7: Should you Out-Source your Social Media Marketing?

Are you overwhelmed by the demands of social media marketing for your practice? In this insightful episode, Gerda explores the pros and cons of outsourcing your social media marketing. Discover whether handing over this responsibility could be the right move for your practice, or if keeping it in-house might serve you better.

What You'll Learn:

• Common pain points that lead practice owners to consider outsourcing.
• The essential purposes of social media marketing for private practices.
• How to determine if outsourcing is the right choice for your business.
• Key elements needed for successful social media management, whether in-house or outsourced.

Who This Episode Is For:

• Practice owners considering outsourcing their social media marketing.
• Allied health professionals looking to improve their social media presence.
• Business owners seeking clarity on the role of social media in their marketing strategy.

Join Gerda as she breaks down the decision-making process for outsourcing social media marketing. Learn how to effectively manage your practice's online presence, ensuring it aligns with your brand and supports your business goals. Whether you're contemplating outsourcing or refining your in-house strategy, this episode offers valuable insights to guide your decision.

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Transcript

Hello, there fabulous private practice owner. My name is Gerda Muller and you are listening to episode number seven of the Private Practice Success Podcast. And today we're going to talk about outsourcing your social media marketing. Should you, or should you not, be outsourcing this part of your business?

Now, I get asked that question so very often. And maybe you've even been considering outsourcing your social media marketing.  Let's face it, it probably does feel like a full-time job, especially if you are a group practice owner. But today, I want to help you answer that question: should you or should you not? 

Social Media Marketing Pain Points

Let's start by looking at what are some of the main pain points that you might be feeling when it comes to your social media marketing - pain points that are probably pushing you towards considering, “Maybe I should be outsourcing this. Maybe somebody else can do it better, can do it more effectively or can save me time because they are doing it instead of myself.”

Pain Point 1: You Don’t Enjoy It

So the first pain point is very often practice owners just don't enjoy it. As helping professionals, we become helping professionals because we love to help people and we want to interact with people. We don't go into it because we want to be a full-time marketer, or even a part time marketer or even a casual marketer. So, a lot of people don't enjoy marketing. For a lot of people, marketing feels salesy and as a result, it feels icky. I will say marketing and sales are two totally different things, but very much complimentary business functions, and both of them are needed in your business. But for a lot of us, we just don't enjoy it. 

That's not me - I actually love doing the marketing of my Private Practice and of PPS Australia. But maybe you just don't like it, and that's okay as well.

Pain Point 2: The Content Grind

A lot of people find it really repetitive. It's, “Oh, it's the same thing - week in, week out, posting this, posting that.” A lot of people might enjoy it, but they go, “Geez, it's just so time-consuming because every day I need to post, and every day I need to come up with something new to put on there.”

And before I know it, the algorithm has changed. Now I need to do things differently. It's not just static posts anymore - now it's video and then it's reels, and then a short form and then it's long form. It's like my head's spinning already. That's a real thing. 

Pain Point 3: The Haunted House

For some of us, it's a pain point because we might look at our social media and we go, “All right, I've started it. I posted a couple of times. I was really consistent for a month or two, and now it's a freaking haunted house.” And now I start to feel really bad and guilty because I haven't posted anything.

And then I look at it and then I feel silly because I haven't, and before I know it, I'm on this downward spiral of self-judgment because I'm not a good business owner. 

So that's the haunted house pain point. And if that's you, know you're not alone.

Pain Point 4: It’s Uncomfortable

For a lot of people, it's just uncomfortable doing marketing because you might be speaking to business coaches, mentors in the marketing space, and they might be telling you that you need to be the face of your brand, or, you need to be on videos so that people can know, like, and trust you and build rapport with you.

And you go, “I don't want to do that.” That's perfectly fine for some of us. It is uncomfortable. 

Pain Point 5: Is Social Media Necessary?

And the other pain point is you might think, “Do I even need this? Why am I doing it?” Maybe your books are full, and you're going, “I actually don't need it. Why should I be doing this on a consistent basis and throwing time, money and energy behind it?”

So, if any of those things are true for you, then maybe you've experienced the pain point when it comes to your social media marketing, and maybe you've been considering potentially outsourcing it and handing that gorgeous monkey over and putting it on somebody else's back. So, let's talk about that. 

Understanding the Purpose of Social Media Marketing

Now, before we make this decision about whether you should or should not be outsourcing your social media marketing, it is important for us to be clear as to what is the purpose of it. So we now know what are some of those pain points that we might be experiencing, but we need to understand why this is a part of doing business, as a group private practice owner within the allied health and mental health industry.

In my opinion, your social media marketing serves a lot of purposes, but I'm going to share the three main purposes with you now. 

Purpose 1: Client Connection

The first one is the fact that what you put out there on social media is a great add on to what you are already offering your current clients. So, when I started my Facebook page for my group private practice, The Psych Professionals, way back when, the purpose was just for this main reason. I was seeing clients on a fortnightly basis. My team was seeing clients on a fortnightly basis. And for a lot of people - especially when they have significant trauma and difficulties and challenges that they need to deal with - two weeks can be an incredibly long time - I know for you, it might feel like it just flies past, but when you are struggling with significant mental health conditions, it can feel like forever.

So when I started the Psych Professionals Facebook page, I really wanted to create it as a place where clients can go to in between their sessions and feel connected to the practice, feel connected to the work that we are doing, access articles, access inspirational quotes, motivational quotes, and just stay in that connected space to the practice - knowing that this is a place that they will come back to in maybe a week's time to continue working on what it is that they're working with.

And that was my number one driving force. I actually did not start my Facebook page as a marketing asset for my business, although that is what it is now turned out to be. So even if that's the only reason to do it, I think it's still a pretty awesome reason to have a social media platform that you use - even if it's just the one, just Facebook or just Instagram - and to really optimise it for this specific purpose.  

Purpose 2: Building Trust

The second reason to have a social media presence is one that you probably have thought of and heard of before, and that is to build trust. This is where people can go to get to know you better, to learn to know and trust you, right? And for me, this comes in as a practice owner - if I think about it, for us at my practice specifically, the majority of our referrals come from general practitioners. So, I imagine a patient going in to see the GP, having a discussion, the GP finally convinces them that, you know what, it is okay and really important for you to go and see a psychologist, and the GP starts telling them maybe a bit about what we do. The client might eagerly - or in a lot of cases, reluctantly – agree: “Yes, I will go and do this.”

And then, I think we can reasonably assume what they would do is they might check out your website in earlier years. But these years, I think that people, even before they check out your website, they're probably jumping onto Insta or jumping onto Facebook and seeing, “Are you there? Let's have a scroll.” I think social media platforms are way more user-friendly for people to scroll through and to get a really quick overview of who you are and what you do. And once they like that, they might be more inclined to go and click on the link to your website and go look at it there.

Social media just feels more non-committal, and therefore less threatening and just easier to access. And because when I go onto the website, it's like I'm now there because I've made a decision, and I'm really committed, and I'm going to do this and I want actual information. And, we do rely a lot on GPs and the trust that they have with patients to go, “Hey, you need to go and see this person.” But I feel that it's really important for us as the professional to also reinforce that recommendation that the GPs made and for the client to go, “Oh yeah, these guys actually look like they know what they're doing. Look at all their friendly faces. They don't have four heads. They look really friendly, and they're consistently talking about mental health, how important it is. They really worked really hard at reducing the stigma. I think this might be my practice. I think this might be the place where I'm going to be comfortable to go and speak to them.”

And that patient or client, for us, is then more likely to actually pick up the phone and book that first appointment. They'll probably be more likely to actually show up for that first appointment, because maybe there's some photos of what the practice looks like, so it's not that scary and unknown when they show up for their very first appointment. 

So, there's a lot of trust building that can occur when you have a consistent and a good social media presence.

Purpose 3: Talent Attraction

And then the third purpose of social media, which is actually not client related. This one is recruitment-related. So, if you think about it, if you've got a job ad out there, you've popped it on the job ads platforms, I think a lot of times clinicians are going to check you out on social media.

Yes, they'll check out your job ad, they might also click on your website, but they're also going to click on your social media page. And it's going to be really important for them to also see what clients see - to go, “Is this the type of practice I want to be a part of? Is this a practice that I'm going to be aligned with? How do they talk about mental health? What is the type of stuff that they share? Does that sit well with me? Do I get passionate about that? Do I get excited about it? Or is there something off putting about the way they talk about trauma and neurodiversity or whatever else the topic is?” And that is a really important part of them - self-identifying with your practice, which means that when they walk in for that interview in person, or even on zoom, that they're already half sold on who you are as a business and as a practice. So that is a really important role that social media plays. 

So given these three main purposes, what is for certain is that you need a social media presence.

Is Outsourcing Social Media Right for Your Practice?

Now, if you are a solo practitioner, this is probably less relevant. I'm not saying it's not relevant. It's less. If you are a solo practitioner, I will probably just identify one main social media platform, and I would utilise that because you want to attract your ideal clients. That's your main purpose.

If you're a group practice owner. I would most certainly recommend at least Facebook and Instagram. Those will be the two main important ones for you, for attracting clients and for providing some social proof to clinicians that might be looking at coming on board - and that is for that recruitment purpose.

So you definitely need a presence and you need a consistent presence. We don't want that haunted house. If you have a presence, but it is a haunted house, in other words, you only post once every now and then, that actually does more harm than it does good. Because it shows that there's no follow through, there's no commitment, and both clients and your team want to be part of a business that has commitment and that has follow through. That does what they say they're going to do.

So the bottom line is this - If you are a business in 2024, 2025 listening to this podcast, then you most certainly need a social media presence. Not having it will mean that you will be missing out on the benefits of having it. And the benefits are multiple. 

By now we've covered the pain points that you might be experiencing leading to you thinking about potentially outsourcing it. Potentially outsourcing your social media management. We are convinced that we need social media in the current time. It is now more important than ever. We know what the three main purposes for it is. So it's yes, we need this, especially if you're a group private practice. 

Do I outsource it? Yes or no. You can do either. That's the answer.  The thing is, of course you can outsource your social media management. The question is, should you? Now, I have spoken to a lot of group practice owners over the years that have outsourced their social media management. And what I can unequivocally tell you is that the majority of them regretted doing so.

Not all, the majority. Because the thing is this: people often outsource their social media management because of the pain points we mentioned. Because they think somebody else can do it better. And because they are busy. A lot of people will decide, you know what? I'm not a social media manager, I am a business owner. I do not want to spend hours and days at a time working on social media marketing. 

When practice owners get to that decision, the majority will then decide to outsource the social media marketing, and that outsourcing is generally to a social media agency. What happens is they hand over the marketing to it, and they feel this initial sense of relief. It's ah, thank goodness somebody else is taking care of that. I can now put my attention on other more important things. And then they get stuck into other more important things. 

But inevitably, what I find happens is after three, six, nine months - slowly but surely the practice owner starts to become a bit dissatisfied with the service being provided. A bit - I don't know - they start telling me things like, “Gerda, it just feels like the content being put out there is very bland. It's stuff that you see everywhere. It doesn't really differentiate us from other businesses. It just feels like the same old stuff and just feels boring. And I just don't like it.”

And, at other times there's additional complaints such as, lack of communication, lack of timely communication and reporting and all of those things. And a lot of them then decide to take that back. That doesn't mean you shouldn't outsource. Because I think what happens is people are so happy once the outsourcing has occurred because they now have time back that they go - okay, this is no longer my responsibility. This agency is managing it. And then they let go of the reins. 

And whether you've got employees doing this, which would be not outsourcing, but delegation - if you were to hire somebody in to do this as a role, or give it to a specific employee to do, you still can't just hand it over. That is the mistake.

Yes, you can hand it over, but there needs to be accountability. That is your job. Each of us, doesn't matter what role we have in the business from reception to the business owner - we need accountability. And that is where people go wrong when they're outsourced. That is why outsourcing of social media often fails because we're not keeping the agency accountable for what it is that they need to do.

And that might mean an hour meeting once a month, giving them feedback on your opinion of the work they're putting out there, the changes that you want to see made. It is really important for you to do that. So unless you're willing to keep that accountability going, you shouldn't outsource it because it will be a waste of your time, and it can do more harm than good to your business.

Knowing Your Brand Voice

The other thing that needs to happen to successfully outsource is that you need to be 100 percent clear as to what your brand is all about. You need to know what is your brand voice. Because I know very easily what my brand voice is when I go and write a social media post, my brand voice is the voice in the messaging. It's the words. It's the tone. It's the way I write things. Now, if you get somebody else in to do that for you, the outsourcing agency, in this case - Do they know what your brand voice is? Can they duplicate your brand voice successfully? What I mean with that, you might be thinking, “Gerda, what is this brand voice?”

It's a brand voice, it could be a voice that is very humorous. Is it a very professional voice? Is it a light and hearty, and playful voice? Is it a trustworthy and supportive voice? If you think about different voices, is it an Oprah voice or is it a Tony Robbins voice? What is the brand voice for your business?

And in order for outsourcing to work, you need to know what that is, first and foremost. You need to be able to explain that to whomever's going to now be the voice of your brand. You also need to be clear as to what your brand guidelines are. What's the fonts that you want people to use? What are the icons that are aligned to your brand? What are the colours that form part of your brand? Because you don't want them just throwing all these colours and fonts and stuff on the wall. That's not going to be aligned to who you are as a business. So again, you need to have all of these things in place in order to successfully outsource to an agency.

And then again, as I said, the ultimate requirement is accountability. All of us need accountability, even us as business owners. It's why I have my own business coach and mentor. For me as a business coach and mentor myself, I keep the practice owners - that's part of my PPS Academy, a part of my Founders Club. It's my job to keep them accountable. Every six weeks we get together for a Practice Pit Stop that has to happen. And unless you're willing to do that. It's not going to work. 

Now, I will also preface this with saying that, if you are delegating your social media management to somebody in house, whether that is somebody that does that as part of their job or who has a dedicated role for this, the accountability should still be there. They should still know what your brand guidelines are. And they should still know how to express your brand voice. 

And if you can do those three things, then most certainly you can outsource your social media management, or you can delegate it to an in-house team member.  

Why I Keep My Social Media Marketing In-House

Now you might be wondering whether I am outsourcing the social media marketing within my own business right now. And the answer is no, I'm not doing it at the Psych Professionals and I'm also not doing it as part of Private Practice Success Australia. And the reason for this is that I actually enjoy doing the marketing.

Now, I don't do the marketing for the group private practice, my group private practice runs like in my absence. I literally spend 45 minutes a week supporting the person that runs it. That's the extent of my involvement there. But I do a lot of social media marketing for Private Practice Success Australia, and I just love doing it because in my mind, this is an opportunity for me to talk to my people. To talk to practice owners and to share stuff with them. It's the reason why I'm doing this podcast so that I can share my thoughts with you. I can share with you my mistakes, so you don't make those mistakes.

And I think it would be really hard for somebody else to do that - somebody that's not me.  But it's a different type of business than a practice, right? PPS is a business to business business - because I am a business, and I work with other practice owners who are businesses. But when you have your group private practice, you're a business and you're marketing to clients. And yes, we said the number three reason for social media is your recruitment. So you're also marketing to clinicians in an indirect way, but it's mainly to clients. 

So I do think it's probably easier outsourcing that part, but I've just chosen not to do it. I feel like my clinicians are really good at messaging. I know that if we can capture what our clinicians do, in the way that we capture it, nobody can do our social media marketing as well as we can.

Another big reason as to why we've not outsourced the social media marketing at The Psych Professionals is because by now we've got a really structured approach to doing our social media marketing and marketing in general. So at the start of each year, we put together our 12 month Marketing and Branding Action Plan, and we have it set up - January, February, March, April, the whole 12 months. We know exactly the marketing strategy that we are following. We know exactly the tactics that accompany that marketing strategy. We know who's doing what. So it really runs like a well-oiled machine. And we are really good at extracting messaging from our team members that we can use across social media.

And I really feel that's the best place for us to get the messaging from - out of the hearts of our team and out of the heads of our team. And I also want to showcase our amazing team members, and I want to celebrate them and I want to champion them in the work that we do in the marketing that we do at the practice.

And therefore, it really becomes fun and easy. And I often feel like a proud parent when I look at the social media that's on our Psych Professionals Facebook page and I'm like – “Look at that person. Look at what they're up to. That's so amazing.” Yeah, so I guess I am somebody that really just appreciates what marketing can do.

The fact that we use marketing on social media, particularly to communicate to people how we can help them. And it is an amazing tool for reducing the stigma around mental health. So for now we're still keeping that in-house, it doesn't mean that this won't change in the future. It might. 

The thing about business is this, that things are always changing and you need to be willing to pivot and roll with changes in the marketplace. 

But for now, if you want to successfully outsource your social media marketing, remember, these are the three things you need: You need clear brand guidelines. You need a clear brand voice and you to ensure that there's ongoing open communication and accountability with whomever is taking over that function from your business.  

Alrighty, I hope that was of value. Thank you so very much for listening. And as always, remember that I'm here to help you build a practice you can't stop smiling about. 😊