How I Became a Social Media Manager Part II

by Bunmi Laditan

In the first post in this series, I wrote about how being a social media manager was my first work-at-home mom job. You can get hired to do this by a company, but it's also possible to create your own work-at-home job and business in this area.

You're basically a virtual assistant, but specifically in the area of social media.

Who Should Do This?

To do this, you should have a genuine interest in helping your client do well on social media. When I was a new mom with a baby, I was using social media for myself. Doing it for others was a natural extension. I posted on Twitter (when it was called Twitter) for my clients. I posted on Facebook and later, Instagram. Back things, practices were a bit different, but the most important quality: wanting my clients to do well, was what made it work.

How can I start?

I would pitch my services by email to my clients. I didn't have a website, and unless you want to have 4+ clients, you don't necessarily need one. If you have a really good , earnest pitch, that will be enough.

I'd email potential clients, one being an author, who I could see didn't have social media or social media that wasn't updated often. If they haven't posted in three-six months, they need help. Chances are, they're just overwhelmed. I emailed them introducing myself, told them about my passion for social media, and explained how I could help.

When I emailed them, I'd share that I knew about their specific situation. "I was on your Instagram and saw....I enjoy your books about_____. I went on your website and saw that _______. I would like to help you by handling your social media. I can take it completely off of your hands. My prices are very reasonable. If you'd like to hear more, send me an email. I'd love to talk to you."

A lot of people say in the intro email not to mention prices. I tend to agree. Not mentioning prices can help them get a bit curious and want to email you to know more.

What should I charge?

There's a lot of wiggle room here. It depends on where you live and what people are charging in your area, but I charged around $500/month. If you were in-house working in their office, you'd be charging a lot more so this is a deal. For a large company, not an individual, if you're handling all their social media, you can charge much more, $2, 3, 4,000/month.

But for an individual author or small business, check out comparables and go from there. You'll be paying taxes as a self-employed person, so keep that in mind. $1,000 a month is not too much for a small business to pay to have a social media person. You can even go higher. Experiment.

If they want more than a couple of posts a week, you can charge more. You'll learn as you go. Start somewhere.

Make sure you put together a price sheet with your rates and exactly what is included.

I used to charge $500 for around three posts a week.

How can I Iearn to do this well?

Learn as much as you can by following social media experts on Instagram, watching YouTube videos, and reading articles. You can also take a course if you find a good one. It's not rocket science, but there are things you can do to increase views and likes for your clients.

Great photos, great reels, compelling captions...these all help. Canva templates will take you a long way. To build pages, I'd follow users on pages that had similar audiences. You can learn how to do this.

How can I start?

Create a price sheet in Google docs and send your first few emails. Look for local businesses: dental offices, contractors, bakeries, go for it. The worst that can happen is for someone to say no. The best is that you have a brand new client.

Go for it.

-Bunmi