Would you hire a Social Networking Consultant for your small business?

[Haley]

Social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace have made quite an impact on the business world in the past few years. Not only are they a way to communicate, they also are tools with which to promote your business. As a small business owner, would you hire a consultant to manage your presence on social networking sites? Responsibilities would include updating daily statuses (menu specials, sales, promotions, greetings, etc.), passing along feedback and questions to the owner, relaying information and answers back, posting pictures, video and advertisements, editing and monitoring the sites' content and general marketing and public relations for the business.
My target business would be one of 1-4 employees, with no professional IT, PR or marketing person...perhaps a business run by the older generation, someone who doesn't know computers and doesn't want to but doesn't want to miss out on that marketing canvas...someone who might know how to use the tool but doesn't have time to spend on it...Jessica - I actually am a fan of or like many businesses and franchises on FB, and I purposefully make their posts more available to me on my feed so I can see daily specials, sales, discounts, contests, freebies, etc.!

[Jessica]

No, I wouldn't hire such a person. I've already got someone for my IT needs, and I'm quite competent in using social networks myself. The IT gal is capable of managing my email needs and updates. I find that making updates too frequently (more than once or twice a week, at most) will aggravate and alienate my customers, and I will get less traffic rather than more.

All of my staff are quite computer/internet savvy. I don't need to hire someone else. Even if I did, I'd hire someone who could do more than just social networking.

I own a couple of retail shops, I'm part owner in a restaurant, and I also own a couple of service businesses.