In-house social media manager EMPLOYEE vs. CONTRACTOR

If you are a business owner and have been contemplating if you should bring on a full time employee to take of your social media management and strategy, or if you should go with an independent contractor or agency, this is the article for you!

In any situation, we must first establish your goals. Are you needing a full time content creator? An in-house employee may be best for that as most contractors work remote nowadays. If your main goal is to get solid expertise and remote work is not a concern, a contractor may be best.

First, let's take a look at the financial side of things.

According to Intuit, the average social media manager's salary is $50,000 in California. (Of course, it can vary based on experience and state).

For comparison, our highest social media package is about $30,000 per year. (Also varies from expert to expert in this industry, depending if you find a freelancer or an agency).

Now, let's go over some key differences between an employee and a contractor:

Employee:

Can create in-house content for you (if they attend in person) and work on any social media tasks including content creation, copywriting, engagement, and other tasks you may need. They can also bring a level of expertise and experience, but often will need to be trained on any strategy going on, any analysis done (such as competitive research, SWOT, etc.) May be able to put more hours in based on work provided. You'll also need to provide benefits for them, and other typical business employee expenses.

Contractors:

Often work remotely (can be in person if needed), and often provide their own packages/services they see best fit for your business based on extensive past experience. Often don't need to be trained, and rather can share industry expertise with you and help provide detailed and researched strategies for you (if the expert also offers that). May be able to put less hours per month in, but are still able to still take the workload off your hands and provide perhaps more expertise than the average employee. No need to pay them benefits or taxes, in fact- they are a write off for your business! (Look into your state laws first and consult a tax professional.)

In our case, we bring years of expertise having worked with all kinds of brands before and offer full service social media management and strategy packages. We prioritize client experience, open & honest communication, and providing high-quality work. We make it easy for you to step away entirely from your social media and still have it properly managed and growing! We also work with brands all over the world such as in the US, Canada, Australia, UK, Spain, and more! We are also not a huge agency with exorbitant prices, yet we aren't a started freelancing brand either. We work remote to ensure YOU save on having no office fees to pay like with other agencies, and we have a small yet mighty team that each bring their own expertise to ensure you get the best service possible. THAT's why people love us! We also seamlessly integrate with your existing team to ensure you get smooth workflow from each side of your business.

In conclusion, there's not a way to say one is better than the other for you and your business, but it ultimately comes down to your goals and how much attention and support you need for your social media needs.

Want to chat to a social media manager & strategist? We've got you covered! We've got years of experience working with big brands that are franchising around the country and have been featured in the media, as well as building accounts from 0. We work with a variety of industries, as well as both, service and product based businesses.

Check out our services here or book a free call to chat about how you can work with us.

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Questions? Email us here: Elena@f1rstlymarketing.com