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.

Adrian Guzman

Acquiring the know-how to manage your own social media is like having a powerful tool at your fingertips that allows you to shape your brand’s narrative and connect with your audience on a personal level. While outsourcing to an external company might seem tempting, nobody knows your business better than you do. Read more>>

Lynden Prosser

I manage all of my own socials medias, and I think that allows me to work freely on my accounts. Despite being a small business, I think no matter what I will always manage at least one or two of my accounts just so that I have a handle on the company itself, because it has been great so far. Only advice I have is that put a lot of thought into your business before you start it because I recently went through an entire name and logo change and that was the only thing I would do differently. Read more>>

Brendan Trogdon

I have always managed all aspects of my social media, which includes my photo/video brand and my personal brand, totaling to 10+ accounts on at least 5 different social channels – and do so because I enjoy being able to connect more personally with my audiences. I also don’t have the need to hire someone else to manage this for me at the moment. My biggest piece of advice when it comes to social media is to research which channels your target audience uses most, and focus on those. Choosing 1-3 channels to focus on increases the efforts you can put into each, therefore increasing the quality of the work you produce on each. As your audience grows you can connect with them and others through different channels, like a blog or other type of social network, but start simple and build it up. Read more>>

Marcelline “Marcie” Taylor

I do manage my own social media. I am actually the person companies hire to manage their social media and digital presence. I also have a team for client projects, depending on their needs. However, I am happy to share that managing my own social media has been rewarding. Through my channels, I am able to connect with my audience and share authentically and I am able to get creative and experiment. Read more>>

Brieann Cassidy

I’ve been running my own socials since day one (going on 5 years now). As a millennial, I grew up without the internet and social media. I’ll be the first to admit I have absolutely NO idea what I’m doing. Fake it ‘til you make it seems to be my motto when it comes to social media. It really is a full-time job on its own and requires a lot of time and effort, especially for those of us who weren’t born with technology at our fingertips. I often ask my 10 year old daughter for help and she never fails to impress me with how quickly she’s able to navigate and troubleshoot. Maybe time to put her on payroll…? Read more>>

Mary Kendall

Let’s face it….running a small business isn’t easy. I have dabbled with hiring others to take care of some social media tasks but, due to budgetary constraints, it really is down to me to carry out and manage my varying platforms. What this means is a lot of trial and error in figuring out where my time and energy should be spent. Social media is a shifting sands landscape and it can be hard to keep up. The results are a mixed bag that do not necessarily have set metrics. But I have been able to develop a presence of sorts that I am comfortable with. Read more>>

Garret Wing

When I first started social media about 3.5 years ago, my wife and I did everything from filming, to editing, posting and replying to all comments and messages. In that time, we have grown to an internal social media team of 7 individuals consisting of (1 social media manager, 3 editors, 1 videographer, 2 moderators). This team did not appear overnight. We grew slowly starting with just one part-time videographer/editor. We slowly began to add more folks to the team as our social media channels grew. I think it’s important when you first start out to be very involved in your social media in terms of filming, editing, posting, etc. Read more>>

Luca Buzas

I manage my own social media and I have actually been able to help other companies manage their social media channels as well with the skills I have acquired from my own career. In the past 10 years as a celebrity stylist and makeup artist, I’ve had the privilege to work with many different clients and brands to shape their brand identities. I feel it is very important to have a social media presence nowadays because when a new customer comes to your social media channels they immediately see your work, your style, what you are selling and if it appeals to them or not. Read more>>

Devon Tracy

I manage my own socials! My previous experience with photography and working in social media for the company’s in-house channels is definitely a helpful skill set to have. I didn’t feel totally overwhelmed and knew what I needed to do to build my brand. Read more>>

Freddy Tyler Paul

I actually run every aspect of my social media. My brand is my name so It has to be somewhat personalized. But f you listen to my music or podcast, see my photography or clothing, there’s a clear thread of authenticity that I think people who follow me can see. My socials are just a more personal extension of that and my main social, IG, lets me stay engaged with fans, customers, and friends on the daily, and drive traffic to my website. Read more>>

Lowdy Trail

When it comes to my social media I manage my own social media by having full access and control of all social media by my self. However I do have a management team and promoters to help push and boost all my social media advertising and post afterwards. I have learned to make social media advertising and posting easier by scheduling ahead of time instead of spending all my time the day and time it is needed to be posted. By scheduling all my posts I can spend the time I have free to have everything I want posted at the exact days and times that social media has the most users online and the best organic growth from the beginning. Read more>>

Derrick Brownie

I manage my accounts across several different platforms. My business is still in its infancy stage so hiring a team or company to manage does not make sense at this time. The advice I would offer to anyone managing their own social media accounts is to get organized and use a project management tool. It has been great being able to plan ahead and schedule content. Read more>>

Lisa Steinke and Liz Fenton

We manage our own social media for many reasons. We have fun doing it! We love to share snafus we get into in our everyday lives, ridiculous things that happen to us on vacation and snippets from our worlds behind our computer monitors. And, of course, we also enjoy including our readers in our book publishing adventures: the good, the bad and the ugly. Another reason we handle our own social media platforms is because the way we frame our stories is part of our brand. We also have a podcast called, We Fight So You Don’t Have To where we share the truth about A LOT of what we go through in publishing as well as in our own lives. We like to lean into the mistakes we make and the things that go wrong as much as, if not more than, the straightforward publishing accomplishments. Read more>>

Arpita Saha

Instagram for me was a creative outlet. Being a full-time working professional and a proud mom of a 12-year-old – life is hectic. My husband created theknowndestination page to share travel stories as we both love travelling. However, during Covid we were stuck at home over the weekends and that is when I took the reins of the page. My page is all about simple fashion and travel. My page now has over 15K followers and I have collaborated with multiple brands.As mentioned earlier this is not my full time job, I do it as I love blogging and traveling and what better way to share your love with others. Read more>>

Val Emanuel

One of the things Rif Care gets the most compliments on is our social media channels. We do not have a huge following, but we do post regularly and the goal of our pages is to educate! Right now the social media team has mostly been managed by me. I have had an assistant, but we need to raise money so we let her go and now I am managing myself! Read more>>