Most trades business owners treat these as the same thing. They're not. One produces premium content. The other manages your accounts. Hiring the wrong one is an expensive mistake.
The phone call goes something like this: "We need someone to handle our social media." And then comes the question that changes everything: "Do you mean you need content produced, or do you need someone to manage your accounts?"
Most business owners don't know there's a difference. That's a problem, because hiring the wrong type of service is an expensive mistake, and it's one we see constantly in the Tampa Bay home service market.
What a social media manager does
A social media manager handles the operational side of your social presence. They schedule posts, respond to comments and DMs, run engagement campaigns, sometimes manage paid ads, and report on metrics like reach, engagement, and follower growth.
What most social media managers don't do is produce premium content. They work with whatever assets you give them, which for most trades businesses means phone photos and random job-site videos, and try to make them work.
What a content agency does
A content agency produces the actual content. Cinematic reels, professional photography, brand films. The kind of content that requires professional equipment, lighting, color grading, and editing expertise.
Porter Media is a content agency. We don't manage your accounts. We don't post on your behalf. We don't run your ads. We produce premium content and deliver it to you ready to post.
The distinction that matters
If you have great content but no one to post it, you need a social media manager. If you have a social media manager but nothing worth posting, you need a content agency. If you have neither, you need a content agency first, because premium content is the asset everything else is built on.
For most trades businesses in Tampa Bay, the missing piece is the content itself. That's what we build.
Our recommendation
Hire a content agency to produce content that makes your business look world-class. Then either post it yourself (we give you a calendar and templates that make this simple) or hire a social media manager to handle distribution. If you need both, we can connect you with one of our preferred vendors.