It’s fair to say that most businesses have come to recognise that they need a digital presence. Touch points to present their identity to an audience and potential customers. For some it may make sense to outsource, and for others, the best approach is to have an internal team.

The most common points are social media and website; maybe even a mobile application depending on needs.

It’s fair to say that most companies start out small and expand as the company grows. The same can be said of your company’s digital team. Digital is broad and it keeps expanding. It’s not uncommon to find social media managers, content writers, copy writers, art directors, videographers, developers and much more within a digital team.

The question now is who do you need? I have two questions for you; what are your goals and what is your budget?

The most basic unit of most digital teams is social media managers; people to plan and share content on your platforms. If you’re lucky, you may find some with some level of graphic design skill or writing skills. If you’re blessed, you’ll find someone with both graphic skills and content writing skills. Additional skills are like the holy grail and not easy to find. They can however be trained for.

Most social media managers can be hired for minimum wage. If you’re thinking short term, hire someone with either graphic design or writing skills. I personally would recommend hiring writers first over graphic designers for social media. Writers are better at communicating to your audience and will generally find it easier to understand what you’re trying to say. If you’re looking for experience, be prepared to pay a lot more. Pay attention to the tradeoff between thinkers and technical people. Thinkers will get things organised and are more strategic. Technical people will do the tasks but are rarely ever about the big picture.

If you’re thinking long term, hire someone who can connect all the dots and build for the future. You’re less likely to have team conflicts when you eventually expand and want to bring an experienced person.

Goals are also key to hiring conversations. Is your goal just to be present online and respond to messages or are you looking to create a fully functional content engine? What kind of content do you want to put out and with what frequency? Where do you want to win? Is it on social, app, website, email or video? You’ll need to pick a struggle because fighting on all these fronts is an expensive venture. You’re more likely to win by focusing on one or two key formats and expanding from there.

Video, website and app will generate revenue for you with the right strategy. Social media and email will raise your brand awareness and bring you customers. All requiring different tactics and thinking.

Here are some of my thoughts on culture, career paths and job stacking from my time in the media and agency.

  • Creatives can be very playful and unserious; it helps them to do their best work. To get the best out of them, set clear goals and deadlines and keep them engaged and challenged.
  • Don’t expect your leaders to get their hands dirty. More experienced leads do better at prioritising tasks, providing guidance and managing the unit.
  • Feedback should be directed at the work and how it can be improved and not at the person.
  • The best design and visual folks are not usually the best communicators. So you need to have someone who can communicate the vision clearly.
  • Writing and design generally don’t mix. If you’re going to job stack to save costs, you’re likely to get better results by keeping things in the same sphere. Video and graphic design may work well together; same with content writing, copywriting and SEO.

Please feel free to message me if you have more questions.