This month SocialPositives.com is reviewing 99DollarSocial.com a good social media service providers for small business owners.
Ask any social media manager and they’ll tell you that content development is the most time consuming aspect of their job. To scour the web each week, searching for relevant content to post, can take hours.
Current options (and why they don’t work)
Of course, there are tools developed to help businesses find great content online. However, these tools rely on an algorithm, not human selection, so they still require you to step in, review the suggested content and schedule what’s relevant.
Your other option is to hire a dedicated social media manager or agency. These are experts who are very knowledgeable and can provide a lot more than content – but they come with a hefty price tag. If you’re not prepared to spend at least $400 on basic social media management, don’t even think about it.
The truth is, for the most part, small businesses can handle most aspects of social media on their own. Creating a social media strategy can easily be done using easy templates – like this one. Checking in on social each day only takes a few minutes and you can automate statistical reports so they come to your inbox each week.
So that leaves us with developing and scheduling content and executing an effective social media marketing campaign; and that’s where 99DollarSocial comes in.
What is $99 Social?
$99 Social is a “done-it for you” social media service that develops and posts daily content to Facebook, Twitter and Google+ for small businesses. Each client (that’s you) gets a dedicated account manager – yes, a real human being – who is responsible for your account. They develop custom content for your business and promote your products and services as well – entire social media campaigns run for you.
There are no tiered packages, just their flat $99 fee for all the services listed. If you want something more robust, they deal with that on a one-to-one basis.
What we love about $99 Social?
Well there’s a lot to love about this service, but a few specific elements stood out.
The first is their Proprietary VoiceMatch System. Your account manager studies your business and uses it to determine your brand voice. This means you’ll never have to worry about stuffy corporate speak on your bar page, or teenage-speak on your corporate software page.
Another thing businesses worry about when hiring someone to manage their page is losing control of it or not being able to share content when they do have something worth sharing. With $99 Social, you can still post to your accounts whenever you want. Additionally, if you have specific products or promotions that you’d like them to focus on, you can always send it over to your account manager and keep in touch via their unlimited email and phone support.
Other features:
$99 Social eases the pressure and need for you and your team to be social media experts so that you can focus more on product delivery and executing your company’s vision.
- Content is specially crafted for your business and niche
- Content is posted 7 days a week
- Get custom-branded visual content for boosting engagement – since photos make up over 90% of the most engaging content on sites like Facebook
- Comment and spam moderation
- Social profile optimization to ensure your page uses the best content and keywords to be found online
What to do with your extra 20 hours each month?
As I mentioned above, $99 Social won’t completely cover all aspects of social media needed to see results, they just handle the most time-consuming aspect at a cost small businesses can afford. Since they are saving you up to 20 hours per month, here are a few other social media related tasks you could do to in that time to help your business even further.
Engage fans who comment on posts – the point of posting content is to engage fans, right? So don’t leave them hanging!
Develop campaigns and promotions for social media – studies have consistently shown that the number one reason people like us follow brands on social media is to access freebies and discounts.
Use another social media channel – while $99 Social is limited to three social media channels, your customers may not be.
Start business blogging – share your views on your industry, answer FAQs and highlight your best customers.
Track results for improvement – see what content is resonating with your audience and share this with your $99 Social account manager so they can get even better at developing content for you.
As you can tell, we think this is a great service for busy small business owners who need to outsource but still want to maintain quality and control. At $99, it’s tremendous value for money.
What you think about 99DollarSocial? Let us know through comments…
