I just wrote a guest post for Lewis Green on outsourcing social media. I have pasted a snippet below:
“We all know that social media takes time, a lot of time, and for good reason. It’s not easy to build relationships with people. Many companies claim they don’t always have the time or the resources to start or maintain a social media engagement, so my question is, “Will social media eventually become outsourced (like many other jobs)?”
There are several agencies that blog or tweet on behalf of clients. If someone at an agency says that they are a part of the Adobe team and then tweets/blogs on behalf of Adobe is that ethical or transparent? The ultimate question comes down to how much of the social media process should be in house and how much of it should be handled by an agency or…India (if outsourced)?”
If you want to read the full article, “Will Social Media be Outsourced?” then please visit Lewis Green’s site.
thanks for reading!
Honestly I do not think that social media could be outsourced to India, mainly for cultural reasons and also because that would be discovered anyway and would lead to an awful backlash for the brand involved. The codes of social media are going to change as they are going mainstream: your example in the current twitter background would not be welcomed warmly, but in a year time when it will be a lot more mainstream and full of spam no one would notice. Ans that would be the problem because then it would have lost so much value.
i tend to agree with you here but i think we will (perhaps) begin to see some data or information gathering outsourcing
Jacob,
Although I may agree with your arguments as to some of the reasons why perhaps Social Media Marketing should Not be outsourced to, particularly non-native English speakers, e.g. India …
and the potential detrimental effects that those that chose to do so may incure …
I do believe that it will inevitably happen! …
Just look at the trend of outsourcing Customer / Technical Support Functions overseas, and the negative repercussions/perceptions of such, you know?
E.g. Have you seen “Foamy the Squirrel's” YouTube videos on Customer Support? he he 😉
IMHO, Social Media Marketing can be successfully outsourced, but to primarily native English speaking firms!
Wouldn't you all agree?
I hope this all helps and Have a Great Day! 🙂
– Michael S. DeVries
Principal,
The Virtual Consulting Firm ™
“Real People Providing Real Solutions in a Virtual World™”
http://www.TheVCF.com
P.S. Please Follow TheVCF on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/TheVCF
hey micahel,
i dont think it's really beneficial to a company to outsource the whole social media process. the relationships, trust, authority, etc, are too valuable to put in the hands of a 3rd party. however, as i mentioned above, i think we will begin to see some data oursourcing.
thanks for the comment!
@Jacob: Thank you for your thoughtful comments on my posts.
All the concerns you have raised about social media outsourcing are valid. However, many of those concerns are also valid for telephone based customer support, much of which has been outsourced.
Many social media thinkers have a very black and white understanding of what social media should or should not do. I’m less focused on the prescriptions and more focused on the possibilities.
All communications technologies go through a cycle. First, they change how we build relationships and engage with each other and have an aura of mystique around them. Then, they become a part of our lives and we learn how to use them to achieve our objectives, in business, development, government or other areas. This happened to telephone, this happened to email (The Cluetrain Manifesto was written in a pre- social media world) and this will happen to social media.
So, yes, we haven’t seen significant social media outsourcing yet, but we will see it soon, as soon as we understand the dynamics of social media brand interactions enough to evolve processes to execute them in a structured manner.
@Guillaume: Yes, I agree that social media outsourcing will lead to a backlash if it is done in a deceitful manner, but there are ways to do it transparently. For instance, “I'm Gaurav from agency X responding to you on behalf of Brand Y. I'm empowered to take decisions related to your problem and I'll work with you to find a solution that works for you.”
@Michael: I would argue that there are tens of millions of people in India who have enough proficiency in English to answer comments on blogs and solve small customer relation issues. Yes, you need processes and you need adult supervision, but it will eventually come down to the cost involved in handling a huge number of social media brand interactions.
nothing is possible nowadays.
nothing is possible nowadays.