A blog post

Why You Should Never Outsource Your Social Media Tasks & What You Should Delegate Instead

Posted on the 11 February, 2009 at 12:01 pm Written by in Social Media

I often see notices from outsourcing companies promising that they can make your social media burden light by doing the tasks you don’t want to.

These virtual teams promise to:

  • Ghostwrite and post articles on your blog
  • Find and approve friends for you on Facebook/LinkedIn
  • Find and approve followers for you on Twitter
  • And will do this anywhere from 4-10 times per month for a few hundred dollars.

Huh? When did outsourcing your relationships become okay?

Social Media Wears Prada (Didn’t You Know?)

In the movie The Devil Wears Prada, Anne Hathaway plays a naive entry level secretary by the name of Andy Sachs. Andy heads to New York after she’s hired to assist Miranda Priestly, the editor of a New York fashion magazine, who’s all bitch and little personality (played by Meryl Streep).

In one scene, Miranda drags Andy to a charity event. The reason Miranda needs Anne is because Miranda can’t remember anyone’s name. So Andy has to walk 5 paces behind Miranda with a book that includes the names and faces of New York’s socialites. Every time Miranda shakes someone’s hand, there’s a 3 second pause as Andy quickly flips through her book and then whispers the person’s name in Miranda’s ear.

When you outsource your selection and maintenance of your social media relationships, I liken this to the book that Andy carries around. If you aren’t cultivating these relationships through Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn on your own, how then will you know who to call on when you need them?

For example, if your assistant is the one approving and finding friends and posting things on Twitter on your behalf, you’re missing out on the friendly banter that happens between friends. My pal, Scott Stratten, is always spinning tunes and sharing his playlist on Twitter. If he plays your favorite song and you’re not there to tell him so, how can you expect to build rapport with him?

Now, you may say:

“Leesa, what does sharing music on Twitter have to do with boosting my business?”

Well, you know the old adage which is people do business with those they like and trust, right? People can only like you if they know your interests and hobbies. If you can’t share these things because you’ve outsourced this task to someone who only knows you because of the amount of money you’re paying them, you’re missing out on the rapport building activities that come with using social media.

Outsource Your Relationships for Just One Week (I Double Dare You)

To illustrate my point, try outsourcing your personal relationships for one week. Hire someone who will stand in for you at home, at church or on your sports team.

  • When your husband says “Honey, come to bed,” tell him that your outsourced stand-in will join him so you can finish a proposal you’re working on.
  • When your mom invites you over for dinner, tell her that you can’t but that you’re sending your outsourced stand-in to fill your spot.
  • If you’re dating, tell the person that you’re going to send your outsourced stand-in to join you so you can take off early to go and watch Desparate Housewives.
  • When you just don’t feel like being a mom, a dad, a sister, an aunt, a brother, a husband or a wife for a day, check your yellow pages for a service where you can outsource that role for a 24-hour period.

Not realisitic you say? Of course not! The whole idea is absolutely ridiculous. Which is why I see outsourcing the relationship building aspect on Twitter, Facebook and other social media tools to be a silly idea as well.

Outsource Your Business, Not Social Media

When I worked in corporate, there was one role I loved over all others – Business Development. The person in this role was never in the office. He was out golfing or attending a networking event or flying to a conference. He got paid to schmooze and I felt he had the coolest job in the world.

Social media to me is no longer a marketing or sales tools. Social media is my schmooze tool, a place where I build rapport by giving, sharing and helping. Just like I would never outsource the relationship building aspects of a date, I would never outsource the relationships I’m building on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn.

I recommend that you outsource the administrative tasks in your business that you absolutely loathe so it frees you up to use social media as a business building tool.

When someone on Twitter says they need to get off of Twitter for the rest of the day to work on a proposal or some sales letter or some other client work, I know they don’t have an assistant or a virtual team. Someone who does is freed up to use social media as often as they want without having to take “time off” of social media.

In my business, I now just show up for my training events, teach and inspire, then go home. All the planning before and after the event is done by my virtual team. I now have free time in my schedule to develop my business using relationship building tools both online and offline.

This can only happen once you outsource the right portions of your business.

Next Steps

Before you think about outsourcing your social media tasks, ask yourself the following questions:

  1. What administrative tasks in my business are more suitable for delegation?
  2. How can I free up more of my time so I can use social media on my own?
  3. Will delegating this particular social media task damage my ability to form a real connection with the person who’s trying to cultivate a relationship with me on ?

What Are Your Thoughts?

Leave your comments below with your thoughts on outsourcing social media tasks.

Update: At Podcamp Toronto over the weekend, I shared in Dave Fleet‘s session called Social Media Ethics that I saw nothing wrong with outsourcing your blog writing tasks to someone else. It sparked an interesting debate between myself, Dave Fleet and Danny Brown on Twitter (follow the tweets here).

I’m a true believer of delegating the tasks that you hate or are not good at, yet with social media, you need to be present to cultivate and build the relationships you’re forming.

Writing isn’t my most favorite thing to do in this world, but on the other hand, I love meeting and interacting with people on Twitter, Facebook and through my blog or video podcast.

Danny suggested that I invite guest bloggers to write for my blog instead of having someone post blog posts under my name (ghostblogging). That’s an interesting model, one I’ve never considered. What I have been thinking about is moving towards publishing more audio and video on my blog since I can whip those out in no time. It’s easier for me to do and it represents my voice better than just text alone.

Whatever I decide, one thing I’m sticking to is that relationship building cannot be outsourced. That was the point of this post. Interacting with people through my blog via the comments, on Twitter, through Facebook or on LinkedIn cannot be delegated. You have to be present and show up to build rapport with those who are following you.

Update: I’m co-hosting a teleclass on Thursday May 28, 2009 at 5pm EDT with Craig Cannings on the 5 social media tasks you can outsource and still be authentic. Craig opened my eyes on a few issues and I invite you to this free call so you can discover my a-ha moment in regards to this issue.  You’ll be quite surprised. Click here to get more info on this call and to register your spot.

  • http://www.boomerdivnation.org Beverly Mahone

    Leesa,

    You are so right on the money with this post. I can’t imagine why anyone would consider outsourcing their social media posts. How do you build any type of relationship that way? I’m sure I probably have a few followers who are doing that. These are the ones who are constantly self-promoting and ignoring everyone else—or just conversing with a select few.

    I wrote a post recently: Twitter Isn’t for Everybody and it’s definitely not for somebody’s assistant.

    Thanks for always enlightening us with your social media posts. You are truly the QUEEN DIVA on this subject!

  • http://SelfEsteemQueen.com Dawn The Self Esteem Queen

    Leesa,
    This is the BEST article I have read @ this…THANK you for writing this!

    Dawn The SEQ!

  • http://girlsavvymarketing.com/ Demetria

    Wow, Leesa…just what I was thinking. Excellent post. You definitely cannot replace the repertoire you get with being online and building those friendships. There is no substitute for being there yourself.

    Thanks!

  • http://www.vaclassroom.com/socialmarketingtraining/ Craig

    Hi Leesa,

    Fabulous post – I agree wholeheartedly that outsourcing your Social media relationships would certainly stifle your authenticity and ability to establish a rapport with your community.

    But, let me share another angle as to why Outsourcing Social Media Marketing tasks are helping businesses significantly expand their exposure in 2009.

    The tasks you mention above refer specifically to Social Networking relationships. While a Social Media Marketing consultant should not necessarily take the place of the actual business owner in Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and such, they can certainly help businesses to establish the right focus in their Social Networking efforts, provides strategies on how to build community with a target audience and even identify tracking tools for evaluating overall return on investment and influence. The reality is that many businesses are active in Social Networking, but have never implemented a sound Social Media Strategy. Now, creating a business strategy might not sound too relational, but Social Networking is a tool for building your business and requires a clear focus and game plan.

    In addition to Social networking there are many other Social Media tasks that would be worthwhile outsourcing to a Social Media Marketing Specialist such as:

    - Online Reputation Management – tracking and reporting on your client’s reputation in the blogosphere, forums and Social Media Channels.

    - Online Video Marketing – Helping businesses strategize and create a sound plan for distributing targeted video content through Social Media channels.

    - Facebook Marketing – Moderating Facebook Groups, Building Facebook Business pages, researching targeted friends to add, adding new business applications…

    - Social Media Content Marketing – creating Articles, Hubpages and Squidoo lenses and mass syndicating through targeted Social Media channels

    - Blog Marketing – researching and identifying targeted blogs to follow as well as syndicating the client’s blog posts through Social Media channels.

    Again, those are just a sampling of some pertinent Social Media related services that many businesses are outsourcing today.

    Now, these services are more adminstrative and would not take away from the relationship-building efforts on behalf of the business owner. I think these types of services would simply allow the business owner to expand his/her reach in this rapidly growing Social Media realm.

    Great discussion!

    Craig

  • http://www.virtualassist.net Andrea Kalli

    Great article Leesa. And also perfect clarification Craig. As a virtual assistant who specializes in helping clients with social networking and marketing, I’m always up front with them about the fact that we will be a team working together, the client and myself. They’ll take the initiative to make the connections, build the relationships, and interact with people…I’ll do the more administrative stuff.

    They wouldn’t invite a bunch of people to a party, then not personally show up…would they?

    Andrea Kalli

  • http://www.timefinder4you.com Lauren McMullen

    Hi Leesa,
    Thank you so much for addressing this important subject. We must be vigelent in this area or people will lose faith in the social media networks much the same way they have lost faith in TV or Radio advertising.

    I am a Virtual Assistant who specializes in Social Media Marketing and I agree with you completely concerning not outsourcing the social media networking tasks that reveolve around your unique voice or point of view. The main principles social media is built upon are authenticity, transparency and relationship building. There is no way to maintain those principles and outsource your blog posts or conversational tweets.

    But does that mean an entrepreneur must be bogged down by all zillions of other tasks involved with developing and maintaining a productive Social Media Strategy. I don’t think that is realistic.
    For example would you or should you outsource your attendance at a large family function such as a reunion or anniversary celebration? Of course not that would be unthinkable. But could you outsource the many technical details involved such as house cleaning, grocery shopping, menu planning or invitations etc? I think everyone would agree that would be acceptable and could quite possibly make the event even better.

    One of the most important skills to learn if you want to become a successful entrepreneur is how to delegate so you can concentrate on what you do best.

    There are many Social networking tasks that can be outsourced to a qualified specialist that have no direct impact on the actual voice of the person who is using them such as tracking and reporting on your reputation in the blogosphere, building and maintaining business pages in Facebook, researching and identifying targeted blogs for the client to comment on etc. There are also so too many Applications and tools available for one person to investigate and test alone.

    I think the consumer is very capable of figuring out which people are presenting their own authentic thoughts and experiences and which ones are delegating those important tasks to someone else.

    Lauren McMullen

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  • http://www.janetbarclay.com Janet Barclay

    Good post, Leesa! I’d especially like to thank Craig for clarifying the types of social media tasks that are well suited to delegation. Most of my clients don’t have the time or desire to set up their profiles on the various sites, sort through friend requests from people who are more interested in numbers than relationships, or check sites with minimal activity to see if anyone is looking for them there. By having me on board, they can use their social networking time to do just that – networking.

  • http://blog.LooseEnds.net Katie Baird

    Leesa,

    Marvelous read. I’ve been asking myself this very question since I learned that many VA’s are in fact handling social media interactions for clients. And, believe it or not, the scene in “Devil” you reference is one I used to illustrate this phenomenon during a meeting with someone recently.

    Craig is well-spoken, as always, and makes a good argument for tasks that your team or designee could handle for you. He offers training for anyone who is interested in sorting this all out and selling such services to their clients.

    Meanwhile, PLEASE, everyone, I want to talk to YOU on Twitter and LinkedIn, not your assistant.

    Thanks for a goods great read.

  • http://giraffemarketing.blogspot.com/ Chris Morales

    This was an excellent article. I am still a relative newbie at blogging. This article gave me deeper insight into one of the key differences between social marketing conentional marketing: two-way communication. Recently I have been blogging on customer service. I was inspired to do so by a couple of recent experiences I had with local companies. The response I have received has been fantastic for me. Thanks for this great article

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  • http://backcountrygirl.blogspot.com Cathy Fraser

    Hi Leesa,

    Great points on the outsourcing! I am sure there are some days we would like a stand in for family or other obligations!!

    I would agree with you totally about not outsourcing or using a VA for the daily interactions that need to occur to build the relationships. However, as others have stated I think because there social media can be very overwhelming I believe business owners need to have assistance to get started and maintain their marketing efforts in some manner. The foundation of having a focused marketing plan is key, (which I specialize in), setting up the profiles, and getting the information distributed are a few aspects that a business owner would be prudent to outsource.

    Thanks for the topic of discussion!

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  • http://dulcitalove.com Dulcita Love

    Fascinating topic.

    Lately, I have been studying how larger companies and celebrities are using Twitter such as:

    http://twitter.com/wholefoods

    http://twitter.com/britneyspears

    When I communicate with a larger company, I may not expect the CEO to be Tweeting, but it is really nice if there is a name attached to the Tweet so that I don’t feel like I am speaking to the Wizard of Oz behind a screen.

    I appreciate what Craig shared in the comments above about some things that might be helpful to outsource.

    Thank you Leesa for posting on this topic.

    Dulcita Love
    http://twitter.com/dulcitalove

  • http://www.roarcorps.com Jill Freeman

    You read my mind Leesa! I was literally JUST thinking about this very topic. Great article and great discussion as well. I would only use a VA for administrative tasks. To me, marketing and building my rep and business are things I don’t want to give up or put in anyone else’s hands.

  • http://snap-va.com/blog Karri Flatla

    Just to play Devil’s Advocate here (someone had to so why not me? ) …

    But what about the entrepreneur who is growing his or her business into a larger entity and simply *must* begin to entrust some of these relationship-building activities to others? Do we honestly believe that the shareholders of Starbucks are tweeting under the @starbucks twitter profile?

    Pretty doubtful.

    Eventually, if you’re really thinking *big* you’re going to have publicity and marketing people to handle some – though not all – of these tasks for you, including select social media activities. WHO those right people are is a matter of trust and competency. And HOW they represent you or your company at large indeed must be carefully strategized.

    So while I agree that it’s not okay to let people on your team haphazardly tweet away on your behalf, I think twitter is still very new and unexplored. As such, we might have to start thinking about the various ways it’s going to be used by both large companies and those aspiring to be so.

    Food for thought eh?
    And fab post Leesa!
    Karri

  • http://dannybrown.me Danny Brown

    So how does this stand up now with your tweets at Podcamp Toronto about outsourcing your blog – the most personal of work?

    http://twitter.com/leesabarnes/status/1237388925

    http://twitter.com/leesabarnes/status/1237458287

    Seems pretty contradictory and against every transparent page in the book.

  • http://www.learnsmallbusiness.com DeAnna Troupe

    Very good post. As a VA, I have mixed feelings about this issue. True, I don’t think that you should outsource the process of finding and following friends. However, there are some tasks (like posting an article you’ve written) that could be outsourced without damaging your reputation. I think you just have to determine a happy medium between what you outsource and what you do personally.

    Great post, Leesa!
    DeAnna

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  • http://recessionproofthinking.com Susan Kuhn Frost

    Leesa,

    There is another way to add to the mix:

    Speak your blog posts into a digital recorder. Have your VA transcribe and edit, then you approve the final.

    That gets your spoken voice (always better than the written voice) out there, and utilizes your team to do the parts you hate.

    Mix that in with video and audio — and we’ll get the best you have to offer.

    Susan

  • http://www.vbsondemand.com/category/blog Serena Carcasole

    What a great post!

    I am a VA and do somewhat disagree with what is being said. Yes it is true that doing it your self is beneficial not only for knowing who you are networking with but for a chance to learn a wealth of information. It is not the same when someone else does it for you because there are things that you can pick up on that others will not pick up on such as; a prospect or joint venture etc.

    Some points:

    - There are many entrepreneurs out there that are not internet savvy, or technically savvy. They just don’t get social media and most of all don’t have the patience for it either.

    - Believe it or not half of your followers and friends in your networks are NOT doing it themselves. Just like the others said above about the celebrities and corporations, they have people doing it for them.

    - Chances are those that are paying for social media marketing assistance are also outsourcing the administrative work too. The clients that I help with social marketing also outsource their administrative work, graphic work, bookkeeping etc.

    - Also the entrepreneurs that do their own social media marketing are normally those that have an internet based business so social media marketing is a part of their business. It’s like having a conference call with prospect clients.

    - Sometimes entrepreneurs need a head start to get them established before they can take it on themselves so they have a social media marketing specialist work on establishing them and then training them on how to do it effectively.
    Just my 2 cents. There is always an exception to a rule and there are some people that the rules do apply to and some that don’t. It’s a matter of realizing which rules are meant for your business. :0)

    Serena Carcasole
    http://www.vbsondemand.com
    Your 1STOP Business Service Shop
    Outsource your way to success!

  • http://www.thepaulagcompany.com/blog Paula G

    I think production can be outsourced, but the relationship building cannot. So, for example, if I write an article for my blog or website, I can have someone else do the posting, website updates, or submission to article directories. What I can’t do is have that person respond to my blog comments, tweet for me, or speak for me.

    No one would send a proxy to do a speaking engagement and build relationships, so why do it online?

    Outsource what you can…but you can’t outsource the personal connection, otherwise it is just, well, icky ;-) and inauthentic.

  • http://www.annettefix.com Annette Fix

    Leesa,

    Great post! I couldn’t agree more. I would never trust my relationships or my writing to someone else. No VA or support staff, no matter how talented or diligent could authentically represent me or capture my voice. It’s credibility suicide and the social networking equivalent of an automated phone system.

    If you want to get to know Annette, press 1 for English. ;-)

  • Pamela

    I found it amusing that you said that you said that you loved the Bus Dev job, but if someone had to get off Twitter to do a proposal that they didn’t have a VA. I think maybe you didn’t do the job yourself (I did for 15 years), because no good bus dev person would ever outsource sales (of which the proposal is the first step). Now maybe you’re lucky and a good VA can do a draft, but if you’re serious about selling you will get off Twitter and put your hands on that document.

    Ultimately, as an entrepreneur (which I am now) it’s about earning $$. No $$ = no business. Although I follow a few people, ultimately I think there’s a reason Twitter rhymes with ‘fritter’. All relationships– online and off– must be managed.

    I think it would be interesting to do a study of the earning level of heavy Twitterers (those who do it personally instead of companies who outsource). I’m guessing that aside from social media guru tech-geeks, there’s probably an inverse relationship between entrepreneurial earning and Twittering.

  • http://www.lizmicik.com Liz Micik

    I agree wholeheartedly with Chris’ comments and have to disagree with those who say you can’t have someone ghost your blog. I see a big grey area that can help settle the argument about which way is best as well.

    I am a freelance web content producer (once upon a time we were called writers) which just means I will create whatever you need put online to help market your business. I have many pennames and have written on a variety of topics from baby curtains and bbq parts to luxury travel.

    The key I think is good planning from the start. I agree it can be awkward to introduce your stand-in or have someone ghost for you after you’ve gotten the ball rolling, but if I’ve been at the table from the start I can help set up all the different pieces and we can each play a role that multiplies our combined efforts.

    For example, I write a blog using a penname. That penname is an “employee/team member/associate” of yours who has her/his own email address at your company etc. That allows me to interview you, or you to “guest” blog whenever. I can have a Twitter/Facebook/Friendfeed, etc. account and so can you.

    It all comes down to defining the relationship and being as transparent as possible. And before you ask, no, I don’t believe use of a penname is a lie. Would you be more inclined to trust the expertise of someone you know who specializes in making curtains, internet marketing, or the travel industry, or someone who has studied and writes about all of them?

    Hope that helps,
    Liz Micik
    twitter.com/elizam

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  • http://www.contussupport.com business outsourcing

    A great article on the virtues of outsourcing and the value that it brings to businesses.This is a great piece – thanks for sharing.

  • http://www.whoIsMichelePrice.com Michele Price

    WOW, it is funny to me to see so many perspectives. I think maybe the words might be getting in the way. After having interviewed Leesa I cannot imagine her not having input on her blog, the so called ghost writing that everyone is getting their panties in an uproar over.

    I can see her recording an audio blog post, I can see her recording and having someone write it and post it. I am with her, my mind does not swing when I have to WRITE the same way it dances when I TALK. I am not interested in the anals of if I have proper grammar blah blah blah, that is taking attention away from the message.

    Reminds me of how people argued when Jesus came and they yelled LAW and other side whispered LOVE.

    If our focus is so sckewed (is that a word, giggle) that we miss the message then we only hurt ourselves. There is no right and wrong and when we stop focusing on that then we will experience more FLOW.

    An entrepreneur knows when to delegate what is not their strength and NO ONE has the right to say what that is but the person delegating. We are here to be happy and “BE” our passion not drudge.

    I commend Leesa for recognizing where her passion is and letting the drudge fall off her back like water on a duck’s back, which is where many of the comments will go now, shazam

  • http://www.frankguerra.com Travel Social Networking

    Funny but true. But there are times when outsourcing social media is also helpful although you concretely states here the pros and cons, outsourcing may somehow proved to be helpful because social media is already a tool for business. If its for personal mingling, you are correct in saying not to outsource, but for business purposes, its still advisable because it's already considered as an administrative task business-wise.

  • http://www.frankguerra.com Travel Social Networking

    Funny but true. But there are times when outsourcing social media is also helpful although you concretely states here the pros and cons, outsourcing may somehow proved to be helpful because social media is already a tool for business. If its for personal mingling, you are correct in saying not to outsource, but for business purposes, its still advisable because it's already considered as an administrative task business-wise.

  • http://www.virtualsocialmedia.com/social-media-marketing-optimization-services/ Social Media Marketing Package

    I think you had a bad experience from freelancing sites!!

  • http://www.virtualsocialmedia.com/social-media-marketing-optimization-services/ Social Media Marketing Package

    I think you had a bad experience from freelancing sites!!