You realize you need a more robust social media program, so it’s time to hire. But do you want this person to be in-house? Or are you looking for a social media consultant?

Just like when you are trying to decide between an agency or a freelancer, there are a lot of things to consider. And there is no one solution that fits all. It’s all about your goals and where you are now. So let’s take a look at the questions you need to ask yourself.

Do you want someone full-time or part-time?

The very first thing to look at is of course your budget. Is it a full-time or a part-time budget? If you’re talking part-time, you actually may want to look at bringing in a consultant. That is not because they are cheaper. There are perks to having a consultant rather than a part-time employee.

If you only have a part-time budget, that means the person managing your social media will only be there part-time. They may be able to regularly post, but they won’t be able to look at what’s going on with your social media beyond their stated working hours. So that will require a full-time employee to fill in those other hours.

A consultant, on the other hand, will be able to check in regularly throughout the day and on weekends. So they are more likely to quickly spot problems and address them. And spotting problems quickly is a huge deal when it comes to social media.

Now if you have a full-time budget, let’s talk more about that.

What is your budget for ads?

It’s super important that you are including ads in this budget. I can’t tell you how many prospective clients I have had who never considered an ads budget when thinking about working with me. Big mistake.

Although I’m very good with organic content and can get fans to engage with it, it cannot be your only plan for social media anymore. At the very least, you need to put money behind your most successful content. But you should also have a program for attracting new community members, etc. Basically, whatever your business goals are you will need a social media ads program to support them.

So if you were looking at hiring a full-time person, take a look at what kind of ads budget you might need and decide if the budget really is there for full-time. Not sure about your ads budget needs? Honestly, I would talk to consultants about this. I personally have an ask me anything product that will get you one hour of consulting where we could go over a question like this, so you are better set up for making a huge decision like this. And I know many other consultants who would be more than happy to give some clarity to this question as well. Having a few different opinions might help you figure out exactly where you should go next.

What level of service do you need?

Whether you can do full-time should also factor in the level of service needed.

Do you have a large community? And are they super engaged? Do they have a lot of needs? That is going to cost a lot of time. And this might be a point where you really do need to hire someone in-house to constantly monitor.

But maybe it’s a large community and they aren’t super engaged. They’re just there, waiting. At least I’d like to think they’re waiting for someone to post something that will get them going. You might need to hire an expert to do that right now and it grows into needing someone in-house to carry the torch later on. Don’t forget that this doesn’t have to be the solution you are stuck with forever. Hire for what you need right now.

Or maybe it’s a smaller community and they don’t have a ton of needs. But your content has gotten stale and you need someone to cut through to get to them. That is a great place for consultant to set fire to your community.

If you’re looking a specialist, this might be a place for a consultant as well. Specialists can include short form video, ads, organic content, etc. And you may only need a dash of that specialty to get things where you need them to be.

Think of what exactly your social media is lacking right now without another person there and find that person who can fill it.

Do you need anything else done?

If what you’re really needing is another set of hands in the office, then you need someone in-house. A lot of social media consultants have a lot of other skills (it’s a requirement of the job that you are super flexible with a number of different skills), but it just won’t be efficient for either the client or the consultant to rely on them as another pair of hands in the office.

First off, you can’t have a schedule for when a consultant works. It’s against the law. So as those times pop up when it would help to have someone chip in, the consultant just may not be available. Basically if you are looking for someone who can do a little of everything, hire in-house. It will save you a lot of grief.

But do know if you hire someone to do a little of everything, it’s very unlikely that they will do any of it well. That means this would be an entry level position. In that case, you might want to consider bringing in a consultant to do a training or multiple trainings to make sure that this person is doing social media at the level that you need it. Investing in the short-term will have a long-term effect for both the organization and for the employee.

There’s never a for-sure way to decide what to do when you hire for social media. It really comes down to the organization and sometimes how the person they are hiring likes to work. In then end, with a bit of inspiration and a whole lot of work, whatever you choose to do should work beautifully.

Did you have to choose between hiring in-house and hiring a consultant? What was the deciding factor for you?