SMMA is hard because of tough competition and volatile social media algorithms. Beginners have to prove they can deliver results against 42,395 digital marketing specialists in the US, as per Zippia. And, Doofinder revealed 80% of SMMA struggle to prove the ROI of social media marketing. Moreover, social media trends regularly change. Facebook and TikTok’s algorithms are always updating while Instagram recently had a major update. Instagram used to have a 20/80 non-followers and followers algorithm. Now, posts shown are based on entertainment value like TikTok. According to Reddit users, it poses a problem for community building and branding.
SMMA or social media marketing agency requires you to keep up with trends. Trendify founder, Sai Karra, said technology and social media are keys to success. To achieve that, Karra advised to be ahead of competition when it comes to new tech and social media changes. Moreover, Jordan Platten of Affluent.co believes differentiation leads to success in SMMA.
However, SMMA remains a viable business model in 2024 because the demand is still growing. Sprout Social's findings show 80% of businesses are increasing their social media budget. According to Statista, the average person spends 151 minutes per day on social media. And, Keywords Everywhere says 8 out of 10 SMBs use social media for customer engagement. These data suggest SMMA is still a good business idea for entrepreneurs ready to hustle.
I’ve been a digital marketer for a decade and spent almost $100k on Facebook ads. Social media is a tricky balancing act of paid advertising and engaging content. So, I redirected my efforts into a more passive digital marketing business idea. In this article, I’ll go over the 5 reasons why SMMA is hard and list down SMMA niches to avoid. I also collected top Reddit and Quora comments to help you decide if it’s the business model you want to start in 2024.
5 Reasons Why Starting an SMMA is Not Easy in 2024
1. Social Media Market Saturation
According to Sprout Social, brands publish 10 posts per day on average. If there are 10 established brands in the same niche, then beginners will compete against 100 posts per day. Carolyn Cohen of H&R Block says the reality of social media is brands are never competing with other brands alone. They're competing for people's attention against other influencers, brands from different niches or industry and even family and friends.
According to The Business Research Company, social media marketing grew by 14.8% in 2024 alone. And it's expected to grow by 13.2% in the next 3 years. These data show a demand for social media marketing. But as the demand increases, so is the competition for more unique content that will grab people's attention.
Kyrill Krystallis, founder of Inside Insight, a digital agency, said it's hard to scale. The more sales you close, the more the delivery bottleneck you have. Once you close sales, you must find the right people to help you with the delivery. According to Kyrill, the industry is "excessively oversaturated with agencies."
PRO TIP:
Go beyond a blueprint for success designed by gurus or a popular marketing agency. You should be able to identify market gaps and position yourself as a leader in a specific niche or domain. Choose effective platforms depending on your target market. For instance, if you target ages 25-34 years old, almost 50% of them are on LinkedIn. Also, build your social media presence and go for a less saturated SMMA niche.
2. Difficulty of Getting Audience Engagement
Publishing Tech Trends Report revealed information overload and getting reader's attention are top marketing challenges. According to Wyzowl, the average attention of a person today is 8 seconds. And people leave web pages in 10 seconds. Meanwhile, Business Dasher reported 94% of business use social media. SMMA owners are expected to overcome these challenges and engage consumers for their clients.
PRO TIP:
Use social listening. It is a way to engage with an audience without selling them anything. You can do this through polls and questions. Reddit users also recommend creating a "series" to induce FOMO. It will prompt people to go to your social media account and check out all of your posts so they don’t miss any part.
3. High Client Expectations
Clients have diverse needs and expect tailored solutions which are difficult for SMMA beginners. Client's goals are usually a boost in engagement, brand awareness, or sales. However, different clients have different expectations and performance metrics. SMMA owners are expected to adjust to every one of these.
Tom Ford, a co-founder of the Digital Culture Academy, shares that SMMA is stressful. You have to get clients and do the work. It requires business and social media skills. Tom shared he doesn’t even have a sick leave, unless his co-founder could pick up his work.
Moreover, HubSpot's report highlights that 68% of consumers expect personalized experiences from brands. So, SMMA owners must meet consumers' expectations of the brand to hit their client's KPIs. But Gartner’s study revealed 63% of digital marketers struggle to provide personalized experience. Failure to deliver customized strategies leads to high client churn and negative reviews.
PRO TIP:
Collect customer feedback about your social media agency regularly. You can send them customer satisfaction surveys or questions about their experience. You also need to nurture a customer-centric culture in your SMMA.
4. Excessive Social Media Skill Requirement
Clients demanding expectations force SMMA owners to have technical skills like:
- ads optimization
- funnel creation
- content creation
- data analysis
So it's becoming more difficult for beginner SMMA owners to break into the market. The Social Club's study even reported 81% of social media marketers can't keep up with trends.
PRO TIP:
Specialize in a niche. It reduces the skill set you need so you can concentrate on specific and relevant skills or tools. That way, you can deliver more customized and effective strategies.
5. Volatile Social Media Algorithms
Social media algorithms constantly develop, so successful strategies turn obsolete overnight. Courtney Larvadain of JRT Agency said what worked yesterday may not work again tomorrow. Hence, SMMA owners' most important skill is adaptability.
According to Backlinko, people have 8 social media accounts on average. Each social media platform has its own tone, main demographic and format. For example, Instagram Reels generate more likes but fewer comments than posts. 63% of X (Twitter) users are men while 76% of Pinterest users are female. SMMA owners are expected to cater to these social media platforms and adapt to any change.
PRO TIP:
Research the current algorithms and determine what works for others. Evaluate your top-performing posts. What makes them engaging and to what type of consumer?
Is SMMA Hard for Beginners?
SMMA is hard for beginners because of oversaturation, leading to tough competition. Beginners need to work double time to keep up with the established SMMA. For instance, Evan Vance, an SMMA owner in Ontario, Canada, works 65 hours weekly or about 13-14 hours daily. Evan checks comments, runs through CRM, and tracks how many leads came in and where they were from. He also said beginners will have difficulty finding skilled professionals. Those people will want to set up their own businesses.
A redditor working with coaches in different industries said the hardest part is adapting their system to each coach. This resulted in a messy workflow with no established SOP for their SMMA business. The redditor decided to focus on a single niche so they can establish authority on it.
What SMMA Skills are Hard To Learn?
Content creation aligned with branding, community management and marketing are SMMA skills that are hard to learn. According to Dorrian Casey, founder of Staq Agency, the learning phase is the hardest part of SMMA. Learning is a skill, and finding the most effective way of learning may take time.
Dorrian said that in SMMA learning include business, sales, and service delivery skills. You must sift through courses constantly and find the most relevant information. Dorrian added that learning is difficult because it is boring, tedious and overwhelming.
Meanwhile, digital marketing consultant and SEO trainer Alex Chris believes SMMA easy. Alex says most people already use social media platforms. Thus, it's easy to understand the concepts that relate to social marketing.
Industry reports say it takes 3 to 6 months to learn SMMA. After that, you'll need to find clients who will trust you enough to handle their social media. You need to reach out through email or cold-calling and pitch your company. Some business owners want to see your social media accounts to gauge your SMMA skills. So you need to have business and sales skills on top of SMMA skills.
What SMMA Niches are Hard To Break Into?
Top Comments on Why SMMA is Hard
Why SMMA is Hard: Top Comments on Quora
The top comments on Quora show different opinions why SMMA is hard for beginners. According to Declan Dunn, SMMA can be hard because you'll need experience and you need to look for clients. He adds that those starting a social media marketing agency may tell clients to pay if there are results. This is hard because you might have worked hard and end up not getting paid.
For B.J. Mendelson, SMMA can be hard and a bad venture because of saturation. He said many SMMA owners are "quite bad at it," making it hard for credible ones to succeed.
For Ansub Durrani, SMMA is not hard. However, he adds that you must have good sales skills or be willing to learn. Otherwise, he suggests doing other business.
Why SMMA is Hard: Top Comments on Reddit
The top comments on Reddit show different views on why SMMA is hard. Jason Yormark, owner of SMMA Socialistics, says it won't be easy, whether it is SMMA or another business. Jason adds that you need to be good at what you do and deliver actual results.
Another redditor believes SMMA is hard because it's "extremely hard to get organic results.". This Redditor adds that gurus push for SMMA because "it's already dead." And they make money from selling courses and software.
Meanwhile, a Reddit user agrees that the SMMA industry is very saturated, but it's still viable. You need a good offer to potential clients from a "not very well known niche."
Is It Hard To Earn Money in SMMA?
It is hard to earn money in SMMA because of tough competition and high client turnover. Clients pay between $500 to $5000 per month for SMMA services, as per Planable. However, beginners compete with more established SMMA agencies. And SMMA owners often resort to a pay-per-performance method. Clients would not have to pay unless they see results. It can lead to months of unpaid hard work. Karl Sakas of Sakas and Company, believes a rate higher than 20% should be a cause for concern. But the average client turnover of SMMA is 25% to 50%.
A redditor said the churn rate and oversaturation is a real concern. And if anyone is serious about starting an SMMA, it takes 2-3 years to hit a $10k per month profit. The Reddit user advised focusing on delivering quality service and establishing long-term client relationships.
It is hard to succeed in SMMA because of the saturation. Zippia’s data shows there are 61,443 social media managers in the US. Meanwhile, there are over 52,542 currently employed social media specialists. If you’re starting and don’t have any portfolio to show, you’re competing with these experts. Consistent hard work of keeping up with trends and algorithm changes is a must for SMMAs. Shae Lamond, the chief editor of Scaling With System, says new SMMA owners might have to work 60 hours per week.
Is SMMA Worth It in 2024?
SMMA is worth it in 2024 because businesses will continue to use social media for marketing. And since outsourcing typically costs less, small and medium-size businesses prefer it. According to Sprout Social, agency owners earn $500 to $5000 monthly. Statista's findings also showed a 12% increase in social media marketing's value since 2021. These data confirm the increasing demand and viability of social media marketing. In fact, SMMA salary is between $8.89 and $61.78 per hour, according to ZipRecruiter. However, SMMA owners agree that it takes years and skills to generate steady profit.
Why Local Lead Generation is Way Easier To Start and Scale Than SMMA
Local lead generation is way easier to start and scale than SMMA because you're focused on search results. SMMA owners cover all social media platforms, depending on their client's needs. And social media platforms are constantly updated. With local lead generation, you're creating websites for niche services. You use local SEO to rank them on search results. Google updates their algorithm at least 600 times a year. However, local SEO is competing on a local scale, so local lead gen is not heavily affected.
SMMA is also harder than local lead generation because it involves active selling. SMMA owner Evan Vance says he would do cold outreach or cold emails. On top of that, he manages paid ads and trains appointment setters. But, with local lead generation, once you rank the website, you don’t need to do cold outreach and get rejected. Your website’s ranking on Google will tell your potential client the leads you're gaining.
In addition, SMMA is a service-based business. Your client owns the social media accounts and the leads you generate. Since your client owns the business, job security can be a problem. Your clients can replace you with another SMMA. In local lead generation, you are the business owner. You build and control your digital portfolio. You rank the sites using Google’s organic traffic and rent it to a local business. You can choose who to rent it to and dictate the price. With more control over the business, local lead generation is easier to scale than SMMA. You are not limited by client capacity. Thus, local lead gen biz is the better business model in terms of scalability and investment today.
