In the world of the internet and online business, any company which doesn’t utilise social media as part of its marketing efforts is giving its competitors a huge advantage. Whether the reason for not using social media is a lack of knowledge or a lack of time there is a simple solution, and that is employing a digital marketing agency to do it all for you.

The first objection that is normally raised with this suggestion is the cost, and yes, a digital agency will require you to pay a fee for their services. But just consider the ‘cost’ of not using social media.

You can be certain most of your competitors are using social media in one way or another. By doing so they are enhancing their brand and building relationships with their followers. The long-term benefit of this is massive as it creates loyal supporters who not only buy their products, they will also promote them without being asked, by sharing social media posts. Every individual who your competitors welcome into the fold via social media is a potential customer that isn’t likely to come your way.

Before choosing a digital marketing agency, you should first do some research. Ask other entrepreneurs or business people you know if they can recommend a reputable agency that they have used in the past. Obviously, the internet is a great place to find such an agency but always check their testimonials and reviews before you employ them, and if possible speak to their previous clients.

Your digital marketing agency can create a social media campaign as big or as small as you need it to be. It could be you only want to focus on Facebook, and principally there is nothing wrong with that. Alternatively, you may want a comprehensive campaign, which covers multiple social media sites. Whichever it is, your agency should have the experience, the expertise and more importantly the resources to create and implement the campaign for you.

The specifics involved can include many tasks but the main will be as follows:

• Setting up accounts on each social media site
• Posting engaging content on a regular basis to each site
• Answering questions and following up with comments
• Creating polls and surveys to discover what followers want/like
• Encouraging followers to share posts
• Producing high-quality images and videos to be posted
• Linking from each post to other accounts

In may be the case that on certain social media sites some of these tasks are done daily, and even several times a day for those accounts which have a very active following. It is at this point you should really see the benefit of employing a digital marketing agency versus having to do all these tasks by yourself. When your following and sales increase, you will then regard the fee to employ a digital marketing agency to run your social media campaigns, not as a cost, but as a valuable investment.