Episode 233: How To Decide On A Social Media Manager

Biggest Takeaways You Don't Want to Miss: Social media is the storefront of your business and doing it on your own can be tough. Finding the time, knowing the strategies, and planning it all out takes a lot of time. Many pet sitting and dog walking businesses make the mistake of delegating their social media management to someone [usually younger] on their team when they don't know the first thing about managing a social media presence. Others may look to marketing agencies for help, only just to be sold a fantasy and end left empty-handed. When they do promote your business, they may not be in line with your brand (i.e. colors, logo) and your business' beliefs. That's why it's crucial to have someone who knows the ins and outs of the business. In this episode, we're diving into the importance of social media management & things to consider if you're going to: Manage your own social media Hire someone from your team Hire an outside agency I also explain the importance of how social media management can help or hurt your business. What most don't realize is that because you don't have a storefront, your social media IS your storefront and the way you show up online will either encourage people to hire you or repel them from doing so. Show Highlights Handling your own social media accounts [3:00]  Start with one social media platform, Instagram [4:10]  What is the point of your social media? [6:37]  The mistake of hiring someone on your team to be a social media manager [9:24]  Create SOP's for your brand guide [10:49]  Your store front is your social media [14:57]  3rd Option - Hiring an outside agency & ensuring strategies [15:32]  What qualifies someone to be social media expert? [24:11] Special Offers 10 steps to make your social media poppin' You’ll receive a big workbook, 3-D Presentation with real life examples The bonuses of how to be engaging with your own stuff and with other people's stuff to get them to talk to you online. We will also give you a calendar with all of the pet holidays to have at your fingertips A whole bunch of responses to use to engage with people on your social media All this for $9.  Free to all Mastermind members Links To sign up for the workshop, visit www.jumpconsulting.net/workshop Better Marketing with Bella waitlist To sign up for Agorapule and get 2 months free www.jumpconsulting.net/ag To email Bella if there is anything you’d specifically like to hear about, email her at [email protected] Share The Show Did you enjoy the show? We would love it if you subscribed today and left us a 5-star review! Click this link –Bella In Your Business Click on the ‘Subscribe’ button below the artwork Go to the ‘Ratings and Reviews’ section Click on ‘Write a Review’ Transcript: This is episode 233 of Bella in Your Business. Hi there, I'm Bella Vasta from Jump Consulting. You might know me from CBS, NBC, Fox, Huffington Post, Entrepreneur, or maybe you've seen me speak on stage or read my book, The Four Dogs That Every Business Owner Needs. In any case, get ready because you're about to get your hashtag Bella Butt Kickin' in this next episode of Bella in Your Business. So what do you say? Let's get ready and jump. Welcome to Bella in Your Business. My name is Bella Vasta, and today we are going to continue on our series about social media and talk about something we’ve never talked about, which is awesome and exciting because, let’s face it, we are on our 232nd episode. Wow. I never dreamed that I would get to 232 episodes when I started recording this in my closet on the floor because it was the only place in my old house that had carpet. I didn’t even have a microphone, you guys—just speaking into my laptop. If you haven’t heard the first couple of episodes, I really do encourage you to scroll back and listen to them for a couple of reasons. One, you’re going to hear a lot of my backstory and who I am if you’ve ever wondered who this crazy girl is in your ear. The other thing is you’ll see where I started. I think that’s really important because these days we look at things and think, “I could never be like that.” We’re always comparing ourselves, and it’s the worst thing anyone can ever do. If you go back to the beginning, you’ll hear a very different quality, confidence, and outlook on life because you can’t compare my first episode to my 232nd episode. So why would anyone ever compare themselves to someone who’s been doing something a long time? Today we’re going to talk about a topic that I see happen a lot in the Mastermind, in Better Marketing with Bella, and in my free groups. If you’re not in any of the free groups, there’s one called Jumpstart Your Pet Business—go ahead and find it, or just go to jumpconsulting.net/group and it’ll take you right there. Hiring someone to do social media in your company is a very big task. It’s not a gig, and it’s not something you just “kind of do” or “just post.” Especially in this day and age when your social media is literally your storefront, it’s something that way too many people take too lightly. We’re going to talk about the different ways you can accomplish getting your social media out there and the things you need to consider—whether it’s you, someone on your team, or you’re hiring it out. I’ll talk about all three because we don’t discuss it enough. Too often we think someone on our team can do it just because they’re under 30 and must be good at social media. Wrong, guys. That’s going to be so bad for your company. Let’s start with you doing it. Because everything I’m about to tell you that you need to consider are the same things you’ll need to think about when bringing someone else on. If you’re going to do the social media—and I’ll walk you through all the 10 steps you need in my upcoming webinar, just go to jumpconsulting.net/workshop—you can register for it. It’s the 10 steps you need to make your social media pop. Basically, I walk you through my entire Better Marketing with Bella routine—all the steps you need for a solid social media strategy. If you’re going to do it yourself, you really need to figure out what social platforms you’re going to dominate. I’d love to see you start with one and then move on to others. These days, if you’re just starting out your business, I’d say start on Instagram—it’s easier than Facebook and the second-largest platform out there right now. Leave TikTok, Twitter, Clubhouse, and LinkedIn behind for now. And please, don’t put all those links in your email signature or on Facebook just to look cool. If you’re not keeping up with them every 48 hours, you’re doing it wrong. You’ll need to time-block. Every month or every quarter, take time to plan. If it’s quarterly, maybe lock yourself in a hotel room for two days to storyboard and plan out everything you’re going to do. If it’s weekly, it’ll be more cumbersome—like running a marathon every week. Try to batch at least one month at a time so you can look ahead and plan around what’s coming up. Consider what platform you’re on, what topics you’ll talk about, and how you’ll repurpose that content. When you create content, repurpose it into a story, a Facebook Live, a blog, or an email. It’s not about creating more content—it’s about creating smart content that you can build an arsenal with: questions you’re always asked, or common local issues like “I lost my cat” or “someone’s not picking up their dog poop.” Write educational articles about things like that to contribute value to online conversations. Social media isn’t about immediate sales. It’s about building relationships, awareness, and brand trust. Think about the last time you hired someone—you probably checked their social media. People do that with you too. They’re looking to understand who you are. If you’re doing your own social media, understand your consumer, your audience, and where they are in the sales process. Stop saying “We do dog walking, hire us!”—that’s sleazy. It’s about connection, meaning, and value. Now let’s move on to having someone on your team do it. Too often, people assume that just because someone’s on Instagram all the time, they can handle social media for your business. Nope. If they don’t understand your brand voice, tone, or audience, you’re wasting time and money. Without clear SOPs that explain your brand lingo, emoji use, logo placement, and overall tone, you’re setting them up for failure. Social media isn’t just cute dog pictures—it’s about storytelling and consistency. You can use tools like Agorapulse, which even has a full social media school. You can get two free months at jumpconsulting.net/ag. There’s no excuse for not learning. Understand your goals. Social media works—if you work it. If you don’t understand the basics, you’ll waste money. For example, Facebook is getting rid of “likes” on business pages. That’s huge. Your social media is your storefront. You wouldn’t let a kid design your physical store signage, right? So why let them run your online one? Finally, let’s talk about hiring it out. There are different levels—you can hire someone to just create graphics, or you can hire a strategist. A true strategist asks about your audience, goals, and brand story. They understand that your audience isn’t just potential clients—it could also be potential employees or collaborators. Good social media isn’t random—it’s strategic. They should understand design, platform differences, post sizes, and copywriting. They should know how to write captions that draw people in. They should understand Instagram Stories, hashtags, polls, and engagement strategies. You also need to make sure they know your brand voice, how to create emotion in posts, and how to represent your company professionally. If your social media looks unpolished, people will assume your business is unprofessional.