Hyderabad: Realising the significance of social media in escalating digital presence, small and medium sized companies are now jumping on the social media bandwagon.

But crippled by the lack of experience and skilled resource pools, SMEs are outsourcing the job to experts in the industry. Social media consulting specialist Mr Aditya Gupta said, “Small and medium sized companies (SMSC) usually have a miniscule budget for managing their Facebook, Twitter and YouTube accounts and they don’t have the adequately skilled resources for the job.”

While these companies spend anywhere between Rs 5,000 to Rs 5,00,000 a month on social media outsourcing depending on the choice of platforms and frequency of updates, most fail to identify the right party to outsource to.

Handling these digital handles is no ordinary task as it requires special skills, and a young bent of mind. Mr Gupta says that “80 per cent of the marketing staff in these companies is aged over 40. Although the workforce may be experienced, the bigger threat of a digital divide hindering the proper execution of social media management cannot be ruled out.”

Mr Aditya Raj Mankani said, “The outsourcing company needs to thoroughly understand the DNA of the brand to reflect it rightly on these platforms.? He adds that? failure in doing so leads to a social media disaster that may permanently dent the brand repute.”

While outsourcing can eliminate smaller challenges, the content has to be approved or monitored by an in-house business expert to avoid potential trouble.

“These platforms reflect what an organisation or individual is, and when the task is outsourced, the control over the content updated here subsides,” says Mr Shaik Kareemuddin, who has handled social media accounts of international food chains.