What’s the value of a social media consultant

For many organizations and individuals, social media is an afterthought. After all, these platforms are all basically free, and any intern or college student appears skillful enough to populate them with content. Some groups will just hand these tasks to junior staff, who often have no background in communications and even less time to dedicate to the tremendously consuming task. Months later, the CEO is disappointed to see only a few hundred followers and likes, and extremely little engagement from the community.

So some groups take the next step and hire the big guns – in Washington DC, for example, there are no shortage of big PR firms and digital communications consultancies who will happily charge a very steep retainer, and then end up passing down your daily social media management to their most inexperienced staff. The result ends up being quite disappointing in terms of return on investment, or, even worse, with crucial mistakes and gaffes that make headlines.