Consider your status check-ins, inquiries and of course, approvals. These everyday communications can make a huge impact on how your client understands your work. A few tweaks can completely transform a cumbersome process into an experience that positions your agency as a true creative partner. If you want to optimize your processes, your social media approval workflow is a great place to start. In this article, we’ll go over how this day-to-day interaction can strengthen agency-client relationships.
How approval workflows strengthen agency-client relationships
70% of agencies say that social is an integral part of their overall service package, according to Sprout’s Agency Pricing & Packaging Report. As social becomes a core part of agency offerings, you need to have the infrastructure in place to operate smoothly at scale. Post approvals are a small but powerful step in any social media service offering. At their worst, they can involve a lot of follow-up, creating a time suck for both you and your client. But at their best, they can create client stickiness. Client-agency relationships get stronger when these processes become mini-opportunities for collaboration. Here’s how:
1. Demonstrate the value of social with a routine touchpoint
Social is your world, but for your clients, it’s just a fraction of their day-to-day. Approval workflows promote more active collaboration between you and your client’s teams. Think of it this way: your performance reports summarize the results of all the hard work you’re putting in. Your social media approval workflow gives your clients a peek behind the curtain, providing a more granular view into your posting schedule without a heavy time investment. This helps your client gain a deeper understanding of the strategy work you’ve put into developing their social presence. The more your clients understand your strategy, the better equipped they are to work as a creative partner to your team during content brainstorms.
2. Prevent mistakes before they happen
A good reputation is hard-earned and—given the speed of social—easily damaged. While successful client-agency partnerships are typically supported through your performance against deliverables, sometimes it’s what you don’t do that counts. Maintain a strong foundation of trust by building quality assurance into your publishing process. In Sprout, this is done by adding an internal review step to your workflow. This additional step ensures your work is “agency approved” before its time for client review. Adding an internal review step to your social media approval process can serve as a safeguard that prevents costly mistakes or off-brand messaging from reaching your client, let alone their social media profiles. These measures ensure your client only sees quality work which helps build trust and a positive rapport.
3. Promote collaboration in times of crisis
Typically, you’ll be working with a set approval and publishing schedule. But when a crisis strikes and your schedule is thrown out the window, post approvals help support sudden shifts in content production. When COVID-19 shelter-in-place mandates took effect in March 2020, Communicators Group had to revisit all of its clients’ social calendars. The agency had to work quickly to establish a strategy for publishing timely updates, many of which were being announced by the hour. To publish important updates quickly and accurately, their team used Sprout’s Message Approval Workflow feature to draft, review and schedule new content. “For several months, we completed 100% of our posts directly through the Message Approval Workflow feature simply because I could no longer plan out a month in advance,” said Raven Gill, Social Media Manager at Communicators Group. Posted by Westfield Bank on Monday, March 23, 2020 “We’ve gotten to a better position where I can go back to monthly planning. But for some clients, we’re still working out of approval workflows because of how consistently things are changing.” Communicators Group was able to act as a true partner, simplifying an already stressful situation for their many clients. Designing your approval workflow with crisis prevention in mind can help you do the same.
4. Retain and grow your business
67% of digital marketing agencies say the reason clients choose them is because they establish themselves as strategic partners. By promoting collaboration, efficiency and quality, your social media approval workflow can strengthen your client-agency partnership and your business. Strong client relationships drive referrals. Over 90% of agencies rely on word-of-mouth or referrals to drive new business. Having operations that streamline collaboration within your existing client relationships can ultimately fuel your new business strategy. Well-designed processes strengthen agency-client relationships by showing you can scale social efforts without sacrificing quality or brand voice. It may seem simple, but it’s also incredibly effective.
Creating a workflow that supports lasting client relationships
Opportunities for agency-client collaboration can be found in surprising places. Take routine processes and use them as an opportunity to showcase the true value of your agency. Sprout’s Message Approval Workflow feature can handle every step of your process in one integrated system. Build your own approval workflow and see how else Sprout can support your growing agency by signing up for a free trial today.
