4 Steps for Building a Strong Relationship with Your Social Media Agency

While selecting the right social media agency is one step of the equation for your business’s online success, building a strong relationship with your agency of choice is another critical part.

At LYFE Marketing, we attribute our successful marketing programs for our clients to the strong client/agency relationships that we build, which are based on a foundation of trust, respect, common goals, and good communication.

Creating a strong relationship with your social media agency, however, is not something that will just happen overnight.

Here are 4 steps for building a strong, longterm relationship with your social media agency:

Step 1: Make sure that you pick the right social media agency.

Selecting a social media agency that best aligns with your business’s culture and goals is absolutely necessary in order to create a strong, long-lasting relationship.

Finding the right agency is certainly no easy task, and it’s also a decision that should not be taken lightly.

That’s why we recently dedicated a blog post to sharing 5 questions that you must ask a social media agency that you are considering partnering with.

Step 2: Make your goals (longterm and short-term) known.

Even when you’re interviewing agencies, you’ll want to discuss your social media goals with the agency, both immediate and longterm.

If your team at the social media agency clearly knows what is expected of them, all parties involved will be on the same page with your marketing goals.

Some of the most common social media marketing goals include raising brand awareness, driving more website traffic, and increasing the amount of time that traffic spends on your website.

Talk to your agency upfront about which metrics are used to track success on social media.

Define how frequently you and the agency will sit down to discuss your progress and make tweaks to your strategy when necessary.

Step 3: Understand how the players within the agency work together.

If you’re working with a good social media agency, you will likely have one point of contact within the agency: your account manager.

Your account manager needs to be very familiar with your business, industry, target audience, and what you want to accomplish through social media marketing.

The account manager will represent your brand at the social media agency and will involve his or her team members accordingly to implement the most effective social strategy for your business.

The team behind your account manager at an agency will typically include a new business director, a social media specialist, a web designer, and a content creator.

Be sure to ask your account manager how these roles within the agency work together to deliver the best results for your business.

Step 4: Clearly define how and when communication will take place.

Good communication is imperative with any relationship, especially when it comes to the relationship between your business and social media agency.

Not only should you have one assigned point of contact within the organization, but you should also have pre-determined times (weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc) that you speak with the agency about the progress and effectiveness of your social media marketing strategy.

Ideally, you’ll want to determine ahead of time if these meetings should take place over the phone or in person.

You’ll also want to predetermine how frequently you will receive reports and the metrics evaluated in these reports.

If you follow these 4 steps, you will be well on your way to building a mutually beneficial relationship for both the agency and your business.

By choosing the right marketing partner, making your goals be known, understanding how your marketing strategy will be carried out within the agency, and communicating regularly, your business and your agency will build a great deal of trust and respect for each other.

If you are thinking about hiring a social media agency to improve your online presence, remeber these 4 things.