Are you struggling to stand out against your competitors in the social media space? Or are you losing time building your presence on multiple platforms? As a business owner, you may face various social media challenges like this. If you lack the time, tools, or expertise to execute your social strategy, you may need to hire a social media marketing agency to help.
These agencies use their know-how and tools to craft messages that balance what your brand wants to say and what your audience wants to hear. From creating content and monitoring engagement to running social ads, this expert team can handle your brand’s social media management so you can focus on other areas of your business. The team can create a strategy tailored to your needs and launch campaigns to deliver targeted results.
Moreover, hiring an agency can be more cost-effective than building an in-house department or hiring a social media manager. You can save on software subscriptions and benefit from diverse expertise and perspectives. Agencies also offer the flexibility to scale service packages to meet your needs.
But what exactly do social media marketing agencies do? We'll explore all the services offered by these agencies so you can leverage their talent and resources more effectively.
8 Top-Notch Social Media Marketing Services that Can Make Your Brand Stand Out:
What Services Do Social Media Marketing Agencies Offer?
As the most accessible touchpoint between consumers and brands, social media has become a crucial aspect of the customer journey. Nearly 70% of respondents to the 2023 Sprout Social Index Report said their primary reason for following a brand on social media is to stay informed about new products or services. Since you’re reading this article, it’s a good sign that you're committed to providing personalized social media experiences through every stage of your buyer's journey.
Let's explore how social media marketing providers can support brands in crafting these customized experiences.
1. Strategy development
Based on your business goals and social media targets, agencies develop a roadmap listing what content to post on what platforms at specific times. This strategy considers your target audience and brand identity.
To achieve this, the agency audits your current social accounts and does thorough market research and competitor analysis after understanding your objectives. They will then create a content calendar that outlines the specific content to be produced according to a schedule. They will also recommend the most effective social channels to reach your target market.
Example: Most images and videos on Sharpie Worldwide's Facebook account feature customer artwork. This strategy of highlighting user-generated content effectively promotes the brand’s various products without having to generate hard-sell messages.
2. Account/profile creation and branding
Once you've agreed on which platforms to use, your agency can create accounts for you, enhancing your business image starting with the content of your profiles. Social media marketers optimize keywords, use high-quality images, and provide accurate information. This combined effort can improve your visibility, enhance your branding, and make your business more accessible to potential and existing customers.
Example: While Luke's Lobster has an online shop, the seafood distributor uses its Instagram bio to list its US and overseas service areas. It also uses single-word terms that describe what its products are known for.
3. Content creation
If platform selection helps your target readers find you, content is what attracts and engages them. Agencies will plan and create written text and select (or provide, based on your agreed terms) images and videos that grab your audience's attention, sustain their interest, and act on your offers.
Your partner firm will study your demographics and analytics in determining the best format mix: images, video, infographics, and other multimedia assets. They will also use listening and other research tools to discover fresh or timely topics and themes to discuss in unique ways. Your agency's writers will also use search engine optimization (SEO) techniques to make your content rank higher than your rivals on search engines.
Example: UK-based smoothies and juice company Innocent Drinks uses LinkedIn to broaden awareness of its company culture, products, and advocacies. Its Limelight Series interviews various division leaders while other posts cite health info, brand collaborations, awards, and other programs.
4. Content publishing/distribution
Like all other things in life, timing is everything. Agencies stay abreast of the algorithms of each social platform to post content when your audience is most active or engaged. A consistent publishing schedule with some flexibility enables your outsourced social media marketing team to produce time-sensitive content based on your audience's profile. This freshness appeals to social media users, both new to your brand and loyal followers.
Example: If you run a real estate business, you can create content based on the current season and use visual platforms, like YouTube, to help local buyers or sellers. Producer Realty uploaded a 17-second video on its Greenville South Carolina Living channel covering five spring home maintenance tips. Beside the video title were the hashtags #homedesign #homemaintenance #homestaging.
5. Customer engagement
Agencies can provide online community management if you want to outsource tasks like customer support and engagement. Your service provider's team can answer questions, reply to comments, and conduct promotions.
Around half of participants in the 2023 Sprout Social Index Report consider responding to customers as the top trait of "memorable" brands. Moreover, 76% value brands that prioritize customer support. About 30% expect businesses to respond on social media within the same day. Meanwhile, others (23%) believe they should reply within an hour or two or only within minutes (16%).
Example: Sony has a dedicated Twitter account, SonySupportUSA, where customers can ask questions about their products. In this post, @beastupidgamer was grateful for the link that they provided regarding a home theater speaker system he wanted to repair.
Dear @SonySupportUSA ... I know She's old. But can anything be done for my dead SAVA-29 System? She's been in our family for years! ? If the system is "Gone-Gone", my wife and I plan to bury the whole system next to my grandma! ? Any help for discontinued home audio hardware? https://t.co/O8cATWitkR
— How to be a Stupid Gamer (@beastupidgamer) April 20, 2024
6. Analytics and Reporting
Agencies gather data about your audience’s favorite channels and the brands in your niche that get the largest share of voice online. They also study and interpret your audience behavior, competitors, and other market data to devise actionable strategies. You’ll find some of the most popular reporting software in our list of recommended analytics tools.
Reach, engagement, conversion rates, brand/product mentions, the volume of user-generated content, and ad conversions are some of the metrics they track and report. Agencies check these metrics before and after implementing campaigns to determine their performance, areas for improvement, and any patterns. At the same time, they also research your competitors' activities, customer feedback, and strategies.
7. Networking with influencers
An agency can help you find the right online personality to represent your brand for your social campaign. Depending on your needs, your chosen team can handle everything, from influencer discovery and negotiation to onboarding and management. Agencies ensure an influencer's market and values align with yours.
One trend in 2024 is the shift in preference towards nano and micro-influencers over celebrities due to their higher authenticity and community engagement. A 2024 Hubspot survey of over 1,500 marketers found that 67% work with micro-influencers (those with 10,000 to 99,000 followers), while 24% partner with nano influencers (those with 1,000 to 9,999 followers).
Example: Clothing retailer Aerie uploaded nano influencer Meagan Gallagher's "fit-check" video of her and her mom showing off their newly purchased summer wear from the store. Gallagher has less than 6K Instagram followers but she makes a good brand ambassador by sharing how they'll spend the day in their Aerie outfits.
8. Paid social advertising/media buying
Algorithm changes in platforms like Facebook make it harder to reach your target audiences through organic posts. Agencies can help improve awareness and sales for your brand by placing ads on select channels at the right time. They know how to use each social network's targeting options and formats to reach specific demographics. Statista forecasts that global spending for social ads will hit $219.8 billion in 2024, with mobile device-based ads accounting for over $181 billion.
Example: Kay Jewelers used a short video ad to evoke positive emotions from receiving jewelry as a gift. The ad didn't need sound or captions—just a well-trained dog and a happy ending!
Source: blog.hubspot.com
What to Consider Before Hiring
Entrusting your online image to a social media marketing agency is a big decision. Here are some factors to consider when planning your selection:
Decide what your goals are for partnering with an agency
Discuss with your team what you want to achieve with your brand's social media presence. Your goals can include:
- Increasing brand awareness
- Promoting new products
- Driving website traffic
- Generating leads and sales
- Providing customer service
- Building a brand community
- Tracking brand mentions
- Gathering market intelligence (including current trends and competitor activities)
Will you outsource all your social accounts or just a few? Allowing the agency to handle all your accounts enables them to produce a unified brand voice. However, you must establish a review and content approval system to ensure brand alignment. Or you may opt to handle specific aspects of social marketing, like community engagement if you want to sustain the spontaneous interaction between followers and your in-house team.
Determine your budget
Another crucial aspect to decide on is your budget. How much are you willing to spend on an external service provider? You typically pay agencies monthly if you're not hiring them for a one-off project, but costs vary depending on your scope of work. That's why we recommend clarifying your goals before doing your budget so you can assess the value you're getting for each investment you make.
Research and compare different providers to arrive at a ballpark figure for the services you want and need. Also, remember that each social platform charges differently for advertising. You must factor in these fees because they're separate from what your agency will bill you for crafting the message and other ad assets. Our social media marketing agency comparison page and calculator can show you the best performers on the market within your budget range.
Shortlist agencies based on their qualifications
Pick three to five agencies and compare them according to these criteria:
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Niche or Industry
Agencies that specialize or have extensive experience working with businesses in your niche (or a new niche you want to move to) have gained a deep understanding of the nuances and challenges of launching campaigns for your target market.
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Location
Select agencies familiar with your location and time zone. However, if you plan to widen your reach, find agencies that have provided services in your target location.
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Range of services
Ensure that your candidates offer the services that will help you achieve your goals, whether they may be content planning and creation, community management, or running ads.
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Results/track record
Evaluate their portfolios to determine the type and size of the agencies' clients. Candidates who have successfully managed campaigns for larger businesses might help you scale and achieve the same growth as their past customers.
Examine their case studies to get insights into their past projects and successes. Professional teams typically list results or performance stats, such as engagement and conversion levels achieved per campaign. Request for references and read through reviews to discover feedback from past clients.
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Payment structure
Check their pricing plans and services included to see if they have a plan that fits your budget. Or review the details of the quote if you requested one. Your chosen agency must offer a fair price and a good return on your investment.
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Communication and reporting style
Consider how frequently and through what methods you want your agency to communicate with you. Inquire whether the agency can share live info on your campaign results. Also ask about the posting platform and other software they use, especially if you want access to their tools.
Requesting Proposals
To streamline your shortlisting process, you can request for a proposal (RFP) from your shortlisted companies listing all your requirements. This request will prompt each agency to explain how they plan to meet your specific needs.
Similar to an influencer marketing RFP, agencies will outline the outcomes you can expect from them and the corresponding costs. This will allow you to compare agencies more systematically before meeting them and making a final selection.
To attract quality agencies, meet your in-house marketing staff so you can clearly define the items in your RFP. You can also avoid oversharing sensitive company details by providing contact information to interested parties who require more information for their proposals.
1. Background
- Your company profile (mission, core values, target market)
- Social media ecosystem (active accounts, links to ongoing or past campaigns, relevant analytics)
- Project goals, scope of work, timeline
2. Challenges
They could be questions like, “What solution can you propose for (state your challenge)?” Examples include special requirements if you're a government entity.
3. Qualifications
Request details on why the agency considers itself the most qualified to tackle your project based on the following:
- Agency's team size
- Account team (profiles of team members who will work on your project)
- Proof of expertise (certification, training/education)
- Work samples and results of past campaigns
- Client testimonials
- Project management strategy and approach
- Resources to be used in the project
4. Your budget and a request for the agency to submit a pricing breakdown and payment terms
5. Proposal submission deadline
6. Important contacts from your business
You can also decide to distribute an RFP instead of spending time shopping around for possible candidates. Once you've proofread your draft, send the RFP to your existing contacts or online communities. You can also publish it on your website's job listings page, blog/news page, or a dedicated landing page, then share the link on your social channels.
When selecting proposals to include in your shortlist, look for signs indicating the intention and willingness to pursue your project, such as:
- Personalization and precision in responding to your RFP requirements
- Examples of past successful campaigns relevant to your project or niche, and links to such case studies
Other differentiators to watch out for include:
- Client references (with contact details)
- Third-party reviews (not just customer testimonials posted on their websites)
- Certifications from recognized industry bodies
Screening Your Shortlisted Agencies
After picking the agencies that stand out, it's time to reach out and meet them. Speaking with their representatives allows you to verify the claims they make in their proposals. We've listed several questions to help you determine whether the agencies are as capable and responsive as they sound on paper. Although their proposals may already contain the answers you seek, evaluating what and how they respond can determine their trustworthiness.
Understanding of your company
Determine whether an agency understands your brand messaging and general social media goals with these questions:
- How well do you understand our brand's message/vision?
- Who is our target audience?
- Have you thought of strategies to make our brand succeed on social media?
Account management
These questions aid in identifying the individuals responsible for managing your brand's online presence on each social media platform.
- Will you assign an individual to focus on our social accounts or will a group work on them collectively?
- What social media management experience do these individuals bring to my brand?
- Who do I speak to for questions, company updates, and upcoming events?
Process
These questions enable you to understand the expectations of an agency. They also help generate ideas, devise solutions, set priorities, and prepare for the future.
- How do you onboard clients?
- What is your workflow for strategy development?
- How do you capture and maintain our brand voice on every campaign/platform?
- Who will provide the content? Will I identify the topics to focus on and preferred sources? Or can you source them for me? Will you or my company supply the still images or videos for the social posts?
- What kind of posts will you create? (Note that the 80-20 rule also applies to social media marketing. Only 20% of posts should be promotional or solely about your products or services).
- How frequently will you be posting?
- How do you plan social media campaigns? Can you give estimated timelines?
- What is your content development process like, from ideation to approval? (Do I get to see content before it goes live?)
- How will I receive and give feedback?
Tools and workforce
Ask these questions to learn more about your future partner's tech stack. Their responses can help you determine how their external team can synchronize with your internal tools and procedures.
- What platforms do you use to schedule and publish social posts?
- Do you have tools to monitor social mentions of our brand and those of our rivals?
- Do you use AI to produce written and visual content?
- Does your team include graphic designers or videographers?
Performance evaluation
Ensure you understand an agency's success indicators and whether their metrics align with your agreed targets.
- What key performance indicators will you use to measure the performance of each campaign?
- How do you optimize campaigns to improve results?
- How often do you re-evaluate your strategy?
- How do you stay updated on social platform algorithm changes, new trends, and features?
Data privacy
- What are your data storage and software access protocols?
- Does your agency ensure compliance with CAN-SPAM, GDPR, and other data security regulations?
- Do you use data encryption, anti-virus, and cybersecurity systems?
Succeeding in Social Media Marketing
If you're wondering whether you chose the right agency, review the goals you set for your project. Your partner should provide reports indicating whether it helped you achieve your targets. Compare their results against the performance of your social platforms before the agency stepped in to help.
At the same time, be open to change. Like all types of marketing, social campaigns require regular testing and tweaking. The agency might recommend completely overhauling certain strategies that involve content, tone of voice, and platform choice. Jointly track your metrics as the agency refines its approach until positive results are seen. Remember that results should lead to sales growth, not just better engagement.
