The Ultimate Guide To How To Become a Freelance Social Media Manager
Do you want to know how to become a freelance social media manager without any prior skills? If so, you have come to the right place. If you’re considering freelancing or looking for new skills, becoming a social media manager could be your best option. As businesses rely more on social media to reach their target audiences, freelance social media manager jobs have become a huge demand for all sizes of businesses.
However, those business owners who don’t have any prior experience in managing social media depend on Individual freelancers and agencies. By offering social media management services, you can tap into a growing market of millions of businesses.
I will share all the detailed information on how to become a freelance social media manager in this article so that even a fresh beginner can understand and start freelancing as a social media manager.
What Is a Freelance Social Media Manager?
A freelance social media manager is a person who manages client’s social media accounts to help grow their business across various social media platforms.
In general, a social media manager’s tasks include creating posts, scheduling content, and engaging with followers to keep the business’s social media presence active and strong for marketing purposes.
Social media managers work with different clients based on their business niche and fulfill specific requirements for each client. Marketing is not just limited to content creation and posting, but it is also a significant part of a social media manager’s tasks.
What Does a Social Media Manager Do?
A social media manager’s main responsibility is to take care of a client’s social media account. This includes creating engaging posts that will attract more followers for organic growth, as well as interacting with current followers to keep them engaged. In a nutshell, a social media manager is responsible for the overall growth and success of a client’s social media presence.
Creating posts and publishing is not only the social media manager’s task. Some necessary responsibilities include:
If you want to get into social media management you need to understand what social media platforms are and how each of their algorithms works. Learning social media platforms are quite easy as we use them on a day-to-day basis. However, understanding the algorithm is important to know what kind of post will do well for a certain brand.
You have to be very specific about which platform you want to offer service on, so you can start practicing before you work for clients. Often, every social media manager starts with their account to understand the ins and outs of the platform and their algorithm.
As a beginner you don’t have to be an expert in everything, you can improve your design skills using easy graphic design software like Canva instead of advanced designing software like Adobe Photoshop.
Every client you work with may not provide content such as images and videos. If they do, it won’t be good enough for posting so you have to put extra effort into making it more creative and make all the content attractive to the audience. You have to always remember, social media is a game of grabbing audience attention.
How To Become a Freelance Social Media Manager in 2023
It can be discouraging to see a professional social media manager using difficult terminology when you’re just getting started. Rather than feeling motivated, it’s easy to lose confidence as a fresh beginner. That’s why I aim to explain all the necessary steps in a simple, easy-to-understand way.
- Set up your Social media management portfolio.
- Choose social media platforms to work on.
- Set your service price
- Promote your service
- Find your first social media management clients.
Starting as a beginner in the social media management field can be difficult when it comes to finding clients. However, there are creative ways to get started, such as pitching your services to small business owners or helping out a friend’s business to learn and improve your skills. Practically applying and improving your skills is key.
For example, when I first began my social media management freelancing, I asked to manage one of my friend’s cake-baking business Instagram accounts. While you are working for them, you can start looking for opportunities. Interacting with brands and different sizes of businesses, figuring out what kind of businesses are likely to show interest in your service.
You don’t have to be a jack of all trades, to learn every social media platform. Not all businesses will have a presence on multiple platforms. Choose the most popular social media platform and start working on that. Currently, most businesses prefer Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest as their main platforms. You can start with the most popular two or three platforms and keep adding new platforms to your skillset according to your client’s requirements.
The most painful process for all freelancers is convincing clients to pay for your services. You will face many problems related to payment so keep an attractive offer that clients can’t resist. Showing them the results you have achieved and letting them know what kind of impact you can have on their business.
If you are looking for quick results, then freelancing may not be the best option for you. You have to build your client’s trust with your portfolios which takes quite a long time to make a sustainable income.
What Services Will You Offer As a Social Media Manager?
Offering services as a social media manager varies according to your level of skills and your client’s requirements. As a beginner, you can start with post creation, audience engagement, replying to queries, and content strategy, keeping in mind that the result is the most important.
After you gain enough experience, you can start offering services that are all related to social media management to maximize your income.
Social media management is an ever-changing area of expertise. It is recommended to figure out which social media platform you enjoy working on. Clients prefer specialists in a specific platform rather than generalists.
Do You Need To Take a Social Media Management Course?
It is not necessary to take a social media management course, in case you are not working for any agency that requires course certification in your resume. There are hundreds of blog articles and YouTube videos available on the internet that will guide you to become a successful social media manager within a few months.
Rest depends on your skills. Purchasing a course that costs $100 but fails to put the lessons into practice is no different than not having bought the course at all.
In other words, simply buying the course isn’t enough. It’s essential to actively apply what you’ve learned to see results and get the full value of the course.
Instead of taking courses, I would suggest you create a business account on a preferred social media platform to practice and learn more practically.
That hands-on practice will help you learn more than the course that teaches you only the basics of how each platform works and the content creation process.
How Much Should I Charge For Social Media Management?
Setting prices for social media management is hard because there is no specific rate. You can set your price according to the service you are offering.
If you check on the freelancing platform, you will find huge differences, compared to the agency’s rates. It is best to start according to your client’s request instead of giving the exact rate. The reason is that clients might have more work than the service you provide.
Sometimes clients may ask you to create the content from scratch. In such a case, you would consider increasing the rate for the number of content.
To get an idea about rates and pricing, you can send a cold email or direct message to several social media service providers and agencies. By doing so, you can engage in a conversation with them and gather more information.
How To Find Your First Social Media Management Clients?
For every new freelancer, whether they offer social media management or any other service, the initial phase can be the toughest and most demotivating. It could take anywhere from a few months to a year.
You have to remain patient during this time, continue learning, and improving your skills. Remember, persistence is key, and with hard work and dedication, you’ll eventually achieve your goals. Keep exploring and investigating all the available options to connect with your potential clients.
There are several effective methods to kick off your efforts, such as sending cold emails, directly reaching out to businesses on social media, networking with other freelancers in your category, and setting up profiles on reputable freelancing platforms.
Six Useful Tips For Social Media Managers
1. Improve Communication Skills
One of the biggest challenges you’ll face as a beginner is finding and acquiring new clients. You must show confidence and your expertise while communicating with clients. If you’re not able to convince them of your value, they may quickly decide to look elsewhere. Your goal should be to assure your clients that you can manage their social media accounts professionally and deliver positive results.
2. Creative Content Writing
While posting content is the main task of social media management, don’t forget that content writing is also an important task when it comes to capturing your audience’s attention. You’ll need to come up with creative and engaging captions that are focused on your client’s specific niche.
One of the best ways to improve your content writing skills is to regularly research and analyze other business and brand posts. If you don’t feel confident in your writing abilities, don’t worry – you can always hire a skilled copywriter or take advantage of AI copywriter tools that can help compensate for any weaknesses in your writing.
3. Improve Design Skills
The post design is the key factor to attract an audience to stop scrolling and check the content. It is not going to work if a design is like a horror movie poster with a bold font and bloody design.
You can check multiple brands on social media to understand the logic behind fonts, color, and so on to improve your design skills. You can use Canva for design but if you add Photoshop to your arsenal, it will be a game changer for you.
4. Patience
Every beginner in this field has gone through a difficult time acquiring their first client. So, you cannot expect to get your first client within a week or two. Maybe, it may take more than 6 months, if not a year. Until then you have to work on your project or for someone on your radar to improve your skills and build your portfolio.
5. Build Connection
Networking is extremely beneficial, regardless of whether you’re launching a freelancing business or running a business. It cuts the process of finding clients, saving you valuable time and energy.
Building connections is crucial since you can seek out work opportunities from those who are looking to outsource additional work. I’ve built my network through LinkedIn and direct contact on freelancing websites, focusing on connecting with others in my field.
Attending events is another effective option, as it allows you to meet people in person and exchange business cards, making it easier to maintain contact in the future.
6. Understanding Competitors
Research on the client’s brand competitors is by far the best solution for your creativity and understanding the audience’s intention. Social media management is all about how your audience reacts and engages with your content, so it’s crucial to keep your research centered around their behavior and the type of content they prefer.
FAQs
Is Social Media Manager a Good Job?
A social media manager can be a great career choice if you have a creative mindset and are good at marketing. Social media managers have become an essential part of every business. Due to this, there is a high demand for social media managers in small businesses, brands, and startup companies. Therefore, if you possess the necessary skills, becoming a social media manager can be a great job choice.
How Much Do Freelance Social Media Managers Make?
Generally, Freelance social media managers make between $1k to $2k per account management monthly, depending on the business you are working for. If the content quantity is higher, then you can charge even higher than $2k per account. You will be managing more than one business account so there is an opportunity to make more than $10k a month.
What Qualifications Do You Need To Be a Social Media Manager?
You do not need any educational qualification or any course certificate to be a social media manager. A thorough understanding of social media strategy, content creation, and marketing skills is more than enough to be a social media manager. You have to work every day with your personal social media account and client’s work to develop all the necessary skills to become a successful social media manager.
