What is a social media marketing agency?
The social media marketing agency is a service provider who designs and implements social media strategies and measures for a client . Social media marketing is understood to be a company’s communication and marketing measures on social media such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and TikTok. Social media marketing is therefore a part of online marketing.
Who Needs a Social Media Marketing Agency?
Social media has become an integral part of our everyday life. Companies can hardly avoid creating social media accounts and using them. This is exactly where a social media marketing agency can make the difference for a company: Random posting and weak interactions with followers online are rarely successful. Social media agencies therefore advise clients on how they can be successful on social media.
An agency can help develop a strategy , create and post content, and respond to messages and comments. This is the only way for followers to recognize the added value of the company’s social media and for a community to be formed. With targeted posts – be it organic or paid – as many users as possible can ultimately be picked up and made aware of the company’s products or services.
Small companies such as start-ups but also larger companies often rely on agencies. The former often lack the human resources or experience to set up an entire social media strategy themselves. Established companies, on the other hand, know their channels and general thrust, but implement campaigns with the help of agencies, for example. Social media agencies can bring new ideas and above all a lot of know-how with them and thus help the client to succeed.
What does a social media marketing agency do and what does it do?
This is the main area of responsibility of a social media marketing agency:
- Planning of advertising campaigns
- Creation of advertisements
- Evaluation of the measures
- Community management
The scope of a social media agency is broad. So it’s about social media consulting and marketing, content marketing and production as well as the more newfangled influencer marketing. A social media marketing agency can support the client in various matters, such as creating a social media strategy or an editorial plan , implementing the defined measures as well as tracking and evaluating online marketing.
In order to be able to work as effectively as possible, the agency needs some information from the client. Important cornerstones are the existing social media channels, the target groups of the company, information on corporate identity and design and of course budget ideas. The agency also has to look at what the goal of the social media strategy is: Does the client want reach or engagement above all ? Do you work primarily with photos or moving images? Above all, you want traffic to your own website via social mediabe guided or is the focus on conversions? For the company as the client, it makes sense to be aware of its own requirements and to put them in writing.
How much does a social media agency cost?
The costs of a social media marketing agency are variable. It all depends on what is expected of the agency: advice, implementation, evaluation or everything together? The period of the order or the campaign plays a major role, as does the number of channels that are to be managed. Of course, the costs for the paid campaigns must not be forgotten either. The following shows three different billing methods that can be used.
Hourly billing
As a well-known method, there is billing on an hourly basis. This means that the agency notes how many hours it has been busy with the company’s assignment. A social media agency costs CHF 150 per hour as standard, but the hourly rate can vary. This method is advantageous for agencies, as they can offset all of their actual expenses. This also applies if the client requests a lot of adjustments that take additional time.
Subscription model
There is also the subscription or retainer model, which is comparable to a classic subscription. The client pays the same monthly price that is agreed in advance with the agency. The agency then works time- or task-based. In the former, the agency spends a specified number of hours per month on behalf of the client. In the second method, the agency completes a certain number of tasks, such as publishing five social media posts per day across all platforms. This model is useful for the agency as it has a secure income every month. However, it can be difficult to convince new customers to use this method.
Success-based billing
The third method is performance-based billing. This determines how much turnover the client was able to generate thanks to the agency. The agency then receives a percentage of 5 to 15 percent of the proceeds. This method assumes that there is a measurable value, such as a number of conversions, in order to be able to determine the success thanks to the social media agency. For agencies, success-based billing can be lucrative if the measures work well. However, it is not without risk: If a campaign does not perform , the agency has to deal with very low compensation.
How do I find the right social media marketing agency?
In order to find the right social media marketing agency, the client must be clear about which service he would like to use. For example, is it about creating the strategy, the content, or both? It is also worth looking for agencies that focus on social media marketing or that specialize in it. So you can already filter out some of the almost infinite marketing agencies. Websites that provide a directory of all Swiss agencies, such as Marketing.ch , for example, are also helpful .
Especially when looking for a social media marketing agency, it is worth taking a look at their social media channels – the agency is an expert , so your online presence should look like it. The website itself is also crucial. What does the agency offer and which customers has it already been able to look after? An engaging and user-friendly website is essential.
Reviews and customer ratings from former clients are also extremely valuable, because this is how you hear the opinion of a third party and not just the statements of the agency itself Manner of implementations.
Finally, the client can also obtain offers from the agencies in order to compare them with one another. An initial meeting with a consultant from the agency can also clarify open questions and provide a first impression. Here you should make sure that the agency makes congruent statements according to its website and appears serious.
Which is the best or largest social media marketing agency?
In order to find the best social media agency for itself, every company has to make its own weighing up. Factors such as value for money can play a major role. It is also relevant whether the agency is a digital marketing agency – and thus operates a wide range of online marketing – or a specialized social media marketing agency.
Agencies such as Hutter Consult AG or xeit GmbH certainly offer a variety of services, but have a large focus on social media . Both agencies have already worked with well-known companies such as Coop or ifolor, or with Siemens or the SRF, and thus demonstrate their success.
The Webrepublic , a very large agency with 200 experts, social media marketing offers to as well Hinderling Volkart and Jung von Matt / Limmat , but they are not only dedicated to social media. Both of these companies just mentioned were placed at the top of the 10-year ranking for the most successful web and digital service providers by the Best Swiss Web Awards .
Conclusion on social media marketing agencies
The trend towards the digital is ongoing. Nowadays a company has to present itself in some way on social media . In order to create expressive campaigns and high-quality content, you have to rely on specialist knowledge and experience. If these are not available internally or if there is insufficient capacity, an agency may be the right decision. Always pay attention to the agency’s online presence and references before you choose it – good luck!