The reasons marketing directors say they want to keep social media in-house is quite varied (and some quite humorous):
Notice what is missing. Cannot recall one marketing director ever saying their internal team gets better results than handing off to an agency. So, what does that tell you?
One, they don’t really have a definition or expectation of what success should look like. Therefore, it is hard to establish goals, build a plan to those objectives and hold those working social to account for performance. Second, there is no bona fide game plan … building a proactive plan, creating content specific to social media, understanding and applying best practices.
Decades ago, clients recognized the advantage of hiring agencies to execute advertising. Agencies traditionally have offered strategic expertise, creative talent and media planning and placement know-how that came to be viewed as essential to savvy marketers. Social media is the most efficient and effective advertising going today. Why wouldn’t you bring on a shop to take advantage? Trust us, your competitors are … for a reason. Companies not taking advantage of social media are likely marketing at a competitive disadvantage.
As for “understanding the brand,” agencies have not only written, voiced and produced in ‘brand voice” for decades, but most great brand communications came from an agency. Agencies employ pros who know the difference between good and bad and stake their reputation and careers on what they produce.
Is your current social media resource willing to put their career on the line? GRM, like other shops passionate about their work, recognizes our reputation and business is based on delivering quality work and impact – results! If you don’t have the answer what you should expect from social media, then a conversation is in order.