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.

Casey Gardner Ford

The best and worst thing to happen to photography in recent years has been the advent and mainstreaming of social media. I have reached more clients than I ever could have imagined and also have to deal with so much more competition from folks who might not be as skilled as I am but have a better social media “presence”. I manage my social media myself. Most of the photographers I know do as well. We know what we are good at and feel capable of sharing that with the world. However, social media is a science in itself and I would sleep easier at night if I wasn’t thinking about what reels I need to make tomorrow or when my scheduled posts run out and I need to sit down and write more. Read more>>

Monique Hamil

I manage my businesses social media account and let me tell you, that’s a job in itself. I have done tons of research about Instagram. When you finally think you understand, it changes. They are constantly evolving, which is good, but makes it hard to keep up with. I create all posts, stories, videos and even dance funny for Reels. Social media is the mecca for advertising your business and even yourself these days. I honestly don’t understand why businesses wouldn’t utilize something so powerful when it’s FREE. On the other hand, it’s very time consuming, so I can respect if someone just doesn’t want to do it. Read more>>

Gabbi Paulo

I manage my own socials, and let me tell you, it is a learning curve. There’s a lot to think about regarding hashtags, good times to post, engaging with the community, etc. and it can be a lot of work on top of actually making the art. It’s fun to curate an Instagram feed and make TikTok videos describing my packing process. I feel like social media has helped me connect with people better and organize all my creations into one big internet diary. Read more>>

Brett Christoffel

When i was first getting ready to launch All Y’alls in 2018 I asked Renee the founder of Rowdy Girl Sanctuary that we support if she knew a vegan who handled social media. I was introduced to Courtney of Sprinkles Creative Agency and they have worked with me over the years and have always shifted as required along the way. I found many amazingly talented and capable firms ready to take my business for double or quadruple what I pay now. Two person shop utilizing external talent to round out their deliveries. I know of people finding solid individuals who handle their social for a reasonable rate. Read more>>

Annabelle DeGrazio

We manage our social internally. After many attempts to outsource, it became clear to us that we could do a lot more with our social media if we handled it ourselves because we could show the process of candle-making more intimately, interact with our customers much more (in fact, we get a lot of orders via DM), and change things up last-minute. Our IG has always been a main driver of sales and customer interaction, so we have a team devoted to posting, engaging with clients and building brand partnerships. We recently hit 30K followers and couldn’t be more excited to continue to build and grow it!. Read more>>

Kimberly Davis

I have always managed my own social media pages. I started out on Facebook, then added 2 Instagram pages (one for my beauty makeup and one for my sfx makeup) and then I have added a tiktok page as well. It does take up a lot of time to run all of them but you have to set aside time every couple of days to keep posting content. Read more>>

Patti Nachmann

When it comes to our social media, I find that I know my business better than any agency. Social media gives my business a platform to share not only our products but also our values. It requires daily attention in responding to followers and fans. Coming across a past bride’s wedding photos and interacting in their posts is one of the best parts of my job. It provides us with content as well as a sense of pride in seeing the final product of our work. Read more>>

Rachel Scruggs

I run Radiance Events, but also work full-time as Social Media Marketing Manager. The great thing about having this background knowledge is I can be the Social Media Manager for my event planning business. I truly get to kill two birds with one stone while also saving money. I think it’s very important in the beginning stages of a business to find ways to do things without having to outsource. Read more>>

Sabrina Davis

We have been managing our own social media for years. Even though there are a lot of amazing firms out there that could help us with it, we feel that some of the nuances of our brand would be lost. For example, during 2020 quarantine our team was texting with our clients and kept hearing how bored and disconnected they felt staying at home. We came up with a lot of ideas for them to stay engaged with us even’ though they couldn’t visit at the store. Read more>>

Candace Green

As far as Social Media goes, I manage my own accounts, all of them. Having Social Media as a business owner is like a full time job because it’s very important to be consistent with posting and putting out new content, everyday if possible. I believe as a business owner it’s beneficial to be active on social media because your posts can be seen by people all over the world and it helps with growing your business/brand and gaining new clientele. About 85 percent of my clientele came from social media. Read more>>

Kody Davis

Currently I manage my own, but I am looking for a team. To help with things like promoting, bookings, responding to customers in a timely matter, etc. Which I do a good job at but I want to expand so I’ll need more hands. Read more>>

Krystal Tabor

I managed all my social media platforms. I take the photos, I do the edits. Instagram launched reels, and that’s a one man show as well! Some times you have to be your own cheerleader to make things happen. Read more>>

Katelyn Fisher

My social media (specifically instagram) started out as a tool to show off my favorite makeup looks I’ve done. As I kept posting, I started getting more work through others seeing my posts. Instagram shifted from a place of fun to business as my work progressed. I still manage my own account (sfx_by_katelyn), but I had to start posting with a different purpose in mind. I love being able to post my own content and now even manage social media for other local businesses in the area. Read more>>

DelRae Cicinelli

Managing our social media is still something I manage. As the herbalist and sole maker, I want to share our products on a personal level. It’s a personal experience each time I forage an herb, create an oil infusion, charged and cleanse the crystals that go in our products, and I want to relay that on social media. It is important that people who come to Loil Life feel that the interaction is the same whether they are connecting with us online or in person. Read more>>

CJ Gilbert

This is actually a service that we offer people who are too overwhelmed or too busy to handle it themselves. And yet, I really believe the greatest value you can receive is by doing it yourself. You see, I think social media became so successful is because it allows the average person to connect directly to a celebrity (or a company) without a middleman, manager or gatekeeper. This level of connection and availability skyrocketed social media to the current level that it is. So when you hire someone else to do this for you, I think you’re giving away a little bit of the power of that direct connection. Read more>>

Noe & Brenda Montoya

We used to manage our Social Media, but it can get overwhelming with a full time job, two year old, spouse and a small business. Luckily through our events we met Ilse. Through her business, Connect Media Firm, she took all of our social media to another level. We have been blessed enough to see her grow and are so excited to be one of her clients. She is truly the best! Read more>>

Michelle Boerst

We do our own social media. Our children and their friends wanted us to start a Tiktok account, showing our honey bee removals. We opened up an account and the first video was successful. 600,000 views in a few days. We continued to shoot videos and then one day a few weeks later, we had a massive swarm of honey bees to pick up. We caught the whole thing on camera and the Tiktok users went wild over it. We currently are sitting at 15 million views on this video. It was very exciting! We started to video every one of our jobs. Soon, it became a monster we had to feed. Read more>>