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How to start a social media marketing business.

Can I Start a Part-Time Social Media Business

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Can I start a social media business part-time?YES, YES, YES!!!

A part-time business is a great way to start. Going all-in on a business without first testing the waters and gaining experience can be risky. When I left a high-paying corporate job to work for a start-up I didn’t just make the move one day. I worked for the StartUp evenings and weekends before making the switch.

Here is why starting part-time is a good idea:

It gives you experience:

Starting out part-time gives you experience and a good base prior to making the leap to a full-time business owner. It also allows you to establish yourself, without relying on your business to be your sole source of income. This can reduce the pressure and stress of getting started.

You’ll have confidence that people will pay you:

Many people want to start a social media business because people ask them about social media, or because they see an opportunity. What they don’t know is whether or not people will PAY THEM to do social media. I can tell you now, plenty of people will pay you to run social media, but you may need time to find the right kinds of clients who have budgets.

It can be managed part time:

Managing a few social media accounts for small businesses doesn’t have to be a full-time job. If you can carve out time to consistently commit to your clients, you’ll be able to manage a few clients in addition to a full-time job. Just make sure that you have the time consistently set aside.

You can make extra cash:

A part-time social media business is a great way to make some extra $$ in addition to your regular income. If you are thinking you’d like to be a social media entrepreneur, this extra income can build you a base that you can use as seed money for your business.

 

 

 

Study: What Businesses Look for In Internet Marketing Consultants

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If you are thinking about getting started as a social media marketing consultant or an internet marketing consultant, it helps to know what exactly businesses are looking for in these service providers.

Fortunately, a new study from BrightLocal answers the question.

  • Low cost is #1, but only 18% think that cost is the most important factor. You don’t have to be the cheapest to win.
  • Performance or guarantees make a big difference. Businesses want to know that you guarantee your work. There are so many people out there pitching low-quality services that business owners are looking for guarantees when making choices.
  • Your reputation matters. How do you build a good one? Speak at events (this has a HUGE impact on credibility, and some consultants use it as their ONLY WAY to generate leads), attain credentials, collect testimonials, get references….

Statistic chart study on factors in hiring a social media consultant or intennet marketing consultant

 

What don’t they care about?

  • How your website ranks isn’t important. You need to have one (just like you need business cards and a phone number) but clients aren’t too caught up with how it ranks.
  • If you were recommended by a contact apparently isn’t a big factor. To be honest, this surprised me since most of my business is word of mouth.
  • Your personality isn’t the most important, but being responsive and easy to work with probably is.
  • Your location isn’t too important – businesses want to work with the right partner – regardless of where they are located.

How to Become a Fabulous Social Media Manager

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How to be a Fabulous Social Media ManagerIf you are serious about managing social media and you want to become a fabulous social media manager, there are a few things that you can do to separate yourself from the competition and stand out.

If you are ready to go from good to great, here are 10 tips to help you become a FABULOUS social media manager.

  1. Keep Your Skills Up To Date and Always Be Learning. If you want to become a great social media managers you’ll need to stay on the cutting edge of social media. I’ve been doing this for 7 years, and every time I go to a social media conference I learn tons of new things (I even learn from my own training workshops). You can’t be complacent.
  2. Bring New Ideas to Your Clients. Don’t just keep implementing the same thing, but bring innovation to your clients. It may be experimenting with a new tool, trying a new approach or enhancing your strategy. Bringing new ideas shows that you are thinking vs. just doing.
  3. Measure Everything. The best social media managers are always analyzing, measuring and adapting. If you don’t like numbers or analytics, you’ll be in trouble. Analytics need to become your friend.
  4. Admit Your Mistakes (and learn from them). Social media is still new, and trial and error is the only way to truly know what is or isn’t working. If you can’t acknowledge the things that didn’t work (and explain WHY and how you WON’T DO IT AGAIN) you aren’t demonstrating an ability to make smart choices.
  5. Link Back to Strategy and Broader Business Goals. Social media doesn’t exist in a bubble – it is connected to the rest of the business and social media strategy. Linking what you do back to the business shows that you are committed to business success and that you are strategic.
  6. Share Relevant Articles and Examples. Sharing SELECT articles with your clients or boss shows that you are staying up-to-date and always thinking and looking for new ideas. Don’t be annoying about this by doing it too often.
  7. Understand the Entire Digital Strategy. Again, show that you are committed to success by connecting social media back to bigger strategies. Social media should like to email marketing, SEO and the website.
  8. Respond Quickly to Everything. This is a general business tip, but being quick to respond to everything makes you look on-the-ball and organized. Most complaints that businesses have about many of their agencies and partners is about not getting responses quickly.

 

I have a company that wants me to run their social media – what next?

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A company wants me to run their social media. Now what?Many of our Launchest clients get started as social media managers because they are approached by a business, but they don’t really know where to start.

If you’ve been asked to run social media for a business, you’ve skipped one step in starting a business (getting clients) and you may be able to skip over some of the business set-up, like creating a business name and website.

If you have a social media client, someone who wants to pay you to run their social media, here are the first 5 things that you need to do:

1) Decide how much to charge.

I’ve written a number of posts about this, so I won’t go into it in detail, but I will say that you need to charge an amount that you (based on your unique situation) can live with. Calculate an estimated hourly rate that works for you (at a minimum) but also note that most people forget to include time communicating with clients in their calculations. Read more about how to charge for social media services here.

2) Send a killer proposal or packages with options.

Unless you already have a verbal agreement tog et started, you’ll want to send them a proposal or packages that clearly outlines what you will do and how much they will pay you. Don’t make the rookie mistake of being vague – spell out exactly what you will do (number of posts, etc.) so that you are both on the same page.

3) Get a signed contract.

This may seem like overkill, but TRUST ME – you want a signed contract so that you are clear about payment terms and have something in writing.

4) Create a client on-boarding process

Once you get the paperwork in order, you want to get off to a strong start and make a good impression. This means that you’ll need a good client initiation process where you set clear expectations about timing, results and what you need from the client. Develop a process for the first month to go smoothly and so that you can quickly get everything you need to get moving.

5) Have monthly and daily checklists

Assuming you know how to get started with social media (and actually run the social networks) the next thing you’ll need is checklists to keep you on track every month (and every day). You should have a clear idea of exactly what you need to do to get started each month, and what to do every day to be sure that you are delivering as promised.

How do I start a Social Media Business? (FAQ)

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How do I start a social media businessPeople often ask about how to start a social media business. I’ve been running a successful social media business since 2007 and have consulted with countless small businesses and social media agencies — so I’ve seen both sides of the equation.

When it comes to starting your social media business, many people aren’t sure where to start.

If you are thinking about starting any business, there are a few things to consider.

What are your goals?

Determine what your goals are for starting a social media business. What are you hoping to achieve? This will help you to establish your business model. Are you looking for:

  • A new full-time company that you can start quickly
  • A side-business to supplement your income
  • A part-time business
  • A large and growing business with a team
  • A side business that can transition into full-time

I’ve seen college students that start a social media side-business to make extra money while in school, or seasoned professionals who are in transition create a successful business. There are different objectives depending on your goals.

What will it take to get there?

Once you know your goals, you’ll need to do some math to establish what it will take to get you there. Based on your unique objectives, figure out:

  • How much time you’ll spend on an average client.
  • How much you plan to charge a client.

Based on your time spent and how much you plan to charge, you’ll start to see what your business could look like based on the number of customers that you can handle.

There isn’t one set amount that any social media manager can charge – it will depend on your experience level and ability to impress your clients.

For example:

If you are looking to do social media management full time, you’ll probably have certain income requirements. You’ll need to be sure that your pricing structure allows you to meet your income goals.

1 average client is: $1,000 a month and takes about 10 hours a month to service

If you spend 80 hours a month on client work (50% of a full time job) you could manage up to 8 clients brining you $8,000/month.

Don’t Under Value Yourself

Many social media managers find that clients will offer to pay them small amounts, like $200 to run their social media. For most professionals, this would never lead to a viable income.

Consider how long you’ll spend with a client and don’t under-charge. If you want to build your experience base and results, consider offering a discount introductory rate.

Get Started!

Once you have your business model in place, get started. Depending on where you are at, you may need to start with a social media certification to validate your skills.

Next you’ll need to:

  • Create a business name and presence
  • Build marketing materials
  • Prospect and find clients
  • Pitch clients
  • Write proposals or create packages
  • Get clients set up (client on-boarding process)
  • Manage social media effectively

(Launchest can help with this!)