A Guide to Outsourcing Social Media for Life Coaches

A lot of coaches find keeping up a constant stream of social media posts a real challenge and time consuming chore. One solution is to look at the option of outsourcing to a specialist who can create content and place posts for you.

This guide will help you understand what outsourcing social media involves, how to choose the right social media partner for quality results and traps to be avoided.

Should You Outsource Your Social Media Posts? 

Whether or not to outsource social media posting can often depend on these things:

• Do you have the time and knowledge to do it effectively yourself to get the results you need? 
• Do you know you have the right social media skills? 
• Do you want to do it?😀

If your answer is No these questions, then consider finding the right, affordable social media partner could be the answer to free up your headspace and time to concentrate on your actual coaching.

What are the Benefits of Outsourcing Social Media Activity?

Some of the tasks you will no longer have to worry about if you outsource can be: 

• Developing and implementing a social media strategy
• Creating engaging posts.
• Identifying the right platforms for your posts 
• Scheduling posts for optimum exposure
• Responding to comments and interacting with followers.
• Monitoring your program and giving advice

This help can either come from a organisation that specialises in social media optimization or you may choose to work with an social media savvy VA (virtual assistant) It's up to you to decide what you need and what you would prefer to do yourself.

What Should You Look for in an Outsourcing Partner? 

If you Google "outsoucing social media" A huge and confusing number of individuals and organisations will pop up offering various packages.

Whether you outsource to an organisation or a single person, there are things you and they need to be aware of and monitor to avoid some of the traps that can sabotage the project. 

You should get clear on what you need such a service to do for you and then carefully match this with what is being offered. Define what you expect from them to meet your business goals for outsourcing.

It's also worth checking if they offer a trial period for you to test the results. If you considering paying for a big package in advance rather than say monthly, you also need to be familiar with the refund policy terms of the contract you are offered. 

For instance:

Do they understand and reflect your voice? That is, use language you would use and write content for posts in a way that connects with your particular audience. Until you are confident they can do this, you should request to check the proposed posts before they are posted.

Do they know the forum rules? Make sure they read and understand the rules of the forum where your post and comments are going to appear and do some checks. If the rules are broken your post may be declined again and again. This is especially necessary when a post is being place on multiple social media forums as a routine process. 

Why? On some forums that are strictly moderated (there are firm rules on what will and will not be accepted for posting.)  If these rules are constantly broken you may be banned from that forum and without some random checking, not even know.

Are their testimonials from your target audience? For instance if most of their testimonials seem to be from small to medium businesses, check to see if they also have any from professionals such as coaches or therapists. 

Are the outsourcing packages flexible? If you are working with an organisation you want to look for one that offers not just omplete packages but allows you to pick and choose the services you need.

Will you have a dedicated contact person? It can be really frustrating to get a different person who may not be familiar with your account every time you contact the organisation. It is invaluable to have someone who is familiar with your project and can personally guide you and who is easy to communicate with and get speedy responses. 

The bottom line in finding the right social media outsourcing partner is not to "delegate by abdication" with blind trust. Keep an eye on where your posts are supposed to appear and take the time to do some of your own monitoring so you can see how the outsourcing is working for you in getting the results you need.