Outsourcing Social Media - Unethical or Business Savvy?
Posted by Craig · 3 Comments
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There has been a hot debate brewing in the blogosphere on the ethics of outsourcing Social Networking activities to a Virtual Professional. Many graduates from our Social Media Marketing Specialist Program have recently found some of their clients requesting that they "Tweet" on their behalf on Twitter, or regularly update their Status Updates on Facebook. In other words, these clients are looking for a "stunt-double" who will be "them" in the most popular Social Network sites.
Businesses are "Gung-Ho" about Social Media right now and some are hoping to yield serious business-building results by outsourcing all their Social Media Marketing activities (including the whole "relationship" piece) to a consultant or VA. Unfortunately, some of these businesses have jumped into a hot new marketing channel without fully understanding the heart of Web 2.0 and the obvious "relational" nature that drives Social Media.
My friend and collegue, Leesa Barnes really got the ball rolling in this debate with her very thoughtful post,
Why You Should Never Outsource Your Social Media Tasks and What You Should Delegate Instead
In being a BIG proponent (myself) of Outsourcing "certain" Social Media Tasks to a specialist, I quickly wrote a lengthy comment on some of the Social Media tasks that could be potentially delegated in order to expand the reach and business potential using Social Media.
Leesa and I connected after this post and agreed that there was so much interest on this topic, that we have joined forces to put on a 75 minute tele-event on Thursday, May 28th to offer a "fresh" perspective. I think Leesa and I make a great team for this call as she is a Social Media Trainer and consultant for businesses wanting to tap into this powerful new channel and I represent the service providers (VAs and Specialists) who are seeking to offer "in-demand" Social Media Marketing services for their clients. So, I think we have both angles covered:)
I believe this going to be one of the most captivating events I have been apart of in quite sometime. Here are the event details:
Title: Five Social Media Tasks to Outsource (And Still Be Authentic)
Time: 5pm EST (2pm PST)
Sign-up here for this important event .
I am twittering for officient S.A. a BP-outsourcing company in Guatemala --> @Outsource2Guate. It works really well because i work close with their team, and therefor we funnel Twitter, Facebook, HR, CR and Sales. Of course it tool some time to get the team ready for new media, but now it is a smooth process.
I was in the call and Leesa and you were fantastic! You guys gave me lots of great ideas. Now, I just have to put them to work :) From now on I'll make sure I tell my clients to never outsource their voice!
A social media assistant definitely CANT be a stunt double for client relationship as social media users are smart to "detect" falsification of personalities.
There are other tasks that can be delegated to a social media assistant though.
Fleire Mae Castro´s last blog ..Outsource your SOCIAL MEDIA needs