Social media can be a really powerful way to connect with and build deeper relationships with your audience – but it can be extremely time consuming. So, we asked some folks we admire to share how they manage their social profiles and whether they’ve hired professionals to help.

Nicholas & Mary Finstad

We decided Mary would manage our social media accounts starting out as entrepreneurs with a negative budget! We decided she would continue doing so, as she has two master’s degrees in business administration and accounting, and she is keeping up to date with the latest social media trends by taking ongoing full semester courses on topicals such as digital marketing, entrepreneurship marketing, social media marketing, etc. We have gone from only advertising our businesses in local mom’s groups without even a website to a full-blown marketing business campaign, where we utilize email marketing, landing pages, organic marketing, our website, social media, some paid advertising, and ALOT of time to manage our marketing campaign which aligns with our business plan and strategy. This has worked tremendously for us, as Mary had the basic knowledge of marketing from her degrees to get Nick’s 24 Hour Bounce Castles LLC going and it has been extremely cost effective and we are able to maintain more control over our social media by keeping it in house. Read more>>

Mimi Erskine

I manage my own social media. I edit, direct, and everything else for my videos. What I’ve learned is that you have to have money to make money and no one has given us money. We do it more as a side project because everyone wants to screw us over at every turn. This is not an industry that you can make a decent living off of, unless you’re already famous or can fund it yourself. There is an ocean of media traffic and even with a financial backing, sometimes your social media pages can still flop. They also pay nothing on places like Spotify, so it’s really hard to get paid. Read more>>

Marcopolo Lua

When I decided to start my business, I understood that social media would play a significant role in my marketing strategy. I view it as a visual resume that showcases my work to potential customers. However, I must admit that managing social media is a demanding task that I have struggled with at times. I made the decision not to hire a social media company because I wanted to avoid generating a generic following. I was also hesitant to entrust someone who might view social media as merely a job rather than a genuine opportunity for growth with the business with the same passion as I. Read more>>

Darian Vaziri

I do all my own social media posting and 95% of the editing and clips you see are my doing. I didn’t really have a choice on wether or not I WANTED to do it. When you’re first getting off the ground, you are going to have to do the trench work yourself. You won’t have the money to hire a team unless you already have made it in another industry. You need to put in time yourself in my opinion before looking for help. Eventually, when you manage so many pages it sure can get overwhelming. I’d say the goal is to keep working to make enough money where you can higher people later down the line to ease the workload off of yourself. Read more>>

Keyuna Rawls

I manage my company’s social media marketing internally, driven by a clear vision for my business and a desire to conserve resources. My experience has taught me that entrepreneurship encompasses both triumphs and challenges, but staying true to one’s initial purpose and persistence are vital. Ultimately, building a successful business requires endurance, treating it as a marathon rather than a sprint. Read more>>