Services You Can Offer as a Freelance Social Media Manager

It's time to change your Instagram bio to "Digital Unicorn", and no - I don't mean you have to be a flying, tweeting unicorn.

A 'digital unicorn' is a new term for individuals in the digital world, including social media marketing; and according to Entrepreneur, it's the "Next Big Marketing Hire".

So how does this relate to you as a freelance Social Media Manager?

Well it's time to expand your social media manager client offerings to include more than simply running Instagram and Pinterest accounts.

Here are 10 services to offer as a freelance Social Media Manager:

Social Media Management

Plain & simple! Offering social media management services in areas that you're an expert in is your bread and butter. Start offering social media management in the platforms that you're most comfortable with, and expand as you start to increase your knowledge of other platforms.

The most popular social media management platforms include: Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest

Social media management platforms that are still relevant, however not as popular for businesses include: Twitter, LinkedIn, Snapchat

Community Engagement

Responding to new comments and direct messages on a clients' social media account is imperative to their growth!

Inbound communication (or inbound engagement) typically comes from interested and potential customers or clients, so it's important to respond to them in a timely manner, or you could risk losing the interest and sale from that person.

On the other hand, outbound engagement is equally as important to constantly gauge new interest, new followers, and new potential customers for your client who would not have found them otherwise. Spending 30-45 minutes a day engaging with your clients' target market can really boost their social media stats and ultimately, their traffic and sales.

I would highly recommend pushing an engagement add-on service for your clients, otherwise their social media growth will be very slow.

Graphic Design

While some businesses already have a graphic designer on their staff, smaller businesses might now. And it's almost impossible to manage a social media account without a few graphics every month. It's an easy upset too! Just include an optional add-on graphic design service to your retainer and your clients will quickly start to realize they need more design services.

P.S. You don't need to be a Photoshop pro in order to offer graphic design services (although it helps!). You can get away with using Canva or Adobe Spark for many social media graphics and additional design content.

Product Photography

Similar to graphic design, it's nearly impossible to run a social media account without a photographer on hand - especially for e-commerce businesses. Offering product photography as a service will bridge the gap between waiting for new content and scheduling it for social media. You'll be the one-stop-shop and will only have to depend on yourself for getting new & relevant content.

And while it helps to know the basics of a DSLR, you can always get away with iPhone photography with their advanced cameras nowadays. Just make sure you have an eye for product styling and camera angles, or else you'll likely struggle with creating product photography.

Email Marketing

Take a moment to consume this fact: there are over 293 BILLION emails sent every day. Just think about all the emails you received today - at least 75% were likely selling you something or letting you know about their latest sale. And there's a reason for that! Email marketing is HUGE and has the biggest return on investment for businesses.​

Offering email marketing services as a social media manager is another easy upsell for your clients, because while social media is a powerful tool, most sales will not come from cookie-cutter Instagram posts. Social media is typically used as a traffic driver to the website, where they’ll ideally sign up for a X% off coupon or a freebie using their email address, ultimately building your client’s email list. But if your clients aren’t doing anything with those emails & sending out promotional emails, then it’s lost revenue. Tell your clients this next time you’re trying to upsell them and they’ll instantly be sold!

Influencer Marketing

As of 2020, influencer marketing is a $9.7 BILLION dollar industry - that’s right, billion with a B. For you, that means the opportunity to help your client dive into this industry and exponentially increase their revenue. By offering influencer marketing services, you can help your client find influencer in their target market, reach out to them & form agreements, and ensure all deliverables are met by the influencer. 

Website Management

If you’re tech-savvy and know your way around the basic website platforms (i.e. Squarespace, Shopify, Wix), add website management as a service offering to your retainer. If a client needs a quick edit to their site, but they don’t want to learn how to do it themselves, or alternatively, re-employ the designer who created their site, they’ll turn to you!

Copywriting

If you have a way with words and love combining words to form attention-grabbing sentences, then add copywriting to your list of service offerings. Whether that means writing articles for your clients’ blog or writing product descriptions for their e-commerce site, you can add at least a few hundred dollars to your monthly retainer with this offering.

Facebook and/or Google Ads

While this may take some skill-building, Facebook Advertising and Google Advertising are huge players in the game of digital marketing. As a Social Media Manager, it’s imperative to learn at least the basics of Facebook Ads seeing as it is an entity of the biggest social media platform. At one point or another, a client will ask you if you can help manage their Facebook Ads or Google Ads. 

Tip: when offering this service, make it clear to your client that this cost is simply for creation and management of the ads. It does not include any budget put towards the ads themselves. 

Public Relations

If you love storytelling and relationship-building, public relations might be a great add-on service for you! PR takes a lot of researching, emailing, and crafting pitches; so it’s definitely not for everyone. BUT you can learn how to do-it-yourself (I did!).

As you can see, becoming a Social Media Manager doesn’t have to just revolve solely around managing Instagram and Facebook accounts. As you grow your business and become more comfortable with freelancing, you can expand your freelance social media manager services and increase your monthly revenue!

If you have any questions about how to price your social media management services, please check out our Social Media Manager Pricing Calculator (it’s free!).