Many business owners believe that hiring someone in house will be a cheaper, but in the long run this could cost your business more. In hiring an employee, you will not only be paying for their salary but also their benefits and payroll taxes (the average $15 an hour can cost around $50,000). In hiring someone for "cheaper" you are most likely getting an inexperienced marketer who may not have a degree and understanding of proper marketing strategies and techniques which can cost your business a lot of money with little to no results. The average knowledgeable and experienced marketer can cost a minimum of $65,000 per year just in salary (not including payroll taxes and benefits). Outsourcing means that you get a knowledgeable and experienced marketer for sometimes less than hiring a minimum wage employee.

Your young niece, nephew, or good friend may be great at social media and posting, but without the knowledge of how to create and maintain a solid brand image on all marketign platforms, this can prove disastrous to your business. If they post something that turns off your audience then you may lose them for good; also without having a solid and efficient marketing strategy your competitors could easily captialize on your weak marketing and drive customers away form your business to theirs.

Having one of your employees managing your marketing can hurt your business the same as having a relative or friend managing it, without having any expertise or experience in marketing your business could end up driving customers away. You are not an expert in everything and also as a business owner, do you really have the time to manage social media and a number of other marketing channels on top of all of your other responsibilities? You didn't start your business to be a marketer and your time is better spent focusing on the areas in your business wear you can help increase sales. Also not having the proper knowledge of marketing can lead to hurting your business. You wouldn't just have anyone or yourself handling all of your business law, so why have just anyone manage your marketing?

Social media is great free exposure to a number of small businesses, however, it is just one component of the marketing mix. In order for your business to establish long-lasting success your business will need to utilize all marketing channels and integrate them all together to follow one solid message. You could also be wasting time and resources on social media channels that your target audience are not frequenting or not going to at all. Using other marketing channels such as SEO, your website, email marketing, blogs, etc. will help your business better reach all of your target market to help increase sales and grow your business.