Social media marketing is imperative for all small to medium-sized businesses today. If you have experience with marketing on social media, then you can turn that into a freelancing gig.
If a business isn’t on social media, many people just won’t stop there. They like to see the ratings and comments from others before they spend their money.
Here are the steps you need to take to get started:
Start with You
Before you can run a successful social media marketing business, you need to learn how to do it by starting with yourself. If you haven’t already, set up your own social media, website, and messaging exactly the way you would the businesses you work with.
Once you are successful with your efforts, you can use this as an example of what you can do for your prospective clients. This process can even help you identify creative people to outsource to as you start getting more clients.
Choose the Right Niche
It really depends on where you live and what your interests are on the niche you choose; however, choosing a niche to work with is always best. You can choose to work with mom and pop businesses, or you can choose to work with only barber shops, it’s up to you and what works best in your community and what is most needed.
Create Packages That Work for Small Businesses
Instead of setting up a system that is hourly, try creating packages with a set fee. For example, instead of stating you’ll work for $20 an hour, state that you’ll upload at least 30 social media updates and memes per month for a set fee. That way, you don’t get trapped in trading hours for dollars or scope creep since what you are to do is spelled out in the package. Businesses also like packages because they know in advance how much they are going to spend.
Provide Examples and Case Studies![presentation]()
Once you start getting business, brag about what you’re doing for them. Give people the data so that they know you increased someone’s foot traffic in their store by half, or that you increased engagement and sales by 45% in six months through your efforts. When you provide those examples and case studies, it shows that you know what you’re doing.
Consider Outsourcing
Social media marketing includes a lot of special skills such as graphic design, funnel creation, content marketing, and more. You may need to build a team to fill in the gaps for what you don’t know or what you don’t want to do. Build your team with other freelancers so that you can keep your overhead low and only pay people when you’re getting paid.
Write a Business Plan
Don’t just start in the dark without writing up a business plan. If you’re not going to get a loan, you can write a shorter business plan that just helps guide you through the steps you need to complete to become profitable.
Building a social media marketing business from the ground up will take some time, but you can get started fast if you educate yourself on the topic you’re becoming an expert in. Building a freelance business is a lot less time consuming than building a more substantial brick and mortar business with employees. With low overhead, you can be pickier about who becomes your customer and only do the work you most enjoy.
