What to choose for good community management: a full-time Community Manager or an SMM Agency

An online community manager and social media management (SMM) specialist are two different professions, but both are needed to create a strong community and build a positive brand image. In this article, we will discuss the options to find a good contractor by contacting an SMM agency or hiring a specialist on the staff.

What are the advantages of working with SMM agencies?

Let's look at the main advantages of choosing an agency.

1. A team of professionals working on the project

Sometimes, one specialist is not enough to create a strong community. An agency has several professionals to work on a project at once: a manager in charge of the communication strategy with the audience, a copywriter who writes engaging posts, a designer, a photographer and a targetologist. Community manager roles do not include such a wide range and you have to contact other specialists yourself.

2. Experience conducting various projects

An SMM agency has clients from different business niches, which means that they have a wide range of experience. For example, working with a community promoting B2B services is significantly different from B2C companies. To find a specialist for your own staff, you need to carefully search for candidates, especially for promoting specific niches such as legal services.

3. Variable solutions

When selecting a candidate for a full-time community manager, HR looks for a person who can complete certain tasks, but they are not always a business priority. The SMM agency may look at the problem from a different angle and approach the solution more comprehensively.

4. Payment for the indicated services

You only pay the agency for a specific work plan. A full-time specialist requires a monthly salary and possibly extra for over-fulfilling the KPI. When hiring an agency, you also eliminate requirements like providing maternity leave and sick pay.

How to choose an SMM agency

When choosing an SMM specialist and a community manager, many brands are guided by the principle of "cheap cost and visible work." Some agencies, in order to get a client, offer a huge range of works at a low price. This creates the illusion of activity, but its effectiveness will be questionable.

1

Explore the portfolio

Agencies with many years of experience are not always the best solution for your business. Look at the company's cases, previous clients, and results. Read reviews about the company.
2

Fill out the brief

No serious company will start discussing a brand strategy without a detailed study of the client's business and its goals. If the agency does not do this, you have turned to non-professionals.
3

Determine the agency’s interest in your project

During a personal meeting, pay attention to what questions the manager asks. The specialist must clarify the details regarding your business, target audience, product features, your goals, and so on. If they only ask general questions, the contractor is unlikely to offer you quality services.
4

Transparency of interactions with the client and justification of the cost of services

Agencies with a good reputation always explain how their cooperation will take place, what exactly the community manager and other specialists will do, what metrics will be monitored, how they will conduct reporting. They will also calculate the exact cost of services, justifying each item of expense.

Read more about how to choose a good SERM agency in our other article.

When should you hire a full-time specialist?

SMM outsourcing is a good solution for a medium-sized business that has an urgent need for such a service, but for whom organizing work in-hose will be expensive.

It’s better to hire a community manager on staff if you need a specialist to be fully immersed in your project. Some complex business niches require a specialist to maximize efficiency and execute a thorough study of all the brand’s nuances.

Let's look at the pros and cons of full-time community and social media managers. For starters, it's multitasking. They must have strong communication skills, generate ideas on how to develop communities, and think over content. At the same time, they need to work with graphics, analytics systems, and many other tools. In an agency, many tasks, such as the creation of attractive banners, are handled by a designer. A single specialist may have difficulty coping with such a wide range of work.

skills which need a community manager in 2020

Community manager skill set

In some cases, you have to train specialists from scratch. For example, if you use complex analytics systems or a very specific product. This takes time, delaying the impact of this work on the brand.

Some companies are convinced that in-house specialists cost less. This is true in some cases, such as when the staff already has a designer, copywriter and account manager. Another benefit is that your specialist will be dedicated exclusively to your project, so they’ll be up to date with all changes and nuances.

How do you find a good community manager?

Community managers have been on the market for a long time, but finding a good staff specialist is not easy.

what we need pay attention to by assessing a good candidate

To assess a good candidate, pay attention to:

1. Their personal qualities and how much they know the specifics of the profession

It’s not a good sign if your candidate confuses the responsibilities of a community manager with those of an SMM. A good specialist, even with minimal or no experience, should clearly understand what the specifics of these roles are.

A good community manager must connect easily with people. If a person answers questions with enthusiasm, demonstrates an appropriate sense of humor, and can be endearing in combination with professional knowledge, this is a good sign.

2. Assess professional skills

A community manager must be aware of all trends on social networks and understand the specifics of working with each of them. They should also understand how to resolve conflict and neutralize negativity. In addition, they must understand how community development aligns with the business goals of the brand.
You can ask your candidate to complete a test task in advance of hiring.

3. Make sure the manager can connect with your audience

The specialist must establish close contact with your audience. If they are not close to the values of your company, the specifics of your product, and the interests of the people with whom they will have to interact, they will not be able to achieve results.

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Conclusion

Contacting an SMM agency or hiring a full-time community specialist primarily depends on the scale of your project and business goals. It is beneficial to contact a team of specialists if your brand is large or medium and you need complex work to create a strong community on social networks. In addition, an agency's employees have experience in working with different business niches. You can also hire an agency to train a full-time community manager for your business.