Are you considering outsourcing your Facebook marketing to a social media marketing agency? Outsourcing your Facebook marketing can be a very effective strategy for small businesses who don’t have the time or employee (wo)man-power to do it themselves. With that said, when it comes to successfully outsourcing your Facebook marketing there are a few things that every business owner should be aware of.

Choose the Right Partner

When it comes to outsourcing ANY portion of your business it is important to choose the right partner (notice how I say “partner” and not vendor). You don’t want to work with a company that’s incompetent, difficult to work with, or unwilling to treat you as a partner instead of just another client. In exchange, you should also do your best to treat your Facebook marketing agency as a partner as well. Your relationship with your agency partner should almost feel like you’re working with an internal team of employees who are simply located at a separate location. When you get that feeling you know you have chosen the right agency partner. Choosing the right partner creates a great working environment, encourages both parties to go the extra mile when promoting your information on Facebook, and leads to a long-term relationship, which is important when it comes to consistency on Facebook. Be sure you do your due diligence when searching for a social media marketing agency to help you with your Facebook marketing.

Set Performance Measures

Without setting performance measures up front, how can you measure success? When it comes to outsourcing your Facebook marketing you should understand that you’re going to have to pay a few hundred dollars each month to your social media marketing agency. In order for you to feel confident that you’re getting a return on your investment you must setup performance measures during the Facebook strategy planning stage. If the agency you have chosen doesn’t bring this up, it might be a good idea to get rid of them before you get too far down the road. Too many people out there claim to be “Facebook experts”, but really have no philosophy/strategy to bring to their clients. In order for them to cover up their deficiencies they try to stay as far away from “Reporting Meetings” as possible.

Be sure that you set clear objectives before starting your Facebook marketing. When coming up with these objectives it’s best to work with your agency partner. Don’t come up with unrealistic goals. Remember the agency can only do as much as you allow them to. Together you should put together realistic performance measures and then set up a time each month or each quarter whereby you will sit down with your agency partner to review your reports and compare them to your performance measures, so that you can track return-on-investment.

Conduct Regular Status/Strategy Meetings

Outsourcing your Facebook marketing can only work when you have a plan for conducting regular status meetings with your agency partner. Designate someone internally at your small business, whether that’s you (the owner) or an employee, as the main contact for your marketing partner. When Outsourcing your Facebook marketing to a social media marketing agency, in order for that agency to be successful, they need someone on the inside who they can rely on for information and to get back with them when they have questions. Having these regular meetings helps keep everyone on track, as well as, reduces the chance for surprises when it comes time to review performance measures to see how effective your outsourcing strategy is working.

If you follow these three tips you will have the best chance to be successful on Facebook. Effective Facebook marketing can be extremely beneficial in building relationships with customers and prospects, as well as, increasing sales. If you don’t have the time to manage Facebook for your small business, definitely consider outsourcing your Facebook marketing.