Saving time on repetitive tasks
I spend too much time managing agency output and not enough time on strategy. When I work with an agency, I am doing a lot of administrative work. A managed content network is different. It is a technical partner. I provide the assets, and they take care of the heavy lifting of posting across multiple accounts. This saves me hours every week. It allows me to be more efficient with my time and focus on producing better creative that performs well in the network.
Getting more reach with less effort
An agency might build a great social presence for our brand account, but they are limited by the organic reach of that one account. A managed network is limited only by the number of pages in the network. This is a massive difference. I can get much more visibility with the network than I ever could with a single brand account, no matter how good the agency is. It is a more effective way to scale our presence.
Integration of services
I find the best approach is to use my agency to help me build a strong creative strategy and then use a managed network to execute the distribution of that creative. This way, I get the brand-building expertise of the agency and the high-volume performance of the network. It is not an either-or decision. It is about layering services to create a more powerful marketing engine. I am essentially managing a more diversified stack.
The trade-off of control
I have to be more organized to work with a network. Since I do not own the pages, I need to ensure my assets are ready and my communication is clear. The agency is more flexible and can handle more complex requests. I see the agency as a creative partner and the network as an execution tool. I need both to be successful, but I have to manage them in different ways. The agency needs more guidance, while the network needs more structure.
Use your agency for high-level creative and your managed network for the repetitive, high-volume job of distributing that content.
See your network before you hire.
Tell us what your consumer app company already makes and how you get customers today. We'll show you a real network running live and tell you honestly whether it fits. It costs about the same as one marketing hire.
Follow-up questions
Is the agency going to be annoyed?
Only if you don't explain why you are doing it. Tell them the network is for top-of-funnel reach, which frees them up to focus on the brand.
How many assets should I produce?
As many as you can. The more you feed into the network, the better your results will be. Treat it like a demand-based machine.
What happens if the agency and network disagree?
You are the manager. You make the final call on what gets posted. Your brand voice should always take priority.