Let’s look at some of the pros and cons of outsourcing your social media marketing (or any tasks, for that matter!) versus the sometimes irresistible pull to do it all yourself.

I’ve done and do both, and there are several factors at play here. If you’re just a total control freak, then no one will meet your expectations, and you need to know that going in. There comes a time though, if you truly want to grow your business you need to consider outsourcing, or perhaps cloning! 

Outsourcing - The Pros

• You can instantly scale your business. You now have given yourself more time to do the things that are necessary to move your business to the next level because you’re no longer tied down doing the manual labor. Just because it’s on the internet doesn’t mean it’s not time-consuming, mind-warping work. Listen, if you had a landscaping business, you might start out doing some or all of the work, but the “green ceiling” would soon become very apparent! There is no difference online.
• It will dramatically improve the  speed of delivery on projects, as well as customer satisfaction. You’ll be exerting total strategic control of the projects, without having to physically do them. Your existing clients will be happier, and you’ll be able to take on more of them. 
• By outsourcing you’ll be able to take advantage of people who you hire that have an area of expertise or specialty that you may not have, thus improving the quality of your site or service.
• By sticking your head out of the rabbit hole, you will be meeting new people, some of whom may end up being a great ally or partner down the road. You just never know. (Well, sometimes you do!)
• Outsourcing will enable you to take tactical advantage of your competitors by not only increasing your own quality of service and amount of work you’re doing, but eventually your site will be outranking theirs due simply to the amount of content, links and attention that are being showered on it.

Cons Of Outsourcing

• Now and then the quality won’t meet your standards, and you’ll either have to reassign the task or fix it yourself. Sometimes this will cost you money. It’s the cost of freeing up your valuable time, (which I hope is more than you are paying your outsourcers!) As time goes on, however, this happens less frequently as your list of outsourcers grows larger and more dependable.
• You won’t have total control. This can be a hard thing to give up. It was for me. You know you can do it better, and you may very well be right! You just have to decide what’s more important to you; your time or your quest for perfection. 
• You actually have to pay people. In my mind this is a pro, but I know that many people have a problem with this initially. It’s actually sort of a right of passage for your business, as you’re now able to play with the big dogs. Don’t be stingy either! If you opt for the lowest price point out there, you will generally get the lowest quality and dependability. The highest prices may not be worth it it either. Decide on a number that will afford you the best quality and time value for investment and use this as a starting point, You can always add more later.

Social media marketing is a venture ripe for outsourcing, as the tasks of making social posts, blog posts, and creating content take up valuable time. Social marketing is also a vast and confusing landscape of sites and networks, and just keeping up with who’s who can be a challenge.  It’s a shifting playing field, with numerous player substitutions every day. Give this some thought before you start you next social media marketing campaign.