How does your company handle social media?

Diane,

As CFO of Social Media Club (not for profit), maybe I'm a little biased. Just being out front there.

That being said, all the companies I consult to outsource to a degree. Even the majors (F-1000) hire people I know for point items. There is a sliding scale depending how big you are, how brand-focused you are, and whether or not social media is a core skill of your company. If it isn't core; outsource it. If you don't have a particular skill (say you're pushing into a new space and want some air-cover as you build a team), outsource it.

SEO and similar activities are also easily off-shored, be it to Kansas or Karachi. This lets you take advantage of regional areas of expertise, so it's very common to outsource in this area.

I have in-sourced when I have extra bandwidth on staff, but I find this to be (generally) sub-optimal. For example, when that bandwidth passes, the site doesn't get updated. Unless it is worth dedicated staff, specifically because it is core to your business, it is worth contracting out to someone for whom it *is* a core value.