How to Start a Social Media Marketing Freelance Business
With the huge opportunities being brought about by social media platforms, many want to know how to start a social media marketing freelance business. Aside from the appealing work arrangement, it offers to marketing-savvy freelancers; the social media marketing trend has seen a rise in the past years. This has resulted in a drastic increase in demand for social media marketers. And yes, this is an easy income-generating gig, whether you go full-time or do it as a side job if you know the right direction to take.
The Global Social Media Trend
In July 2022, statistics show that 4.70 billion people are engaging in social media activities. Social media has become such a part of people’s lives that some consider it an addiction. Do you check your social media accounts the moment you wake up? Or find yourself feeling that your day is incomplete if you didn’t check at least one of your social media accounts? Some become so hooked that it has become a trend too that friends ban mobile phones during social gatherings like dinners.
Yes, social media has captured an audience so vast that businesses found this as an excellent platform for enhancing their businesses. You have seen, for sure, job placements, advertisements, corporate announcements, and other official statements being posted on social media.
Social media has definitely evolved from being a platform for connecting people and sharing stories to basically being a way of living. And this is not an exaggeration.
What is Social Media Marketing?
Simply put, social media marketing is the use of social media platforms for advertising, marketing, and other customer-centered business activities. Obviously seen as the best digital marketing tool of this generation, businesses maximize the efficiency of reach and connection of these social media platforms.
The ultimate goal of social media marketing is to, of course, drive sales. In creating a good social media marketing campaign, though, you must also think of the other benefits and advantages of these platforms. You can focus on building brand image or promoting brand loyalty. It may be as simple as making noise during a product launch to create awareness. This really depends on the business goal. But definitely, the main target is to get the business to increase its trading activities.
Fundamental Tasks of a Social Media Manager
If you are going to engage in a social media marketing business, you will be known as a Social Media Manager. As a social media manager, you will oversee the entire social media marketing campaign of your client. There are certain duties that you may be required to do for your client.
Strategy Creation
As a social media manager, you will need to be able to analyze the target market of your client. Remember, your goal is to capture the attention of your intended audience, meaning they have to stop scrolling the moment they see your post. So how are you going to achieve that?
Determine your market’s specific demographic, interests, language, and habits. For example, your target market is mothers. When do mothers usually check their social media? After their children left for school, maybe? There are studies released by social media platforms that show when the platforms are heavily active. So learn these data because you will need them.
You also have to know which social media platforms to utilize. For example, are mothers familiar with TikTok? Or do they use Instagram? It may not be wise to make your client spend so much on buying ad spaces on all platforms when you can already determine and recommend the ones most fitting to your market.
Keep in mind that your goal in creating your strategy is to convince the audience and turn them into paying customers.
Content Creation
This is the bulk of your work. Creating the content. You will design graphics, take relevant photographs, and even shoot short videos. For a more serious or formal client, you might need to post testimonials or short motivational speeches.
While these activities may be fun and exciting because of the creativity aspect, do not forget that it is still a business for your client. You have to anchor your content on the tone and look that will appeal most to your desired audience. If you are targeting teenagers, you have to use wisely the language with which they are familiar. You know very well that teens will not stop to look at your post if it is text-heavy, so you have to think of a creative way to capture their attention.
As a social media manager, you will be taking on the role of a graphic designer, copywriter, photographer, and videographer if need be. So you must know how to use these elements and when to use them best. Master how to make scroll-stopping, click-worthy content.
Just like how you deal with your own accounts, you need to be able to keep the client’s page updated and in with the crowd. Check the communities and trends. Know when you are getting a few views and visits so you can change your strategy. Remember, more clicks, more likes, and more views mean you are doing something right. Just be careful on sensitive matters that may be offensive to some.
This will not be a challenging task if you have a clear directive from your client on who their target market is. So, it is always a good practice to get all the details and vision from your client before you start working.
Monitoring and Reporting
Most clients will be expecting you to monitor their pages. This means checking for messages and comments and replying promptly. So polish your customer-relations skills as well. But remember, while it may seem that community page management obviously goes hand in hand with social media marketing, you do not necessarily need to do this task. It would be better to have a detailed scope of work with your client. Plus, you can actually charge additional for this service.
Of course, at the end of each agreed period, you will most probably be asked to report the impact of your campaign. Make sure you know how the analytics of each social media platform work; you will definitely need it.
How to Start a Social Media Marketing Freelance Business
Yes, it all sounds too easy, especially if you have a knack for developing creative and scroll-stopping posts. With fewer equipment investments, this could be a very profitable job. And now that you understand what your tasks will be once you start offering your services, it’s time to give you the best guides on how to start a social media marketing freelance business.
1. Go Deep on Social Media Knowledge
It is not enough that you know how to post on social media. You must have extensive knowledge of how to manipulate these platforms to your advantage.
First and foremost, it is best to master the top social networks. Now that you know that part of a good marketing strategy is understanding your audience, determine the best platforms to use for the specific demographic. While Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter may be the obvious choices, your particular market might also be actively heavy on other networks.
Learn the technical aspects of the social media platforms you’ll use. For some, different resolution specifications for visuals may change when viewed via mobile phones. Some have strict copyright terms, especially when using music. You do not want your post blocked or muted, right? Not only will your post look weak, but your client will complain about this.
Discover how the analytical tools work. This will help you manage the account better and see how you can improve. Keep in mind that the success of the campaign will translate to competence on your part, which could help you land more clients.
2. Train, Train, Train
Another great tip in exploring how to start a social media marketing freelance business is to have the relevant training you need to do the job efficiently. Look for online training programs on doing business on social media. Others even have certification courses for social media marketing. There are a lot, and some are even offered for free.
It would also help your business if you take short courses on basic graphic design, and maybe photography and videography. That way, you would know how to adjust your content to be best viewed on different platforms.
3. Get Your Office in Place
The best part about being a freelance social media manager is that you do not really need an actual office space to conduct your business. Set up a workstation in your house, and you are ready to go. What you would need, which is important in this job, is to have a complete set of devices. Having a desktop computer, a tablet, and a mobile device will be advantageous because you will get to see how your posts will look from all types of devices.
If you are pretty serious about your business, decide if you will want to register a business. In most cases, you would only need your tax identification number for income tax returns purposes. It would be wise to check with your local government if you need a business license.
4. Invest in the Right Tools
As a freelancer, you will be doing everything in your business. And this includes the admin duties and responsibilities. Not to worry, for as this may sound scary, it actually is not. There are a lot of online tools you can use to make admin duties easy.
Invest in a good project management tool like Kosmo. When using project management tools, you get to have access to features like time and income tracking, proposal and contract drafting, invoice generation, and payment tools. With a single software, you can do all these tasks, saving you time and energy.
Other online resources you can use are design tools for your social media cards, photo and video editing tools, and music composition tools.
5. Marketing Your Business
Now that you have basically established your business, it’s time to sell your service. Create a unique portfolio. If you do not have actual clients yet, look for startups or nonprofit organizations that may need your service. Start working on a project with them to kickstart your portfolio.
Have an amazing website and a much more impressive social media business account. Obviously, your own business pages on social media will set the standard for how well you can sell on social media. Be bold and brave. Explore your creativity and think about how you can stand out from the crowd.
Be smart when posting on job boards. Direct clients to links to your social media pages so they can see what you can actually do.
Prepare a rate card and have a good pricing scheme, such as offering packages and retainer agreements (this is where you can add your community management services). This will make transactions faster if the clients can already see your rates.
Use the knowledge and skills you have acquired from training and other courses to build up your own social media campaign first. It’s like your business is your first client!
Hello There, Social Media Manager
If you have the right strategies and tools for the trade becoming a social media manager is doable. What you have to put the most effort into is how to stand out from the competition. Because honestly, there are a lot of other freelance social media managers out there. The secret is knowing how to start a social media marketing freelance business, the smart way. And with the right creative and business strategy, you will definitely do well in this industry.
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