Internal versus Outsourced Social Media: Why a Hybrid Makes the Most Sense

There are three basic types of customers that we work with when it comes to social media. That’s not to say that we classify our clients or anything – they all get the best in a way that fits in with their needs and assets. In automotive social media, the results are all that really matter. Still, there are three types, one of which accounts for nearly everyone.

The most common wants us to take care of social media for them. They look at what they or their past vendors have done and realize that we can do a lot more for them. With these clients, they let us handle the social completely.

The second most common is the fully-involved client. We’re here to post pretty much what they want posted on a daily basis. We might tweak, adjust, and recommend, but for the most part we’re applying our expertise in managing the ads and positioning the content while the dealership supplies it all.

The least common type is a hybrid of the two – active but guided, interested but not really managing it. It’s a shame that they are the most rare because they’re arguably the most successful.

Social media in general and Facebook in particular requires an ebb and flow to the content in order to position it all properly and work the algorithm. Even with advertising, the quality and engagement of the posts determines how successful the ad dollars can be. With the inactive dealer partners, we have to work hard to make sure the content is as personalized as possible while still not achieving pure localization. With the daily-active content-producing clients, we often have to try to slow them down a bit or work in the engaging content that can make their ads work best.

With the hybrid clients, the magic happens. We work in the right popular content while they occasionally supply dealership content that works well. More importantly, they are able to be our “eyes on the street” that can get us truly awesome content to accomplish both goals of engagement and business-relevance.

As long as there are different personalities in business, there will be different degrees of activity and success. Over time, we will work towards making the “rare” hybrid clients more of a norm. It’s better for everyone involved.