What Is Social Media Management? What an Agency Delivers
What social media management is, what an agency should produce and deliver each month, what to look for in a report, and when to keep the work in-house.
rabbitclip teamPublished: 7 min read
Short answer
Social media management is the work of running a brand's social accounts around a stated purpose: planning what to post, producing the content, publishing it, looking after comments and messages, and reporting the results on a regular basis. It is not only posting. It is a working routine that decides what you say, to whom, how often and why. If you hire an agency, you hand over the running of that routine, while you keep the decisions about what the brand says, what it does not say and what gets approved.
Business owners often understand the service as 'making posts', while agencies sell it as 'management'. The gap between the two causes confusion. This article sets out the parts that make up the work, what an agency should concretely deliver each month, why content creation and community management are separate jobs, and what to look at in a report.
The aim is not to help you pick an agency. It is to let you read a proposal and see what is included and what is missing.
What does social media management actually include?
The work splits into five parts. The first is strategy and planning: the purpose of the account, the audience, the topics to cover and a content calendar. The second is content creation: copy, images, video, carousels and stories. The third is publishing: posting at the right time, in the right format, with the right tags. The fourth is community management: looking after comments, messages and mentions. The fifth is measurement and reporting.
These parts do not carry the same weight in every business. A shop that sells through images leans on content creation. A service business that receives many customer questions leans on community management. When you read a proposal, check which of the parts are in the package.
- Strategy and content calendar
- Content creation: copy, images, video
- Publishing and scheduling
- Looking after comments and messages
- Measurement and a regular report
What should an agency deliver each month?
Deliverables should be written down in advance. An approved content calendar at the start of the month, posts that follow it during the month and a report at the end are the basic three. The calendar shows the date, channel, format and purpose of each post. The approval route should also be clear: who approves, within how many days, and what happens if no approval arrives.
Talk about what falls outside the deliverables at the start. Managing an ad budget, a separate shoot day, an influencer arrangement or an out-of-hours response during a crisis are usually not in the package and are priced separately. If the scope is stated clearly before any price is discussed, nobody has to ask later whether the agency would also do this or that.
Are content creation and community management the same thing?
No, and mixing them up is one of the most common scope mistakes. Content creation is what the brand puts onto social media. Community management is answering what comes back from social media to the brand: a customer's question, a complaint, a compliment, a message. The first is planned and predictable. The second is immediate and calls for judgement of tone.
If community management is in the package, write down the hours in which replies are given and who has the authority to reply. Can the agency answer a price question on its own, or does it pass the question to you? Who takes over when a complaint arrives? If these limits are not written, replies come late, or a promise is made in the brand's name without asking you.
If the package covers content creation only, looking after comments and messages stays with you. That is not a bad arrangement, as long as everyone knows it from the start.
What should you look for in a report?
A good report shows not what the account did this month, but what the month's work was good for. Follower count alone is not a result. The purpose is set first, and the report is read against that purpose. If the purpose is recognition, reach and saves matter. If the purpose is enquiries, profile visits, messages and visitors arriving on your site matter.
To separate visitors to your site by social source, links carry a campaign tag; without it, a report can only guess where traffic came from. A report should also say what worked, what did not and what will change next month. A pile of charts is not a report.
- Is the report written against the original purpose?
- Are figures compared with the previous period?
- Are the best and weakest posts explained with reasons?
- Is a concrete change proposed for next month?
- Is traffic to your site separated by source?
What are the most common mistakes in social media management?
The first mistake is starting without a purpose. 'Keep the account active' is not a purpose, and you will not know which figure to look at in the end. The second is not writing down the brand's voice. When different people run the same account, the tone shifts from one post to the next. A short voice note, covering what is said and what is never said, solves most of this.
The third mistake is approving slowly. The content is ready, but approval waits for days, the calendar slips and posts lose their timeliness. The fourth is judging the agency only by results and never seeing the process: a team that cannot say why this post was chosen or why it went out at this time cannot learn.
The fifth mistake is mixing organic content with paid ads. Organic posting and paid advertising need separate budgets, separate measurement and often separate skills. The proposal should say clearly which one it covers.
When should social media be managed in-house?
Not every business needs an agency. If the brand's voice rests directly on the owner's or an expert's personality, meaning people want to hear from you rather than about you, keeping the content in-house is usually the better choice. A lawyer's, a doctor's or a craftsperson's own account is often more convincing than an agency's draft. The agency can then stay on as support for planning, editing and measurement.
If social media does not drive your sales and customers find you by other routes, keeping the account simple and up to date may be enough, instead of taking on a heavy publishing load. Even when you do it in-house, the work needs an owner; an account that everyone looks after a little is the one most often forgotten.
When deciding, ask yourself this: can I assign someone who knows the brand and can set aside regular time each week? If the answer is no, an agency makes sense as a structure that keeps the work going.
Social media management is a steady whole made of strategy, content, publishing, community and reporting. A good proposal shows these parts, what falls outside them and the approval route in writing, and a good report stays tied to the purpose. If you would like to think through what should stay in-house and what should go outside in your own case, you are welcome to arrange an exploratory conversation with rabbitclip.
FAQ
What does social media management actually involve?
It sets the purpose of the account, builds a content calendar, produces and publishes content, looks after comments and messages, and reports the results. Posting is only one part of it.
Will a social media agency run my account on my behalf?
Yes, but the limits should be written down. Which content needs your approval, which messages the agency may answer alone and who takes over when a complaint arrives are all settled at the start.
What should I expect an agency to deliver each month?
An approved content calendar, posts that follow it and a report at month end that is tied to the purpose. Ad management, shoot days and crisis response are discussed separately if they are not in the package.
Can I manage social media with my own team?
You can, and it works well when the owner of the task is clear, regular time is set aside and the brand voice is written down. For a part you struggle with, such as planning or measurement, you can still bring in outside help.
