Is it Okay to Become a Freelance Social Media Manager for a Career Change?
Social media manager jobs might sound easy but trust me, they require an equal amount of focus and effort as any other manager job. You have to have enough expertise in social media management before you do it for some other clients.
Loosely translated will depend on how many followers you have, how much consistent you are in sharing a post, and how interactive you are with your followers on those posts. This is the social media manager job description that will prepare you for this new role.
Who is a Freelance Social Media Manager?
A freelance social media manager owns his own business and has several clients. They guide businesses to manage their social media page on several occasions. Rather than working in a company as a social media manager on salary, freelance social media managers can earn a lot more.
Employed social media managers manage the social media accounts of one company for whom they are working. However, freelance social media managers can take up as many clients as they want and can provide them with full-time or part-time assistance in social media management.
You just need to have a good social media account of your own, a stable internet connection, and a laptop to undertake this job role.
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Social media manager job description
You will be surprised to know how many businesses struggle to market their products and services on social media. That is where a social media expert comes to the rescue. Your job as a social media manager will be to help the company stay socially active. You will help the company navigate the social media world and engage with the audience more.
A social media expert posts content about the company’s new products and services. They create content that will express their brand message and be engaging enough for the audience.
Monitoring the social media channels and checking the lead conversion rate is a primary duty in social media manager jobs. If you want to be a social media manager, it is better to start working under a company and build your client base later.
There are several areas of specialization in social media management. Some will focus on one specific social media channel, whereas some will focus on unique strategies to market the products equally on every platform.
In addition, many social media managers undertake the role of social advertising in their social media manager job description. It means they will advertise new products on social media channels first rather than just describing your brand’s story.
Becoming a Freelance social media manager? A step-by-step guide
Before the fun starts, there are many proper steps to maintain if you want to take social media management as your permanent career. The steps are;
Step 1: Register Yourself As Self-Employed
This is the most crucial step. Fill out an employment form with the government. It depends upon which country you stay in, and generally, filing up a form and tax requirements is all that you need to do.
Step 2: Open A Bank Account
If you work as a social media manager, it is essential that you open a different account for business purposes. You don’t have to go through many bank statements to find out your business expenses to keep your personal and professional accounts separate.
Step 3: Set Up Your Website
Create your website with simple navigation that will highlight who you are and what kinds of service you provide to clients. Create an online presence on this website by publishing the link on your social media accounts. In addition, you can post some of your works on the website so that clients can get an idea of your expertise.
Step 4: Figure Out The Essential Tools
If you have a couple of business tools from the start, your journey as a social media manager will be a whole lot easier. Get access to a social media scheduling tool, a project management tool, and an invoicing tool to make your business look professional.
Step 5: Determine Your Rate
Look into the rating scheme of other social media managers and set up a standard rate for your own. You can also ask for their help if you know someone good at social media manager jobs.
Step 6: Expand Your Networking
Finally, it’s time for you to find some clients. You must network with your clients and with fellow social media managers with equal effort. It will spread words about your business in the digital spectrum, and you might get a lot of clients through referrals.
How much does a freelance social media manager make?
Like any other manager job, a person’s salary working in social media management also varies from company to company and time to time. It entirely depends upon how many projects you take in a month, how many clients you choose, what your rate is, and what are your market feedbacks.
If you are new to this domain, as a social media manager, you can charge from $250-$500 to a small business monthly. However, if the company is large and has an excellent reputation as a social media manager, you can charge $2,500 to $5,000/ month. But, again, it will depend upon the company’s size and your reputation.
You can also set a standard price for every project if you want, and that can either increase or decrease your monthly earning. For example, in the U.S., freelancers who work in social media management make $50000 per month. However, in the United Kingdom, they earn approx £40,000 per month.
How do I find clients as a freelance Social Media Manager?
The obvious question that might come to your mind is how I get my first clients as a freelance social media manager. And that is exactly the problem I am here to solve. Here are a couple of ways you can use to find your first clients.
1. Fiverr
Fiverr is a platform where you will find thousands of entrepreneurs and business owners who are looking for social media managers to create compelling content and manage their accounts.
On the platform, you can easily set up your own profile with the rate that you charge per hour and your average delivery time. With time, if you complete more 5-star projects, you can charge higher hourly rates; that way, you can become ProVerified.
The platform Fiverr is gonna take a 20% cut from your earnings. For example, if you are earning $5 on a project, then you will earn $4. No matter your level of experience or project earnings, the perfect fee of the platform remains the same throughout.
2. Time etc
The platform Time etc, is an online job hunt site that acts as a middleman between employers and businesses, with a virtual assistant with a specified job skill that they need to fulfill.
With the help of Time etc, you can work in a virtual mode with a dedicated employer or any other person and manage all the social media requirements of the employer.
The company pays for using virtual assistants at Time, etc., for each hour. The initial rates on the platform start from $13/hour, but it will increase with time based on the long-term relationship with the VA and the client.
3. Upwork
If you are using the Upwork platform, you can get a lot of social media management gigs. There are thousands of companies and businesses; these companies post regularly on their socials and websites.
The process of creating a profile on the platform and finding a job is totally free. You can choose when you want to get paid through the platform using a secured online payment system.
Using Upwork’s vast product catalog to create work samples, you can complete them with proper prices and expectations. The platform always counts the freelancers’ contracts with their clients, whether it is a project catalog project, fixed-price or hourly.
| How it works:- 1. $0 – $500 earnings from client – 20% service fee applied to earnings. 2. $500.01 – $10,000 earnings from the client – 10% service fee. 3. $10,000.01 – or more earnings from the client – 5% service fee. |
The Bottom Line
For all my social media addicts out there, this can be your serious carrier option if you are good at social media management. You don’t need to have a lot of degrees from famous universities. However, you need to have ample experience to start your career as a social media manager. You can also start earning from a young age if you are good at it. Just follow these simple steps and be prepared to set up a benchmark in social media management.
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