How to collaborate with a marketing agency and a social media manager
Hiring a social media manager is often one of the first steps businesses take when they want to grow their presence. It makes sense. Social media is visible, immediate, and engaging. But what happens when you bring in a marketing agency on top of that?
At first, it can feel like overlap. Two people or teams, both working on “marketing,” but approaching it from completely different angles.
These roles are not the same
That’s where most businesses get stuck. A social media manager and a marketing agency are not the same role. They are designed to solve different problems.
Your social media manager is focused on engagement, brand personality, and voice. Additionally they are thinking about how your company feels to the outside world. Consequently they are capturing moments, building familiarity, and showing what it is like to work with you. This is something that an external marketing team can’t accomplish from the outside. Your team experiences the day to day, and can use that to build a repport.
Your marketing agency is focused on strategy, your social media team is focused on voice
A marketing agency is focused on strategy and business goals. Campaigns. Lead generation. Website performance. SEO. Positioning you against competitors in a way that drives measurable growth. One is building connection. The other is building momentum. Neither replaces the other.
What Your Social Media Team’s Posts Look Like:
You might see them post your team in the office, laughing and petting puppies, or celebrating a win. Other posts are day-to-day on the job. They could be your teams morning meetings or a crew producing products on the manufacturing line.
That content matters. It shows culture.
That your company is human. It gives people a reason to like you. It can help you with building your team or encourage customers to work with you.
Business Owners Can Get Frustrated with Results
When you only bring on a social media person, fun posts are typically where they stop.
It can be frustrating as a business owner or manager. Often you begin to wonder why you’re investing so much into these posts, they’re not bringing in sales.
That’s because it’s not their purpose. Social Media Teams are there to work on your brand voice.
When it comes to building strategy, this level is so advanced it requires a deeper understanding of technology as a whole. This is like having a pilot drive a submarine, just because they’re transportation doesn’t mean they operate the same.
What your Marketing Team’s Posts Look Like:
At the same time, your marketing agency might be publishing content about changes in Iowa legislation that impact your industry, new grant opportunities, or shifts in the market that position your company as informed and proactive.
Marketing makes you an industry leader
Marketing experts, like Des Moines Creative, are more focused about establishing you as a leader in the industry. Meanwhile they post content that match Decision Makers interests.
This type of content might have goals of driving website traffic, improving your search engine ranking, or getting leads. Overall these posts are more inline with most business owners goals for social media content. They increase brand exposure, build ads, and drive clicks through SEO and CTA’s.
So why would you want both teams? Strategy.
Why are these posts so different?
At a glance, these strategies can feel disconnected. One is light. One is serious. One is internal. One is external, but together they create balance. Too much personality without strategy, and your business becomes forgettable. Instead you’re likable but not hired. Too much strategy without personality, and your business feels cold.
The goal is not to choose between the two, but to have alignment.
How do these two teams work together?
Your social media manager should understand what the marketing strategy is trying to accomplish, and to respect their differences.
This is why it’s important that you communicate your intentions. By bringing on a marketing agency, your plan isn’t to replace their role, but to compliment it. Communicate to your social media team on the services that you’re promoting by marketing. What campaigns are active. What keywords matter for SEO.
When these two roles communicate, the results compound.
Hiring a social media content manager and a marketing team is the winning strategy
Your social content starts reinforcing your positioning while it also becomes more relatable and easier to engage with. That is when you stop looking like a business that is “trying” to market itself, and start looking like a company that knows exactly what it is doing.
If you already have a social media person in place, bringing in a marketing agency is not a conflict. It is an opportunity.
Handled correctly, it is the difference between posting content and building a system that actually drives growth.
Ready for more from your social media? Let’s chat.
