The 5 Key Benefits of using a Social Media Creative Agency over In-house Services
Should your company handle its social media management in-house? Or is hiring a Social Media Creative Agency a more strategic move? That is a crucial decision that many businesses are facing. As a top digital agency with decades in the business, we wanted to weigh in on the topic and share the 5 Key Benefits of using a social media creative agency over in-house service.
That is not to say that the in-house option is not an appropriate choice for certain businesses. However, the fact of the matter is there are many ways in which a great agency is superior to an in-house option.
5 Key Benefits of using an Agency
We could list more than 5 benefits; however, these are the most important ones that should be considered:
- Industry experts – When you hire a top firm you are getting industry experts with skillsets and a depth of experience that is hard to replicate. They are on top of the latest trends and in some cases are the trendsetters. While a firm might not know the specific ins and outs of your business, they will learn them and have a wealth of experience in a variety of other areas to then apply to your needs. While an in-house team might need to research an idea or concept before putting it into practice, you can hire a team that not only is able to do exactly what you need at that moment but have done it successfully for other businesses.
- Fresh perspective – One downside of an in-house group is that creativity can deteriorate over time simply because the creative employees are focused on the same products, services, or concepts continually. An outside firm brings fresh thinking to the table with new ideas or in some cases, ideas that have successfully been used elsewhere and modified for your specific needs. Those exciting innovative ideas can help redefine a brand or launch new campaigns with much more reach because they are so exhilarating and different. Keeping creative work exciting often involves variety and new situations which for a hired agency happens each time they meet a new client. People often say, “two heads are better than one,” and when you collaborate with an agency those two heads can produce fantastic results.
- Technical proficiency – For many in-house groups you have a limited number of hires that can be made which tends to limit the skillsets in the office. Larger firms, in contrast, have broader skillsets and great technical proficiency within those sets. On average, a person who focuses solely on brand strategy or video/animation creation is going to have greater technical proficiency than someone who is the project manager slash writer slash SEO specialist. Additionally, the larger firms are trained in and using the latest technology and tools.
- Dedicated teams – When you hire a firm for a project you are hiring a dedicated team that is there to meet your needs at that moment. Those teams are ready to go when a project is undertaken, unlike an in-house team which might have people on vacation, on leave, or even not there in the case of employee turnover issues. If you have a larger project, then you simply hire a larger team rather than waiting longer for it to be completed with the personnel available.
- Content and creative support – A creative agency can come up with catchy and creative posts that go beyond the norm, becoming branded campaign ideas that have legs and will travel. It is very hard to create compelling content. Not only does it take a lot of time, but that content also needs images, videos, SEO, etc. to be as effective as possible. A creative agency not only has experience copywriters but also a creative support team to craft social-friendly content that will resonate with customers and push engagement.
Are there In-house Benefits?
Honesty is important in today’s world and the truth is that there are benefits to creating an in-house team to handle your needs. Many corporations have had successful results by doing this. The in-house creative group does require significant funding to start as you need to pay for recruiting, employees, on-going training, office space, and benefits.
On average, a digital marketing manager makes $75k per year, a content writer $55k, an SEO marketer $60k, and a graphic designer $50k. It starts to add up quickly! However, that is not to say that there aren’t a few valuable benefits you can get from an in-house team:
- A natural connection – The biggest benefit of an in-house option is the connection to the brand, its culture, values, and mission. In some cases, employees own stock as well. For both situations, there is often a level of passion for the business itself that an outside agency cannot replicate. That is not to say that an outside agency is not passionate about their work or meeting their clients’ needs, but more than the natural connection is a unique motivator that can’t be replicated. Think about a company like Galileo and the connection to the culture and mission many of the employees have towards creating a world of fearless innovators.
- Built-in understanding – Unless the team is brand new, typically an in-house team will have a deeper, built-in understanding of the business, it’s history, the services they provide, and the products they create. While an outside agency, at least the good ones, will take the time to learn this information, the in-house crew is already there and more fully integrated. That means less effort needed for briefing about projects and an existing network for both communication and information distribution.
The Bottom Line
The bottom line is that each company is different with diverse needs. For most, the 5 key benefits of using a social media creative agency over in-house services are going to make a lot of sense and be the best approach for their company.
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