A debate still rages out on the light-speed highway of the internet: should social media be handled in-house or outsourced to agencies? To this point there is no concrete, black-and-white answer, but there is plenty of information on both sides that can help you understand the difference and make an educated decision for yourself and your organization.

Part of the problem is the multifaceted nature of social media. The question seems to be directly focused on the social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter. There is so much more to social media, however, such as Forums, RSS feeds, and so on. The potential to generate traffic on more than one social media source is truly astonishing, so it is important to never neglect them.

In general, there are three areas that the outsource vs. in-house question applies to, and your particular situation can help dictate how you react to each of them.

Managing the Community:

When most managers ask the above question, this is likely what they are referring to. Maintaining the online reputation of the organization using the company blog, Facebook fan page, Twitter accounts, etc. is what managing the community is all about. Most solutions to this problem fall into one of three broad groups:

1. Completely In-House: In most cases this situation is ideal. There are more than a few companies that take the digital and social cultures seriously and invest internal resources into maintaining their online presence. This sends a message to the world stating that they are hands-on about promoting their products while informing people who are interested in their products.

2. 50-50 Split: Sometimes, the personnel structure, or even the way that information is handled within the company simply makes a full time in-house team impossible. The marketing or PR division usually dedicates a community manager that has full knowledge of the brand to work with an agency to generate the online presence. The agency’s input coupled with the manager’s expertise creates a solution that is as close to in-house as possible.

3. Wholly Outsourced: While many companies are eager to share what they want to establish for themselves in the online world, participating in the organization and broad structure of the online campaign, there are others who are still of the opinion that the internet is some kind of fad. They don’t grasp the power of social media, and as such could care less if some unpaid intern at a social media agency was the voice of their company online. Unless that intern is some kind of marketing genius, the results are probably going to be less than pleasing.

Creative Development

Marketing 101 taught us that a brand needs to gain recognition before it can be trusted. Creative development is the process of getting the brand noticed, creating conversation starters that propel the product or service offered to the mainstream consciousness. Many marketing departments today create all kinds of plans for television and print advertisements while neglecting the power of the social media to drive their brand. If there is no plan in-house for developing the internet presence of the company, an agency is highly advised.

Measuring, Monitoring, and Reporting

This area is again, a matter of preference really. Whether there is someone on the payroll whose tasks revolve around keeping their eyes on the numbers, or the organization pays for the service like any other research brief, there is no predominant reason to choose one over the other.

In the end, our success hinges on our adaptability. We must learn to recognize when an approach isn’t working, and modify the plan accordingly. If you are beginning to question your results, maybe you should re-evaluate your methods.

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