Social media: do it yourself or outsource?

Whether you should do social media yourself or outsource it depends mainly on three factors: the time you structurally have for it, your ambition (visibility versus concrete leads) and what an hour of your own time is worth. Doing it yourself costs no agency budget but does take an average of 4 to 10 hours a week; outsourcing costs between € 349 and € 899 per month, depending on the package you choose.

The real cost of doing it yourself

Managing social media yourself looks free, but in practice it rarely is. Writing texts, making or editing visuals, scheduling posts and replying to comments takes time you would otherwise spend on your own work. For an independent professional charging between € 50 and € 100 an hour, 6 hours a week on social media quickly means a hidden cost of € 1,200 to € 2,400 a month in lost revenue. The Dutch Chamber of Commerce therefore advises entrepreneurs always to look at the time an activity costs when estimating marketing costs, not only at the direct spend.

When is doing it yourself a sensible choice?

Doing it yourself can be a good choice when:

• You as the owner are the face of the business and personal involvement matters to your audience.
• You can free up time structurally without it coming at the cost of revenue-generating work.
• You are still experimenting with which content and which platform suits your business.
• Your ambition is limited to a basic presence, without concrete growth or lead goals.

When does outsourcing make more sense?

Outsourcing becomes more attractive as:

• You notice that social media keeps being left undone because the day-to-day work is busy.
• You want to keep several platforms active at the same time, which quickly doubles or triples the time investment.
• You want to generate concrete enquiries or leads through advertising, which calls for specialised knowledge.
• You need structure: a fixed content calendar, reporting and someone who is responsible for the results.

A cost comparison

All amounts exclude VAT and exclude any advertising budget, which with outsourcing you always pay directly to the platform.

A middle way: a hybrid approach

Many businesses do not choose either fully doing it themselves or fully outsourcing, but something in between. You could for example outsource the content creation while you keep replying to messages and comments yourself, or outsource one platform and manage another yourself. That gives flexibility while you still benefit from professional content. See the options for this under social media management.

Risks of doing it yourself that are often underestimated

Besides time, there are a few risks that are often underestimated when doing it yourself. First, a clear strategy is often missing: posts are thought up ad hoc instead of coming from a considered plan, which limits results in the long run. Second, there is a risk of inconsistency in tone and quality when different employees take turns making content. Third, structural analysis is often missing: without someone looking each month at what does and does not work, a lot of potential improvement stays unused. These risks are not a reason to outsource by definition, but they are something to be aware of when you choose to do it yourself.

What do you keep control of when you outsource?

A commonly heard worry about outsourcing is the feeling of losing control. In a good collaboration that is not the case: you remain the owner of your own accounts, all content is submitted to you for approval in advance, and you receive a transparent report every month in a client portal. That way you keep an overview without having to do the work yourself.

How do you make the decision?

Ask yourself the following questions:

1. How many hours a week can I spend on social media structurally, including in busy periods?
2. What is my hourly rate, or the value of my time elsewhere in the business?
3. Do I only want to be visible, or do I want to generate concretely more enquiries?
4. Do I have the knowledge in house to handle content, planning and possibly advertising professionally?

If the answer to question 4 is no, and the outcome of questions 1 and 2 shows that your time is worth more elsewhere, then outsourcing is usually the financially more sensible choice.

Conclusion

There is no universally right answer to the question of doing it yourself or outsourcing: it depends on the time you have, your ambition and your budget. For businesses that are structurally short of time or want to grow through several platforms and advertising, outsourcing from € 349 per month is often a sensible investment. Use the package calculator for an indication of which package fits your situation.