The below preview was originally posted at SocialTrenz.com by Sergio Balegno, senior analyst with the MarketingSherpa Research Group, and lead author of the 2009 study, “Social Media Marketing and PR: Benchmarks and best practices for harnessing the power of the social marketplace”.  Visit http://www.socialtrenz.com for the original posts or click here to buy the book.

Outsourced services like those provided by agencies and consultants are often sacrificed during economic downturns in favor of perceivably less expensive in-house resources. But when you examine which resource is planning and executing programs more effectively, it’s not surprising to see that agencies and consultants who specialize in social media marketing and PR are at least 19% more likely to plan and execute effectively than in-house teams and agencies or consultants who are not specialized in social media.

As with any area of expertise that is rapidly evolving, specialists have a broader range of experience and tend to be much more knowledgeable about what works and what doesn’t, and they are more likely to help you accomplish your strategic goals. The emerging practice of social media marketing and PR is a good example of this.