Looking for the best person to handle your social media? Look in the mirror.

There is a big secret most agencies hold tight when working on social media for their clients – that there is no secret.

Many brands discover, often after spending way too much of their money, that they are best served running their own social media in the long run. While it makes sense in the short term to lean on an agency for strategic help and for a few months’ worth of guidance, the reality is that most brands are best served handling community management themselves.

Here are some ways to utilize agencies and some ways to rely on yourself for the best results.

How agencies can help.

An agency who knows social can be a valuable resource in helping you figure out a social strategy for each channel. Maybe TikTok makes no sense for your brand if your average customer is 65 years old. Conversely, ignoring Instagram could be a big mistake if you have an image-rich brand or produce a lot of video content. Agencies can also help you in establishing a paid spend for each social channel and help you discern what should be organic, what should be boosted and what should be paid.

Creating a content calendar.

Having an agency co-develop an initial content calendar for you makes sense. Discovering the right topics, cadence and length of your posts is critical and agencies that are smart and good at content can guide you in the right direction.

How you can help yourself.

Once your agency has helped you craft a strategy, a budget and a schedule, that’s the time to walk away. The reality is that it’s expensive to hire an agency for monthly community management – and it’s a risk for both parties. You need someone who lives your brand day to day to manage responses to complaints, customer-service inquiries and other queries. We have all seen social mistakes by brands both big and small. Whether tone-deaf, inaccurate, targeted to the wrong audience or just plain rude, the culprit is often either an agency or employee that simply isn’t close enough to your brand to know how best to respond.

Social media is tough to navigate but by finding the right people to manage your accounts and the right strategic partner, it’s a lot easier and a lot more cost effective.