Should I outsource my social media?

When you’re just starting out as a wellness business owner the amount of things you have to learn and get good at can feel very overwhelming.

Social media can feel like a huge mountain to climb, particularly if you’re not already familiar with it. Learning about carousel posts, hashtags, designing graphics, making Reels and videos… and that’s not to mention all the engagement that goes with it too. It’s all new and daunting.

Which is why I can totally understand the appeal if someone says they can run an account for you. It will save you having to learn, and get you loads of customers, right?

But before you rush in to signing up with someone to do your social media for you, I want to share with you a few thoughts you might want to consider.

Because when I’m asked “should I outsource my social media?” my answer 9/10 times is no.

Here’s why:

#1 Social media is designed to be social

Social media is all about connecting with humans. The clue is in the title.

I know good social media might just look like sharing helpful tips and pretty photos. But the accounts that really work as a marketing tool are the ones that show personality and who the business owner is.

If you’re honest with yourself and look at a) similar practitioners to you who are doing really well getting work through social media or b) the accounts you love to follow and come back to time and time again, I bet you will notice something similar between them all: they have their founder/creator front and centre.

People who get clients and work through social media are visible and engaging. Through following them you feel like you know them because of how they show up on their social channels. That builds know, like and trust which means followers are more likely to make a purchase.

If you want to get great benefits from social media and build a loyal audience, you need to be present. You going live, you talking on Stories, your photo on your posts, your tone of voice and sense of humour and your personal anecdotes being shared. Having someone else run your account won’t achieve that.

If you run your social media:

😌 Your audience knows your tone of voice and your sense of humour

😌 They see YOU as the expert and get used to associating you with that area

😌 They get to chat to you in comments and DMs, starting the trust needed to buy

You cannot achieve that if someone else writes and curates your content.

#2 You don’t know how it works

If you’re just starting out, in the kindest possible way, you will have no idea what you’re doing on social media. And that’s natural. No-one was born knowing how to use social media as a marketing tool.

Whilst it’s frustrating to be crap at something to begin with, we all have to start somewhere. And truth bomb: social media is not going to be the only thing you’re crap at when you start a business.  

What won’t solve that problem of not knowing how to use it, is outsourcing it.

When someone else runs your account for you, you will continue to not know how to use it. Which means you will have no idea how to fix it, use it better or know when to stop paying out if someone is taking your money but having zero impact on your business with the work they’re doing.

I’m a huge proponent of empowering you in your business.

Learning and understanding your marketing options means that you are in control of using these tools as and when you need them. And whilst it does take time to get to grips with new tools, this time will serve you long, long into the future. Far more than someone running an account for you for a few months.

It’s the same as when someone asks me if they should pay for social media advertising. If your posts aren’t already getting good engagement and turning into customers, what makes you think putting money behind that same content is suddenly going to turn into buyers? You must learn what works first, what your style is and what engages your audience, even at a basic level, before expecting someone else to help you elevate it.

As a matter of interest, I’ve never outsourced anything in my business until I knew 100% how to do it myself first. Not everyone will agree with this approach, but when you’re operating on a shoe-string to get started, I genuinely believe social media is something worth getting to grips with yourself.

#3 You miss out on the chance to talk to your ideal customers

The thing I love most about social media is that it’s a brilliant way to connect with the people that most need you. You get to hear first-hand from them what they’re struggling with, what content resonates, what they’re looking for and how you can create products and offers that serve them.

You can literally have conversations with prospective buyers every single day through social media. How magic is that?

I think a lot of people entering the wellness industry (or any industry!) believe they already know what their ideal customers want and need. So they don’t need to hear from them or talk to them.

But I’d like to call bullsh*t on that.

Whilst you might be aware of the science, physiology and mindsets your customers need to get the outcomes they’re looking for, nothing beats hearing their problems and the language they use straight from the people themselves.

Getting into conversations with people, listening to the words they use and what they identify as their key pain-points and problems is the best way to have endless content ideas, stay totally relevant and become the go-to person on the area you cover, rather than staring at a blank screen wondering what to create or an empty calendar because even though you could help, no-one thinks you get them.

You won’t get to know your ideal customers in anywhere near as great a depth if you outsource your social media.

What if I just don’t want to run my social media accounts myself?

A lot of people in the wellness world don’t want to get good at social media. They just want to do their practice – nutrition, health coaching, yoga teaching etc. I get that.

But. The reality is if you want customers, you’re going to have to find some way of getting in front of audiences that need what you offer. People aren’t just going to show up at your door because you’re qualified.

Social media is a free way of getting in front of people and showing what you can help with and can be really effective if used well. But you must be fully present and visible on it for that to work. Outsourcing it won’t be anywhere near as impactful.  

If the idea of getting familiar and spending time learning how to use social media is utterly repellent to you then here’s a bombshell: maybe you don’t need to be on social media at all to grow your business.

Whilst it might look like everyone uses it, I can assure you there are plenty of practitioners with perfectly busy businesses that don’t use social media and are fully booked, thanks very much.

If you want to know more about whether you need to be on social media for your business (and what you could be doing instead) you can read this blog post.

What should I spend my money on instead of outsourcing social media?

If you have money available to invest in your business, then instead of spending it on a social media manager I would recommend you invest in:

• Great copywriting for the sales page on your website (check out this episode of the podcast with our resident Just Start Now copywriter Lea Tierney on the power of good copy!)
• Proper finance software to speed up and automate taking and tracking your money
• Some professional headshots to elevate your business and presence online
• A business support network and training community where you can learn how to use social media or other tools to market your business yourself and get accountability for following through.

When is a good time to outsource your social media?

All that being said, there are times where I would see outsourcing your social media as being a great investment for your wellness business.

I would argue those times are:

• If you’re a more product-based / brand business i.e. less reliant on you being the face of the business and the supplier of the services, and more about the products you sell where someone else can share great graphics and imagery to show them off (you probably still need to be visible, but less so than solopreneur service-based businesses)
• If you’re already nailing your social media (growing and seeing bookings and enquiries regularly from it) and want some expertise to show you gaps and make the most of your analytics to elevate what you’re doing
• If you have loads of content, great brand graphics and templates and a clear sense of your style and tone already that a good social media manager could replicate, you just want someone to help you with a structure and consistency

What do you think? Are you considering outsourcing your social media? Has reading this changed your mind or made the decision easier?

Short on time but you do want to use socials to grow your business? Download my checklist of what to do with 20 minutes per day on social media that actually gets you clients.