiar with and understand the company's products, brand positioning and messaging.  He or she must also be a good communicator, able to write clearly and succinctly.  He or she must also continually monitor the social media world, to watch for company or brand mentions and to get an early indication of problems with the product and/or customer service.  He or she must be able to respond or quickly get to the right people within the organization who can help with an appropriate response.

All of these criteria can be met by an outsourced provider, be it a p.r. agency, ad or branding agency or a digital agency.  The key is to find an agency that can properly handle all the functions mentioned above. [view David Reich's profile]

Social media is part of the overall communication strategy of a company. If that company works with a PR or Branding agency, they should be involved in shaping the strategy for engagement and suggest content. As a PR person, I do not speak for my clients, I work with them to help shape their message and stay on track with their strategic goals. Social media is social. It's a conversation. Conversations are between individuals, not representatives. Everyone markets you whether it is part of their job description or not. It is the job of the digital, PR or Branding agency to help shape the message, not engage directly on behalf of the client. [view Tami Belt's profile]

***

There will probably be more responses in the next few days.

I truly believe that social media is the new agency-client relationship builder. Edward Boches offers us a couple of interesting data points from Forrester on the question of which agencies have significant ability in what:

 

[credit Forrester]

As Boches reports:

According to the 16-page report, marketers still need ideas (to make emotional connections); interaction (to reach, connect and most importantly be found); and, of course, intelligence (to optimize brand experiences and more importantly predict outcomes). But this is no longer as simple as identifying an insight, translating it into messages, and measuring awareness or transactions.

It's not about one isolated company anymore -- it's about the whole ecosystem: partners along with other companies who may compete for the same customers by offering different ways of getting the same job done. Never mind internal silos!

Organizations need to understand these new dynamics -- so they can collaborate, crowd source, and augment wherever it makes sense. It's not "either/or" in customers minds anymore. Companies that win have learned to operate with "and/and". I have a MacBook and a Dell laptop at home. I know people who have an HD Flip camera and a Sony -- the list goes on.

There are IP and proprietary things you may still guard as secrets. Look at the new marketing models, and you will quickly realize that employees gossiping on social media are the least of your worries. When companies like Amazon feel perfectly comfortable sitting on the same side of the table with customers, unless you're doing that, there will be someone in your industry who will. 

You need to be part of that ecosystem. Agencies need to figure out what they need to help you make sense of things and go operational with them.

***

What should a company-agency relationship look like? Partnering makes sense to augment skills, go deeper, scale better, ramp up on tools. There are things like integration, editorial direction, social behavior, brand essence that need to come from the organization.

An agency can tease these out. Because it is a third party, it can help with strategy, setting up processes and work flows, feeding back analytics and like-category/industry intelligence, filling the gaps you may have on your team until the learning curve and talent acquisition are up to speed.

An agency cannot decide who you want to be when you grow up as a brand. An agency can help you get things going in social media to a point when you don't have top down buy in. And I will stop there, because I really think we're getting to the interesting bit with the question.

Are you outsourcing social media? Are you thinking about it?

***

Whenever I work with the community on a question, I like to also use the tools at our disposal to learn about social networks and dynamics. This time I picked LinkedIn, because the question was substantial. It was the right network -- 30 responses overall.

Note that the majority of responses came after the question was integrated with an email request to professionals who have a connection with me. The existing relationship piece accounted for the 21% response rate. Wouldn't you love to have that kind of results in your next program? Remember two key concepts: integration, permission from relationships.

Tiffany Monhollon Wilson also shared a PRWeek/Diffusion Digital Integration report:

Findings from a landmark PRWeek survey of 128 clients, drawn from across in-house comms, marketing and digital departments, reveal exactly how organisations are grappling with the challenge of integrating social media into their existing operations.

You are not alone. Who gets the biggest slice of outsourcing budgets so far? PR agencies. I believe that's about to change big time and I'll tell you why in another post.

***

We're talking social networks, thus one should expect distributed conversations. Alessandra Farabegoli took the initiative to pose the question on FriendFeed (caution, Italian, thread carefully) -- it resulted in a very healthy conversation with 16 likes and 15 contributors. I also counted 4 tweets about the question.

Maybe some of these actions would have happened anyway without my established presence on those social networks -- I might not have known about them, not been able to participate without an account.

A small voice in my head also says that without an established presence in all those networks -- and this blog -- we would not be having this conversation rich with contributions.

***

Should you outsource social media? Is a good question. The bigger question is how should you think about social media transforming your business opportunities? How do you participate in the market's ecosystem? Weigh in!

© 2010 Valeria Maltoni. All rights reserved.

Comments

[Rich Nadworny]

Great post Valeria. When I read the Forrester report, I think less about outsourcing the some of the details and more about owning the relationships. Brands need to own the relationships with their customers. Social media shines the light on the need to look at marketing as core component of customer operations, not just propaganda and image building. Only brands themselves can authentically own that relationship.

That's not to say they have to do everything themselves. They'll need help with a lot, from creating strategies to implementing tactics, if they're ever going to get anything done. And agencies, brand, pr, and digital, will help them. But it's folly to think one of these agencies can effectively LEAD customer-focused marketing.

[Jeff Esposito]

Valeria - this is a great post and way of gathering information.

As the space continues to expand and gain buy in from organizations there will be a piece of the pie for everyone.

Brands will need a shepherd to keep everything in line.

[Deana Goldasich]

Terrific post! Indeed, it's a debate that continues as social media grown in importance! I especially agree with your point that no agency can "decide what you want to be when you grow up." As for corporate blogs, I've always insisted that they ultimately be managed from within. However, I also see that no company can go from 0-60 overnight. More about outsourcing corporate blogs here: http://www.wellplannedweb.com/2010/03/outsource-blogs/

[Drew Hawkins]

I actually asked the same question on LinkedIn Answers about four months ago. I got a similar response, with the general consensus being that agency's should help with strategy but the main communication should be with the actual company. The more communication from the actual people within the organization the better.

Feel free to check out some of the responses I received as well: http://bit.ly/aGIFBR

[Stephen Denny]

Valeria, I admire your patience - going through 93 replies to a question posted on LinkedIn is an act of love to say the least.

The client side has become more complicated over the past several years (speaking from the perspective of a former client-side guy now on the consultant-side); more fear, more outsourcing in general and less time to reflect on what is "right" and "good."

Outsourcing in general seems to be safe in many ways, whether social media or brand strategy or anything else. The detachment gives a certain credibility and objective veneer that helps, I think. And not many CEO's are marketers, either, which plays into this complex dynamic all the more.

Personally, I look to agencies to provide tools and tasks, but never the heart of strategy. Many turn to consultants to distill the strategy, which helps (helps me, too, as this is my role today). But it's very dangerous to delegate your company's public face and voice to someone on the outside.

[Jorge Barba]

Valeria, you're awesome and have done everyone a favor with this post.

Just like a singer sings and the singing coach helps guide the singers voice, the same applies here. I think the key is to not outsource your voice BUT a brand can ask for help on the what, how, where to get heard part of strategy.

Great thoughts and look forward to more insightful responses :)

[Tiffany Monhollon]

Valeria,
I love that you added the insight into how you personally scaled and created this report, because that illustrates exactly the power of social media that we can integrate into business.

To me, that cross-platform, integrated, relational power is where companies could risk losing a lot of the juice when they hire an agency to "check the social media box." The insight I've gained as a corporate SM engaging directly with our audience is invaluable to me, and so much meaningful first-hand.

Very interesting information here - thanks for sparking this conversation! It's very top-of-mind for me.

We're currently working on a campaign that illustrates what I think is a good collaboration between agency and in-house at Express http://myleadershipinstinct.com Our team actually developed the concept, strategy, and content, and then outsourced some of the digital production for a campaign website, ads, and web videos. We are definitely learning a lot in the process! I think there can be great results with this approach. Interesting to see all these voices on the matter! Thanks!

[C.B. Whittemore]

Valeria, great post! I love the range of perspectives that you capture across these several social networks. Ultimately, all of these social tools are available to facilitate relevant conversations with customers. The conversation, to be meaningful and lead to business opportunities, must be owned by the brand and the business. It can be guided from outside, but, as Rich says "it's folly to think any one of these agencies can effectively LEAD customer-focused marketing."

Thanks for generating so many thoughts on the topic.

Best,
CB

[karima-Catherine]

Hi Valeria,

93 responses, that takes the patience of Job and good God you have done it! thank you!

Back in September, I had polled my connections on Linkedin about outsourcing social media. if you like, I can send you the link. Out of the 41 responses, there had been no clear cut tendency but Yes and Not likely were pretty much the contenders.

As a business consultant helping integrating social media, and coming from the agency and corporate background, I tend to stand by educating internal staff on how they can leverage social media. I have pretty much decided earlier on that social media front line should be handled by trained professionals understanding not only the new media but also the new customers as well as the culture of the company. they are the face and voice of the business. Whereas, functions such as strategy, training, and monitoring can be performed by outsourced consultancy.
There again, it can greatly depend on the maturity, the type and the objectives of the business.

Hope to read you if you have the courage to write more after this Proust-like entry.

Karima-Catherine

[Graeme Cole]

Great post and research.

There are several strands to social media activity. Two of which, business buy-in and brand personality are hard to acheive with an outside agent.

It's the small, more intimate detail the companies provide through social media, which turn good campaigns into great campaigns.

[Patrick Curl - Social Media Strategest]

Great post, and way of using Linked In. I feel privileged to be apart of the conversation, and didn't expect to find my answer on a blog that I subscribe to - and I think it's unique to build a conversation via linkedin answers, then use the questions gathered as a blog post.

I never thought to do that, but will definitely be a good way to create some traction, when I'm stumped for a topic.

To clarify on my answer and someone else saying that it's good to outsource seo / webdesign but use a PR agency instead for social media.

I think all people who call themselves social media consultants, or strategist should also be search engine optimization savvy. They don't need to be experts but savvy, so in that case a company not only gets a social media consult, but a search engine optimization one as well. This what I do in my business, anyhow.

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Rich - you caught me. I always think about customers first. Your comment about owning the relationship makes me think about a post I wrote a while back about "who owns the customer"? Same question we're asking about social media, isn't it? Everyone should be accountable to service and to dialogue, it's not any one particular department. Customers do a fine job at owning themselves anyway ;)

@Jeff - I like the idea of guide and counsel. It's easier to see things from the outside. And I like your expansive thinking.

@Deana - thank you for the link. Company blogs are actually one of the places companies could really have a lot of fun with. It's like having your own editorial impact on the industry, why wouldn't you love that?

@Drew - I should have looked for other like questions. Things are still so fluid and yet many decisions are being made right now that will impact organizations long term. It felt right to approach the topic. Thank you for the link.

@Stephen - less time to reflect is being felt, profoundly. It's probably the number one cause of stress. Who likes to have to react to everything, and to have second thoughts? It's an instant fail. Not many companies are strong enough to listen to their own people. Instead, they prefer to find best practices from whoever decided what who never spent a second learning about their business. It's very dangerous to think you can delegate that kind of choice.

@Jorge - thank you for the compliment and for the beautiful image.

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Tiffany - thank you for the link to your project, how exciting! And for catching me on building yet another layer into the post. I did want to illustrate how powerful collaboration and true interest are. I spent time on the profile of each of the contributors to the conversation to visit with them. Where are they? Where have they been? it goes to context. It's the same kind of approach I would have with customers. Professionals on the client side have also learned to be more creative than they used to be. Fewer resources probably did the trick.

@C.B. - thank you for stopping in and taking the time to read. I'm thrilled that the topic has been embraced by so many diverse professionals. I agree, the company needs to drive.

@carima-Katherine - thank you for the link on Twitter, saw that. Also, I think that a solid grounding in marketing and communications are key in handling integration of social media. The culture of the business also plays an important role in determining who does what. There are many conservative companies with fun and light advertising and marketing communications that would have a hard time coming across in that voice if they were to handle themselves from day one. They need to learn to own their brand communications from the inside.

@Graeme - we often talk about the nuances in a conversation, the small details in a business negotiation, that only an insider would be able to tell.

@Patrick - life can be pleasantly surprising. I tend to have a very collaborative style, good content and contributions get my attention. Think I've written about using LinkedIn Q&As as inspiration for topics. This post was work, about 5-6 hours of it overall. It was worth it though. I learned so much about everyone who has participated in the process. Thank you for the clarification.

[Online Reputation Management]

Great post, valeria! You really have a lot of patience and I very much appreciate giving this subject such attention. Thanks for sharing the method you used as well with us.

[Tish Grier]

Hi Valeria! great post--and you bring up important points. In the four years I've been working in various aspects of social media (blogging, community development, etc) often with start-ups and special projects. I didn't think that any of it could be outsourced. And for large companies, I can see where it would be most important to have the voice of their social media outreach come from within--not just for authenticity, but also to eliminate any "middle man" which customers in the social era really don't like.

I, though, work primarily with small companies (micro-businesses) and solopreneurs. I find that both need lots and lots of coaching, and I love doing just that :) . They also sometimes need someone to "pinch hit" for them with their social media--do a blog post, put in some tweets, and the like. In these cases the close relationship with the client makes it easy to help them manage their social media effectively. I find that my expertise is respected by the solopreneurs and it's great to see them get the most of their social media experience while also having lives.

I'd never thought I'd say that, but there it is...

[Jay Baer]

Damn. Every time I think I write a good blog, you come along and do something like this. Incredible effort. Thank you for taking the time.

As someone that essentially makes a living answering this question, consulting primarily with agencies on social media skills and business modeling, I definitely have an opinion.

First, it is difficult to outsource your voice. Less so for authenticity, than for cycle time. Most agencies simply can't react as quickly as if that reaction was handled by an in-house team. However, I do have agency clients that do an amazing job of being the minute-to-minute voice of brands in social media. But, it's clearly the exception.

Second, agencies play an incredibly important role in helping tie together the big picture. In my experience, most corporate teams are prone to getting way too wrapped up in the granularity of social media, and do not give integration and holistic thinking the attention it needs. Again, there clearly are exceptions.

Thus, my advice is always that the agency holds the rudder, and the company holds the wheel. Task the agency with creating the strategic imperative. They should be figuring out how the company should "be" social, and the company should focus on "doing" social.

Then, the agency can help analyze data, implement new tactics, and in general "plus us" the program. Social is moving so fast, that there is literally noone that has their arms around the whole thing. It's not possible. So, agencies can certainly bring items to the table that will improve the company's program - most notably content optimization skills and understanding of virality triggers and memetics.

I very much advocate that this is a 1+1=3 situation. I'm not a big fan of outsourcing the whole social enchilada to agencies, nor am I big proponent of companies going solo without agency guidance.

There's enough room for both hands in this cookie jar.

[Danielle]

Great post! I especially love this tidbit-
"Hiring an expert - an agency or a consultant - to provide guidance on the tools and potential strategies is smart, as it will shorten the learning curve. But you can't outsource your voice."

It pretty much sums up my thoughts exactly (and what I blogged about last week http://www.atomicdust.com/blog/single/be-yourself-with-social-media/). I also turned to some LinkedIn groups with this question and got similar results as you did. It seems like overall, most people favor a mix between company and agency control of social media.

I see a need for companies to turn to agencies for help in the social media world- maybe they don't understand it, don't have the time, don't have the staff, think that is what you're 'supposed' to do- but I think ultimately, the agency's role is to guide them. To teach them about social media, how it can be used to meet their business goals, and then let them do it on their own.

I'm not saying cut all ties with them. I feel like agencies can be a real help in measurement, auditing, strategy, etc., but should they be the one physically writing and posting the content? No. Like Stephen said in that quote, the agency can't be the voice.

[Glenn Hansen]

Thanks for asking the question in a way that commanded so much response. We were just discussing this in a social media user group - how to improve/encourage the use of LinkedIn as a discussion space, not just a spot for hosting and posting messages. Why are people more responsive to discussions on Facebook than on LinkedIn? You have proven that it can work. Let's keep it going. Thanks, Glenn

[Amy S.]

I think there's a simple answer to this question - if you're already outsourcing your company's public communications to a trusted PR agency partner, they should be responsible for communicating on your behalf in the social media space as well. But if PR dictates how/what should be said, your company as well as other agencies (digital, etc.) could support the idea and help execute.

[Eric Tsai]

Valeria, I continue to be amazed on how much I can learn from you and the community that you've cultivated regardless of platform.

Most people (including myself) like to feel that we make the right decision and rationalize them somehow to feed our emotions. But the real value is in what you're doing across any platform, from your weekly #kaizenblog chat http://twitter.com/#search?q=kaizenblog to how you're able to get people to take action, I've learned that it's not about right or wrong, good or bad, black or white; but how we reach those conclusions. Reading everyone's opinion not only help my own but also propel the discussion forward. Sometimes we're so into what we do that we stop questioning ourselves.

I would love your opinion on the art of listening because most people tend to just wait until it's their turn to speak.

Thank you for including me in the conversation, I'm humbled by it.

[Girish]

Depends on the size of your firm, a megacorp should definitely outsource to a PR team, but for a SMB the PR could be the core message of their firm or product and there is no way a 3rd party could portray that effectively. So its really a mixed opinion there is no one answer that is correct.

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Daniela (Online Reputation) - the methodology is another critical piece of information that companies might consider building more transparency into, especially with employees. How do they arrive to the conclusions they do about the business? It's amazing how much more engaging those conversations would become.

@Tish - there is another consideration about coaching. In some companies that are not culturally ready to participate, coaching can help those who have been selected to contribute to blogs and online forums so they don't feel left out in the cold while the company catches up with what it means to be open. There's psychological value and a risk management component built into hiring an outside consultant or agency to help get things going and keep them sustainable. Nothing wrong with having lives :)

@Jay - I wholeheartedly agree about outsourcing your voice being difficult. And to that, I'd add that technical groups should do their heavy lifting and not expect that marketing and communications will take care of the content. Imagine doing a major blog launch that supports a new product and asking marketing to write the posts... hello? You're very diplomatic about the integration and holistic approach. Truth is, when the culture is cut throat, people are very turf-driven and give little thought to how their own actions and work impact others on the team and the whole customer experience. It's easier to look to an external resource as a guide. It takes the egos out of the equation.

@Danielle - thank you for the link. I'm willing to bet you that unless companies change the way they think about communications and build internal resources to support these additional assets, the writing and posting will be outsourced. I'm not saying that's the way I would do it, it's just hard for senior leaders who are used to marketing providing talking points and doing the leg work to shift their thinking to going direct.

@Glenn - it really depends on the frequency people are used to on each network, the context, and the person asking. Facebook is perceived as more casual, and people do spend more time there than on LinkedIn, even as more look for career opportunities, it's easier to be social than to be "working" :)

@Amy - the organization should still drive what is being said, the content. I agree that all agencies should be aligned on behalf of the organization.

@Eric - thank you for the kind words. Most people do like to think they made the right decision, and the process of getting there does help us manage emotion and gather the information we need to rationalize our decision. That's why we shifted the focus of #kaizenblog chat more decisively to strategy. We felt there was a need to take a step back and do just that. Listening is an art, and I've written about it here. I'll think about a way to put the question forth that stimulates thinking about the process vs. talking about tactics.

@Girish - interesting thought here. Would a megacorp have a more defined and portable core message?

[KPO India]

It's a tricky question. As it may be a time consuming task, it could be better for some to outsource it. However, every business set up business differs. It will only be up to the individuals running the business to decide whether they should outsource it or not.

[Eric B. Estes]

Just like human relations there is no way pinpoint any one system or method that works best. Ultimately, it comes down to the people involved at the ground level. 1st and foremost the individual hitting the keys on the keyboard and their ability to translate the given context of the message; 2nd and almost as important is company representative verbalizing the stance and direction to the Social Media folks. These two people can make or break any SMO campaign. Of course let's not forget direction, organizations are often so intent on 'getting the word out' that their focus gets lost within the ocean of social media. Aiming your time and resources toward a few [target audience] well traveled SMO's rather than hitting every single last one will will net proven success. Often over looked and undervalued aspect of a social media campaign is data management; the software we run can determine how productive a campaign managers day might be. Bottom line: Get the good stuff and learn to maximize it.

Eric B. Estes
Market Research Analyst
Clearwater Technical Group Inc.
www.fundraisingthebar.blogspot.com

[Teena]

Glad I bumped into your post, I've been wondering about that lately. The responses you post gave me an idea whether or not to outsource social media, or is it applicable to everyone regardless of industry or profession. For me it's a very sensitive part of branding, you build credibility and outsourcing it might break or make you. I'm not an expert on this matter it's a personal opinion that's why I need post like this to support my opinion on whether or not to outsource social media. Many thanks to you.