How to Hire and Partner with a Social Media Marketing Agency for Big Results

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Hiring a social media marketing agency is a big decision. Same goes for a digital marketing or branding agency.

Understanding how to partner with your agency can make or break your success in both the short and long term.

Unfortunately many business and marketing leaders think they can quickly hire a social media agency to generate some fast buzz and a viral video. They then hope that like magic, all of their business problems will be solved.

The truth is that social media is NOT a silo. An agency can not work in a vacuum without access to your goals, objectives and broader strategic initiatives. They need to understand your target market, existing customers, competition, branding and messaging architectures and much more.

A good social media agency will help you integrate social media into your business. They will help you leverage social media to achieve your business and marketing goals, not just get a few tweets to go viral.

You must treat the relationship with your new agency as a partnership. It is together, working as true partners focused on the same big goals that you will win both now and in the future.

How you kickoff the relationship with your social media agency from day one, all the way to final and detailed execution of strategies and tactics are critical to success.

Have you considered hiring a social media agency but not sure where to start? Or maybe you have already hired a social media marketing agency, yet you are not seeing the ROI you had anticipated?

If you have struggled with seeing measurable results in hiring an agency there are many factors that could be contributing to the lack of results including:

• You hired the wrong agency
• You are not committed to the agency or the process
• You do not trust the agency and it is impacting the relationship with the agency as well as the outcomes
• You don't have well defined and documented business goals and objectives for which to align social media
• You don't have the internal infrastructure to support social media or the agency
• You have not been 100% honest with the agency on your internal and /or external challenges
• You have unrealistic expectations given the budget allocated to social media and the agency
• You have slowed down the process due to holding back information, or not giving your agency access to all data and channels requested
• You are forcing your agency to work in a silo of Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn vs letting them help you integrate social media into the DNA of your business
• Although you hired the agency as the “expert” to help you achieve success, you are now leading the project and calling the shots on a daily basis (even though you lack experience in the area for which you hired the agency for)

Take a listen to episode 240 of the Social Zoom Factor podcast for 10 strategies and tips to partner with your social media agency for maximum success and ROI!

Be sure to subscribe to our entire digital and social media marketing series on iTunes, Stitcher or SoundCloud!

In this 30 minute podcast you will learn: 

• 10 strategies and tips to partner with your social media agency for maximum success
• The importance of true partnership mentality with your agency
• How to hire the right social media agency
• The homework you must do before hiring a social media agency
•  Why you must commit to your social media agency once the decision is made to hire them
• Tips to be patient and ensure proper onboarding with the agency
• How to prepare and organize information for your agency so they can quickly ramp on your business goals, objectives, market etc.
• Importance of trust and why you can't hold back information from your agency
• Why you must be patient in achieving results and ROI
• When and why you must also work on your own internal processes and infrastructure to best support the agency

Need some help with social media marketing? Social Profit Factor Training Academy and Marketing Nutz Can help! 

Ignite your business results with social media marketing by learning in our online social media, digital marketing and branding training academy, the Social Profit Factor. We'll help you create a social media strategy and plan to drive real results for your business within 30-60 days! Not only will you learn how to develop a customer first strategy and plan, you will also learn 101 to advanced strategies and tactics for all of the top social networks including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Live Video and loads more.  Sign up now and stop wasting time. Start focusing on the actions and strategies that will bring real results! Up level your skillset so you can be a better partner to your agency.

Need us to help train your team? Give us a shout and let's get a custom workshop scheduled for your organization. Increase sales by generating more leads using social media to nurture relationships.

Supporting Resources:

• Why, What and How of an Audience First Marketing Strategy and Plan
• Hiring a Social Media Agency? Answer These 10 Questions First
• 3 Things You Must Know for a Successful Social Media Marketing Career
• 5 Reasons You Need to Get Serious About Building Your Personal Brand
• 10 Proven Strategies to Get Your Social Media Budget Approved (podcast)
• 10 Habits Highly Effective Social Media Marketing Leaders
• Audience Analysis Worksheet (worksheet to help you prioritize your niche)
• Content Editorial Calendar (12 month editorial content marketing calendar template)

How to Subscribe to Social Zoom Factor Podcast 

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