This question is a part of my Free Q&A Series where I answer questions posed by entrepreneurs around the world on sites like Quora, Clarity, and various freelancing forums.
Hi there, I wish I could give you an exact amount — or even a decent range. But, in reality, the answer is it depends.
There are a number of factors I would use to quote this. Some of those factors include:
- How much content, and what kind, is being created?
- How much time are you expected to put into strategy, planning, and vision casting?
- How much time are you expected to devote to answering and replying to incoming queries?
- How well do you know the company culture that you are managing for? Will you be responsible for sourcing the answer to questions? What does that process look like?
- How many platforms are you expected to manage?
Social media management is generally administrative, but requires a great deal of customer service experience. For example, are you expected to respond to negative user reviews? Are you enabled to grant refunds, exchanges, or schedule services? If not, are you expected to coordinate with the company?
Content creation is not just writing a few words into a status bar and pushing Publish. It should be driven by a strategy that informs the entire marketing process. Photos should be high-quality and original, not stock photos (and certainly, never, ever, ever taken from Google Images). Who schedules and coordinates the photographers? Are you doing video? Blog writing (which then feeds content for the social profiles) requires an understanding of the ideal customer, strong writing skills, and an understanding of search engine optimization.
As you can see, there are many factors to social media management and content creation. Your original question, how much to charge, is dependant on how you answer these questions, your skill set, and how you value your time.
If you’d like more information, or would like to create a marketing strategy, I am happy to help. Just reach out and shoot me a note.
All the best,
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