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Launchest

How to start a social media marketing business.

2015 New Years Resolution: Start a Social Media Business

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2015 Start a Social Media BusinessWith 2015 right around the corner, many of us are already thinking about our New Years Resolutions.

What do we want for ourselves in 2015?

Years ago, in 2008 starting a business was on my New Years Resolution list. Now I have a global business that has grown bigger than I ever imagined and given me tremendous freedom. I travel the world and have created a business that revolves around my lifestyle.

If starting a social media business is on your list for 2015, you are in luck!

Launchest has everything you need to start your own social media business.

First, why start a social media business?

  • Earn extra income (on-top of your day job)
  • Start your own full-time business
  • Gain financial freedom
  • Have flexibility
  • Become an entrepreneur
  • Have more free time
  • Help other businesses
  • Start and grow a successful business
  • Become a credible expert

How do you get started?

This can be tricky. It really depends on where you already are – your existing skills and experience. The reality is that anyone can start and run a successful business — you just need the right tools.

Launchest gives you everything you need to start a social media business – you can either book a demo or apply to the program.

If you aren’t ready to take that step, or you want to DIY, start by thinking about your product and service offerings, and how your unique background can make you the ideal social media marketer for specific niche businesses. Next, you’ll want to create a business name and build a website and business cards. Depending on your current knowledge level, you may need to gain some social media training. Then you’ll need to get your business documents together – proposals contracts, etc. Next you are ready to start marketing yourself, so you may need a brochure or packages to explain your process and outline what you’ll do. Finally you need processes and plans to execute and keep clients happy and informed.

This may seem overwhelming, but starting a social media business in 2015 might be one of the best decisions you ever make. Hussle. Get it Done. You won’t regret trying.

3 Ways To Charge for Social Media Services

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3 Ways to Charge for Social Media

Many people starting a social media business aren’t sure how to charge or how to build a price list. When offering social media management services, there are 3 basic ways to charge clients:

 

1) Setup Fee + Monthly Rate

Some social media managements charge a setup fee to account for the time and effort it takes to create the profiles. Once the profiles are created, the payment plan will switch to a monthly rate.

 

PRO:

If a client doesn’t stick with you for management, you have appropriately charged them for the setup investment.

 

CON:

Some clients will be uncomfortable with a large upfront payment – especially since during the setup stage they won’t see any tangible results.

 

2) Hourly Rate

Some social media management companies will charge based on an hourly rate. The client will have a slightly different bill each month based on how much time and effort was invested.

 

PRO:

It is very transparent and fair to both you and the client – only pay for what you use.

 

CON:

Most clients want some certainty of what they will pay each month and don’t want to be responsible for a big bill if a problem arises (or if you take more time). This also doesn’t account for when you are thinking about the client during time when you aren’t “on the clock”.

 

3) Standard Monthly Rate with Contract

Most social media management companies charge a standard monthly rate and have a minimum commitment. The setup time/cost is absorbed for the duration of the contract vs. requiring an additional upfront investment.

 

PRO:

It is easier to pitch a single flat rate to a client vs an upfront large charge. This is probably the easiest billing option to sell-in.

 

CON:

If you spend a ton of time, you may not be making great money (although most social media managers

5 Signs that You Should Start a Social Media Business

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I’ve had my own business for over 6 years now, and leaving a high-paying job in corporate America was the best decision I ever made. I loved working there, but being able to have the freedom and flexibility to run my own business has been insanely rewarding.

5 Signs that You Should Start a Social Media BusinessWith Launcehst, our goal is to help people to get started in setting up their social media business by giving them everything they need. We give you all of the insider secrets that social media companies won’t share.

If you’ve been considering taking the plunge and starting a social media business, here are 5 signs that you might be ready. If any of these apply to you, consider the opportunity to create a social media business for yourself.

1) People ask you for social media advice

If people are already asking you for social media advice, it is a good sign that you are ready to start a social media business – they already see you as the expert. This means that it shouldn’t be too difficult to establish your expertise as a social media manager or consultant.

2) You spend time on social media and look forward to the next new thing

If you are already spend time on social media and are passionate about it, you have one thing going for you – experience with the tools. You’ll have to be sure that you can translate this into marketing strategies and business results (if you aren’t sure about this, consider some social media training).

3) You have a marketing or strategic background

Some people think that success in social media marketing is all about knowing the tools. The reality is that with the right training, anyone can learn the tools. The challenge for many is being able to translate social media into business and strategic objectives.

4) You have expertise in a specific industry

If you already have a background in a specific industry you can easily become the go-to social media person for your industry, The reality of the social media market is that there are lots of unspecialized social media marketers, but few with deep industry expertise. For example, you could become the restaurant social media guru or the insurance social media expert or the journalist social media marketer. Leveraging your existing background is a powerful way to quickly establish yourself and your business.

5) You have an entrepreneurial spirit and want to run your own business

If you have always wanted to run your own business and enjoy setting your own hours, travelling, flexibility, hard work and everything else that goes along with owning a business, a social media business can be a great fit. There is currently a huge opportunity in the social media marketing space as businesses of all sizes are interested in getting started. If you like new opportunities, consider taking advantage of this growing market.

Should I Join a Social Media Franchise Business?

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Should I join a social media franchise business?The short answer is yes (although this isn’t one of them). A social media franchise business is typically where you pay fees to use an existing brand name and process to start a business.

NOTE: If you have never heard of these THEY DO EXIST.

Generally the way this works is that you pay the company an upfront fee and a going fee (or a percentage of your revenue) in order to use their business name and possibly have them execute the social media services that you are selling.
Here is why I think that Social Media Franchises are generally not a great investment:

  • They have no established brand equity or recognition: When you buy a typical franchise like McDonalds or Subway you are buying their name recognition and marketing. Most of the social media business franchises have no name recognition, branding or marketing.
  • They do everything for you and you are just a sales person (but you pay them to be a sales person): Many of these businesses sell you that they are a “franchise” but really they just get you to pay them to sell their services. Here is how they work. You “buy in as a franchise owner” and pay them money. When you get clients, you pay them to manage social media for the clients. You are really just a “middle man” or sales person making a small margin.
  • They can charge a lot of money: Some of these social media business franchises charge thousands of dollars to get started, PLUS they get a cut of everything you make. AND YOU ARE STUCK WITH THEM FOREVER. You don’t have any real freedom because you are really a partner in their business instead of having your own business.
  • They don’t actually know how to get you clients: I’ve worked with smart business owners who have bought into these things in the past. Most of them are sold on an idea that “It is so easy to sell this and you will instantly have many clients and become a millionaire”. You won’t. They don’t really know how to sell their own services. If they did, they would hire a sales team instead of giving you a cut.

Questions to Ask:

  • What are they giving you?
  • What do you deliver vs. them?
  • Do they already have brand recognition?
  • How much do you give up? Is it worth the cost?
  • Do they have other franchisers?
  • How much do they make?
  • Do they have a proven sales model that is easy to implement?

How Much to Charge for your Social Media Services

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Many people who start managing social media or become social media consultants aren’t sure what to charge. This is a VERY difficult question – especially since most existing social media consultants don’t want to share their secrets.

How much to charge for your social media servicesI’ve reviewed countless social media plans from agencies of all sizes over the years, and have seen lots of different pricing models.

There isn’t a “one price fits all” solution to the complex issue of pricing.

Your price depends on a number of factors:

  • Your background and experience (more experienced professionals can typically demand more).
  • What is included in your package/offering (are you just posting updates, managing the community, using designers, running contests).
  • The amount of time the client will take in communications (some clients will call every day, others trust you to execute and aren’t very hands on)
  • The size of the client (larger clients usually take more time, require more approvals and expect higher quality delivery)
  • If you are posting vs community building (simply posting updates takes less effort than partnering with a client to build community)
  • How much content you will create (some clients will give you tons of images and ideas, others expect you to do it all)

The bottom line is: from a high level, you’ll want to essentially figure out how much time managing a client will take to manage and price accordingly on the pricing scale.

So what is the pricing scale and range?

In Launchest we give you a number of complete pricing guides and packages that match market rates, but here are some general numbers:

  • The cheapest social media management will generally cost $500/month. This is usually either a small firm or a low-end management company that does no community management or like-building and only focuses on posting generic status updates. This will usually only include 1 social network or just posting the same thing on multiple social networks.
  • Most social media management costs $2,000 – $7,000 a month. Most companies that manage social media professionally will charge in this range to manage a few social networks. It is a big range, and depends on the factors mentioned above.
  • For comprehensive social media and online marketing management, $10,000 a month +. This is the range for large companies or agencies that are managing multiple aspects of online marketing (like inbound marketing, blog posts, etc).

The bottom line is that there are pretty big ranges. Consider packaging your services in a way that both makes you money and at the same time provides good value to your client.