social media consulting business plan

• Social Media Management
• Social Media Marketing

How to Start Your Own Social Media Consultancy

Written by Anna Sonnenberg

Last modified Aug. 30 2022 · 13 min read

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Do you want to use your social media expertise to help other businesses and entrepreneurs grow their brands? Launching a social media consultancy can be a great way to share your skills and get paid for your extensive industry knowledge.

So, what’s the first step you should take? Find out how to start a social media consulting business and discover why becoming a consultant could be a smart career move.

What Is a Social Media Consultancy?

A social media consultancy is a business that provides social media marketing advice to companies, creators, and marketers. A consultancy can employ several experts or a single social media consultant.

Similar to social media agencies , consultancies can come in all shapes and sizes. Your consultancy can provide expert advice on virtually every aspect of social media marketing—or it can specialize in a select few areas or industries.

How is a consultancy different from an agency?

Most social media agencies offer done-for-you services that involve executing social media campaigns and strategies. For example, agencies often manage social media accounts, create organic content, engage with followers, and run paid campaigns.

In contrast, a consultancy typically focuses on analysis and insights instead of managing content creation.

For example, digital marketing consultants often analyze campaign results, review competitive intelligence, and recommend social media strategies.

5 Reasons to Create a Social Media Consultancy

Perhaps you’re trying to decide between starting a social media management consultancy and launching an agency. Or maybe you’re considering becoming an independent social media marketer.

Here are some compelling reasons to launch a social media consultancy.

1. You’re an expert social media marketer

Before you can advise clients about using social media for marketing, you need extensive firsthand experience.

How much experience do you need? There’s no set number of accounts you should have managed or years you should have worked in social media.

But you should have managed enough accounts and worked in social media for enough time to feel confident in your expertise.

In other words, you should understand how to:

• Access and use the features of each social media channel
• Create compelling content that works with (rather than against) the algorithm
• Analyze and report on social media results , including developing benchmarks
• Identifying problems and challenges and developing realistic solutions
• Creating effective social media strategies that fit a variety of budgets

2. Your social channels are models for brand growth

As a social media marketer, you may have managed accounts for your employer, your agency clients, or your own business.

No matter where you’ve gained experience, however, you should apply what you’ve learned to your own social media accounts.

In other words, your social channels should serve as models of healthy brand growth.

Think of your social channels as tools for building trust. Potential clients should be able to look at your social profiles and see how you’ve grown and how you implement smart strategies.

Have you been too busy managing client or corporate accounts, leaving you with little time to build your own social profiles? Before launching your social media consultancy, it’s a good idea to take some time to build a portfolio.

3. You’ve built an impressive network

Building a social media consultancy—or any kind of marketing business—from scratch isn’t easy. But if you already have a network of supporters and potential clients, you may find it a little less difficult to launch a successful consultancy.

If you’re concerned your network is too small or if you haven’t developed one yet, start working on yours now. A simple way to get started is to leave helpful, insightful comments on social media content that peers and potential clients publish.

How to Succeed as a Social Media Agency: Tips for Newbies and Pros

4. You’re skilled at marketing your social media services

Cultivating a supportive network is just one of the many steps you’ll need to take before you sign clients. It’s also important to know how to market your social media services.

After all, you have to convert followers into paying clients.

If you’re already a pro at marketing yourself, you can check this item off the list. But if your self-promotion efforts need some work, use your social media expertise. Put your knowledge of social media funnels to work as you develop paid and organic campaigns to promote your consultancy.

5. You prefer teaching and problem-solving over executing strategies

When you know that you want to build a business focused on social media, you might naturally gravitate toward offering done-for-you services. But before you begin offering social media management services, think carefully about your strengths.

If you excel at teaching people about social media marketing and training them in best practices, becoming a social media consultant may be a better choice. Similarly, if you prefer solving problems and troubleshooting issues over executing strategies, a consultant role may be the ideal career fit for you.

How to Start a Social Media Consultancy

Do you want to become a digital marketing consultant—but don’t know how to get started? Follow the steps below to build your own social media consultancy.

1. Research the competition

First, survey the landscape and do some competitive research.

Before you launch your business, it’s essential to get a sense of what’s already happening in the industry. That way you can position your social media consultancy and price your offerings effectively.

If you’ve worked in social media for long, you probably already have a few competitors in mind. To survey a bigger slice of the market, use search engines and social media platforms to look up other consultancies.

Then make note of factors like:

• Location and service area
• Specialties and services offered
• Packages and pricing
• Unique selling point (USP)

2. Decide on services or industries

It’s normal to share a few factors with other consultancies. But it’s important to differentiate your business from the competition. Naturally, you want to give clients a reason to choose your consultancy over the other options. In many cases, you can stand out from the competition by focusing your business on a certain industry or set of services.

For example, do you have tons of experience managing social media marketing for a single industry—such as tech or software as a service (SaaS)? If you opt to consult only with tech firms or SaaS companies, your industry experience can be a key part of your social media consultancy’s USP.

In other cases, the services you offer can set you apart from other consultants in your space. Here are a few social media consulting services you can consider offering:

• Strategy development and review for paid or organic campaigns
• Profile audits
• Competitive and market research
• Reporting and analysis
• Training and coaching

3. Create packages or set a fee structure

Once you’ve confirmed which services you’ll offer, decide how you’ll package and price them. In some cases, offering one-off projects may make the most sense, given your clients’ needs. But when you want to maximize the value you deliver and the revenue you generate, packages tend to be better options.

Your consultancy might combine social media audit and competitive research services into a single package to encourage clients to purchase both. Along the same lines, you might offer a small discount to clients who purchase training for two or three social channels.

For example, The Social Network offers one-time troubleshooting calls or long-term strategy packages.

In some cases, you can even turn one-off projects into recurring services that generate revenue every month or quarter. For example, you might offer quarterly strategy reviews or biannual training updates.

For example, eVision Media offers monthly packages that include weekly strategy calls and email guidance.

4. Adopt tools and develop workflows

Next, invest in the tools you need to run your social media consultancy.

Depending on which services you offer, you may need a few different categories of tools.

For social media reporting and analysis, Agorapulse is a smart solution. With Agorapulse’s reports, you can analyze audience, engagement, and content performance for all major social media channels—and even use the built-in comparison tool to see trends over time.

For training and coaching, video apps like Loom can help you record simple tutorials. When you want to teach in real time, video conferencing platforms like Zoom work well. And if you want to market your social media course, consider using a platform like Kajabi .

To save yourself time and hassle, it’s also a good idea to create repeatable workflows. Apps like Process Street make it easy to record your workflows so you or your team members can use them to get reliable results again and again.

5. Market your social media consultancy

Once you’ve structured your business, you need a marketing plan and a sales funnel. To boost awareness of your consultancy and your expertise, share helpful content that educates your audience about the types of services you offer.

To increase interest in your consultancy and to encourage prospects to consider your services, share lead magnets like guides, ebooks, or webinars. For example, social media consultant Luan Wise promotes her webinars and other training resources on Twitter.

To get leads to purchase your services, create conversion-focused content that features irresistible offers. For example, social media consultant Neal Schaffer promotes his digital marketing coaching services on LinkedIn.

6. Make a plan to grow your business

At first, you might establish your social media consultancy as a one-person operation. Over time, however, your business may grow—and you may not be able to manage it on your own. When you have more business than you can handle, it’s a good idea to create and implement a growth plan.

To ensure that your business grows the way you want, think carefully about who to hire. If you have tons of potential clients on your waiting list who want exactly what you offer, then hiring another consultant with similar skills is a good idea.

But if you have a lot of leads who have asked for consulting services that you don’t currently offer, consider seeking out an expert with complementary skills. That way you can expand your services and continue growing your business.

How to Measure the Success of Your Social Media Consultancy

Now that you’ve built a foundation for your business, you need a way to assess your achievements.

For most social media consultancies, business success begins with setting goals and monitoring metrics .

Below, we’ll look at a few key metrics that every social media consultancy should track. When deciding on key performance indicators (KPIs), keep in mind that every business is different. Your KPIs may be completely different from your competitors, based on your location, specialties, and scale of operations.

Leads and conversion rates

To keep your client roster as full as possible, you need a steady stream of leads. In most cases, you can’t expect to convert all the leads who enter your sales pipeline. But over time, you can track the number of leads you attract and the number you convert.

Using these figures, you can calculate your conversion rate. Then you can use your conversion rate as a benchmark, which can keep you on track and help you focus on your goals over time.

You can also use your consultancy’s conversion rate to calculate the number of leads you need to generate. For example, if you have five client slots to fill and your conversion rate is 10%, then you can be reasonably sure you need to generate 50 leads to reach your goals.

No matter the size of your social media consultancy, revenue is a critical metric to track. To set revenue goals, calculate how much you need to earn each month. First, add up all your expenses—from team members and taxes to office space and software.

Next, consider how much profit you want to generate or how much you want to invest back into your business. Then add up all those numbers to get the total monthly revenue goal for your consultancy.

If you’ve built your business around monthly retainers or recurring packages, you can predict revenue for upcoming months much more easily. That way you can increase or decrease your lead generation efforts as necessary to reach your goals.

Return on investment (ROI)

Individually, both revenue and expenses are important to track. Yet it’s also helpful to compare them so you can make sure you’re getting enough value from your efforts.

To calculate ROI , add up revenue and investment for a period of time or for a specific initiative. Then divide revenue by expenses and multiply the result by 100%. Here’s a simple formula you can use:

ROI = Revenue / Expenses x 100%

For example, say you brought in $25,000 and spent $10,000 over the course of a month.  Your ROI would be 250%. Although that sounds like an excellent ROI, it’s important to compare it to your goals and to previous months to confirm how successful it truly is.

Customer lifetime value (CLV)

Acquiring new clients can be expensive—and it almost always costs more than retaining existing clients. The cost of landing a new client can be 5X higher than the cost of continuing a relationship with an existing client.

Many social media consultancies prioritize client retention over acquisition, as longer relationships can lead to higher CLV. Upselling and cross-selling related services can also help your consultancy increase CLV.

CLV = Average Client Value x Average Client Lifespan

To calculate CLV, you need to know the average amount you charge clients for each purchase (i.e., the project or package size) and the average number of purchases a client makes. Then use the formula above to find your consultancy’s CLV.

If your social media consultancy offers packages and retainers, then you have a built-in method for retaining customers. If you typically focus on one-time projects, however, you may have more clients who only work with you once.

Either way, it’s helpful to calculate your churn rate , which reflects how well your consultancy retains customers. The lower your churn rate, the better your business is at keeping customers. Here’s a simple formula for calculating churn rate:

Churn Rate = Lost Customers / Total Customers x 100%

For example, say you lost two customers out of 10 total over the past month. Your churn rate would be 20%. If you wanted to decrease it, you could brainstorm ways to encourage clients to sign on for recurring services—and potentially increase CLV at the same time.

Wrapping Up What We Learned About Starting a Social Media Consultancy

With social media expertise, a solid network, and a strong business plan, you can start a successful social media consultancy. Use the tips above to build your consulting business and ensure that it remains successful for years to come.

Get started on saving time and energy in managing your clients’ social accounts! Check out our free trial of Agorapulse  to help you schedule, track, and measure all your social media efforts.

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How to Build a Successful Social Media Consulting Service

The pandemic accelerated digital transformation for businesses. Brands both large and small, whether ecommerce or social media, require more and more expertise, advice, and help to operate. Having a successful social media consulting service under your belt has never been more needed…

Hiring for digital marketing roles has grown nearly 33% year-over-year, and social media roles figure heavily:

• 74% – Social Media Marketing Manager
• 64% – Social Media Marketing Consultant
• 54% – Social Media Manager
• 31% – Social Media Marketing Specialist
• 29% – Social Media Strategist
• 28% – Social Media Coordinator

If you’ve been on the fence, it’s prime time to launch your social media consulting service or expand your current services to include social media. 

Inside, you’ll learn:

• What a social media consultant does
• Whether you should start an agency or operate as a freelancer
• When it’s the right time to launch your social media consulting service
• How to launch your own social media consulting service

Let’s start!

What do Social Media Consultants do? 

A better question is what don’t they do? 

Social media consultants perform a variety of services depending on their expertise and their client’s requirements. For instance, a company might request a once-only social media training for their in-house team or a monthly retainer to manage all their social media campaigns.

The typical skills a social media manager or consultant needs include:

• Copywriting
• Photography & Videography
• Graphic design & animation
• Market research
• Reporting & analytics
• Best practices for each social platform
• Business and marketing strategy
• Competitive analysis
• Content & editorial planning
• And much more

While a lot is asked of social media marketers, most will specialize in a few areas. You don’t have to do it all, you just have to be clear with clients about your service offering! 

Should You Start an Agency or Operate as a Freelancer?

Social media consultants can operate either as an agency or a freelancer – but which option is best?

Agency pros:

• Operating under a company name may give you more kudos and help you attract more prominent clients.
• It’s easier to transition from solo to a team while keeping the same agency branding.
• Operating as a limited liability company (LLC) protects your personal assets, such as your home, if a client decides to sue you.

Agency cons:

• Operating as a limited company entails different (stricter) tax rules, like company tax and employee tax.

Freelancer pros:

• Operating as a sole trader has simplified taxes.
• You can focus on building your reputation and brand.

Freelancer cons:

• It may be harder to attract investment as a freelancer compared to an agency.

If you’re just starting out, the overwhelming advice would be to start as a freelancer , then grow into your own agency. It’s the fastest, most effective, and least risky way to get started. 

Gain a reputation. Build out your own brand, book of business, and portfolio. Once you’ve established yourself as an authority within your industry, then consider growing into a full agency.

When is the Right Time to Launch a Social Media Consulting Service?

There’s no right or wrong time to start your social media consulting service. It’s up to you and your goals. But, if there ever was a time to do it, it’s now. The pandemic has made businesses even more dependent on digital marketing and social media to reach customers, and this will only continue. 

As we outlined earlier, social media is hard. It requires a ton of time, experience, and technical expertise that many marketers, let alone business owners, don’t have. A word of caution: don’t launch until you’re confident you can craft and execute a full social media marketing plan. If you don’t feel confident that you’ll be able to clearly define deliverables and meet high client expectations, hold off until you’ve gotten more projects under your belt.

How to Launch Your Own Social Media Consulting Service

Follow these six steps to launch your own social media consulting service:

• Build and maintain your credibility
• Choose your niche
• Create a business plan
• Price and package your services
• Attract and win clients
• Track your progress

1. Building and maintaining your credibility

The first step starts before you launch your services and continually evolves as your business grows.

Without credibility, no one will hire you.

So how do you become credible?

Establish your own social media presence

First of all, you need to establish yourself on social media . You don’t have to be active on all the social networks, but you should definitely be active on those platforms you want to specialize in and where your prospective clients will be present. It’s your chance to convince prospects you know how to market on social media.

Also, remember to post consistently on your chosen platforms. Prospects will check your profiles and won’t want to see 3-week gaps where nothing was posted.

Build your website

In addition to social media, you’ll also want to consider building a website where you can showcase your talent, and eventually, the services you offer.

Aside from social media, prospective clients will check out your website. You don’t have to build a flashy website, just something that is clean and functional.

It’s also a place to house your case studies and testimonials – nothing beats social proof for establishing your credibility:

Consider adding relevant client testimonials from unpaid jobs (internships), side projects, and charity work when you’re just starting out.

Develop your skills

As a social media professional, you need to continually develop your skills to ensure you’re up to date on the latest trends and techniques. Make sure you understand the nitty-gritty details, including the terms of service, rules, promotions, and analytics for each social network.

Also, consider getting recognized qualifications that prove you have studied social media marketing .

Work on side projects

One way to build credibility is to start some social media consulting as a side project while you’re still in full-time employment. You can test the waters to see if you like working solo, and if all goes to plan, it lets you display client testimonials on your website before you launch full-time.

You can build a profile and start taking on projects through freelancer marketplaces such as Twine . They make it easy to build your portfolio and hone your skills.

Start networking and building connections

One activity you always need to be practicing is networking. You can start building your network long before you launch your consulting business. It will be far easier to launch if you already have an engaged audience. 

Here are a few ways:

• Network with other social media consultants online – you’ll find there is a helpful community out there.
• Follow and engage with brands you’d like‌ ‌to‌ ‌work‌ ‌with‌ ‌–‌ ‌start‌ ‌building‌ relationships.
• Attend social media events – virtual events to put faces to names and physical events to meet people in person.
• Build a powerful LinkedIn profile, connect with peers and clients , and engage in conversations.
• The industry and niches you’re targeting , so you can contribute and demonstrate your social media skills and experience.
• Social media marketing, so you can network and get support from your peers.

2. Choosing your niche

Before you launch your social media consulting service, you’ll need to choose your niche. There are three ways you can niche-down.

When you’re starting out, it’s a good idea to focus on one or two social media platforms rather than spreading yourself too thin. Remember, each platform has:

• Different algorithms
• Different audiences
• Different types of content

For example, LinkedIn and Snapchat are poles apart, so it wouldn’t make sense to cover both platforms. However, if you want to become a visual marketing expert, it makes sense to offer both Instagram and Pinterest services.

Next, you want to consider what industry or sector you want to work with.

Remember, different industries need different kinds of campaigns, even if they’re on the same platform. For instance, an ecommerce fashion retailer and a real estate agency will have different types of campaigns and content even if they both use Facebook Ads.

Focus on industries that suit your previous knowledge and skill set, so you don’t have to learn too much new information. Also, be mindful of choosing profitable industries rather than struggling ones, so you don’t have to worry about getting paid.

Finally, you’ll need to decide what services you’ll specialize in. For example, you might choose to focus on organic social media rather than paid social media services. You’ll have to stick to your guns, as clients will inevitably ask you for work beyond your scope of services. Pick your niche, communicate it clearly, and stick to it.

3. Creating a business plan

Planning is an essential step before you launch your consulting services.

Conduct research

When you’re creating your business plan, you’ll need to research:

• Current industry trends – to get a clear understanding of where things are standing.
• Target market – to check it’s healthy and viable.
• Competitors – to see what’s working and what isn’t.
• Skills – to check you have everything.

Decide on your structure: agency or solo

As mentioned earlier, you’ll need to decide on the structure of your business. There’s no right or wrong answer – just weigh up the pros and cons above.

Decide on your business name

Next, you’ll need to choose your business name, which essentially becomes your brand name, so it makes sense to take your time and get it right.

If you decide to operate as a freelancer, you could use your own name. However, if you build your brand around your name and then want to expand into an agency later, your name might not work.

Note: Any name you choose that isn’t your given name should be checked on the United States Patent and Trademark Office ( USPTO ) website to ensure it’s not already trademarked by someone else.

Taxes/Legalities/Accounting

Depending on the country and region you live in, you’ll have to obtain different licenses and certifications to run a legal business. Consider the following:

• Set up a business bank account to keep your funds separate.
• Register your business with the tax office.
• Find an accountant to help you with your taxes and financial planning.
• Hire a lawyer to help you establish legal contracts to use with your clients.

Work on your branding

We’ve already mentioned building a website and establishing your social media presence. Once you’ve chosen your business name and logo , you can circle back and make sure these online accounts all have your branding in terms of logo, colors, and fonts, so you start to build awareness with a unified impression.

Tools and processes

At this stage, you can also start planning what tools, processes, and workflows you’re going to use to make your business run smoothly.

For example, consider how you’ll manage clients from start to finish:

• Prospecting: How do you attract clients? How do they schedule‌ ‌a‌ ‌consultation‌ ‌with‌ ‌you?
• Proposal: How will you review and approve the proposal?
• Contract: Are you providing a contract? Is it easy to understand? How do clients sign it?
• Onboarding: How do you start working with a new client?
• Invoicing: How do you deliver invoices? How do you want to be paid? Is your client clear on payment‌ ‌terms‌ ‌and‌ ‌late‌ ‌fees?

Also, consider what tools you’ll need, such as:

• Social media management software
• Graphic design tools
• Analytics and reporting program
• Office apps, including email, word processing, and spreadsheets
• Video conferencing
• Project management tools
• Appointment scheduling software
• Invoicing software

4. Pricing and packaging your services

There are various ways that you can price and package your services. Let’s examine a few options.

Hourly/daily rate

An hourly or daily rate is ideal for an unknown variable, for example, mentoring, consulting, or training, that you bill as time is consumed. For example, you might agree to offer your social media consulting services for $50/hour.

Project-based rate

You can use a project-based or fixed rate when you provide bespoke services, like consultations, strategy sessions, audits, or training. You’ll need to have a good handle on how long a piece of work will take before you can feel confident charging per project.

For example, you could agree to complete a social media audit for a fixed sum of $500, regardless of how much time it takes you. Payment for project-based work is usually made in advance, at agreed milestones, 50% in advance, and 50% on completion, or on completion.

Monthly retainer

A monthly retainer is used when you agree to deliver regular recurring monthly services with payment on a set date each month. Retainers vary slightly, so you may agree to provide X hours per month or a fixed piece of work. For example, you agree to provide 20 hours per month to manage a client’s social media campaigns. Or, you might agree to deliver social media publishing and reporting for Facebook and Instagram.

Packaged services

By the time you get onto monthly retainers, you’re almost in packaged services territory. These are a set of services you provide every month for a fixed fee.

Pro Tip: Overdeliver. Whatever pricing and packaging strategy you choose, always overdeliver. You’ll establish a strong reputation that’ll help you get testimonials and referrals for future clients. Whatever you do, don’t overpromise!

5. Attracting and winning clients

Attracting and winning clients is probably the most challenging part of launching your business. Here are a few options to explore:

Work in an agency

Before launching your services, gain valuable experience by working for a social media agency:

• You get to know how an agency operates.
• You get to build your contacts and connections in the industry.
• You get to establish your credibility as a social media consultant.

Reach out to existing connections

If you’ve followed the earlier advice in step #1, you should now have an extensive network you can tap into. Even if the person or business you contact can’t use you, they might know of other people who can. You can’t underestimate the power of networking.

Use freelance marketplaces 

When you’re starting out you can often find suitable work in freelance marketplaces like Twine . Make sure you’re balancing your time and working for a rate that’s fair for your work and skills.

Generate leads

If you’ve set up your website, then you can create a landing page to generate leads. You can do this way ahead of launching, so you have a waiting list of prospects to contact when you’re ready. Start a waitlist or share some free resources to build your email list.

Start local

One option when launching your services is to focus on local businesses. Now that pandemic restrictions have loosened, you can actually get out into your neighborhood and introduce yourself to companies, leave some brochures, and follow up with a call. 

Also, if you’re going down the local path, get active in your local business community. For example, you could attend the Chamber of Commerce meetings to connect with businesses looking for social media consultants. Word of mouth is always the best way to grow your business. It’s free and effective!

6. Tracking your progress

Once you’re up and running, you’ll need to track your progress.

Measure and adjust

First, you need to measure how your clients benefit from your social media services, according to what you offered. For example:

• Are their social media campaigns a success?
• Have you increased brand awareness ?
• Have you trained their team as promised?

Bottom line: you need to prove that your clients are getting a return on their investment. Use tools like Loomly to track your marketing efforts and show them the results.

You’ll also need to track progress in your business as a whole:

• Are you meeting your objectives?
• Do you need to make any changes?

Remember, the digital landscape is always changing, so you’ll have to measure and adjust accordingly.

Ongoing development

One area not to forget is your ongoing personal development. It’s easy to become 100% booked on client work and forget that you need some time for yourself. Social media platforms are always changing, so keeping updated on the latest developments is a minimum. You’ll also want to stay abreast of industry trends and what your competitors are offering.

Grow your business

Once you’ve established your business, you’ll want to scale and grow accordingly. This is a great opportunity to find someone you can bounce ideas off of or learn from. 

You’ll need to decide how you want to grow. For example, you could hire people so that you can serve more clients with your proven services. It may be prudent to hire freelancers to help you instead of hiring staff and having all the necessary overheads.

Wrapping Up

There’s no right or wrong time to launch your social media consulting service, but with the pandemic, there’s never been a greater need for qualified social media consultants to advise and help businesses through the digital marketing landscape.

Use the reminders in this blog to help you out as you follow these six steps to launch your own successful social media consulting service:

Ready to get hired? At Twine , we have dozens of top-quality jobs being posted each and every day. From design to marketing, development to copywriting – there’s a job ready for your skills. Join the marketplace of diverse creative talent here .

Andrew Barlos

Andrew Barlos is Sr. Director of Marketing at Loomly, a leading social media management platform.

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6 Great Tips to Become a Successful Social Media Consultant

In the past, social media was seen as a fun way to connect with friends and family. Nowadays, it is one of the most important tools a business can use to reach customers.

It is one of the most important aspects of online marketing and continues to grow.

Here are a few statistics that show just how important social media is for businesses:

• More than half the world is on social media (58.4%)
• 93.4% of all internet users use social media
• People are spending more than two hours on social media every day

With statistics like that, it’s no wonder businesses are looking to up their social media game. This is why social media consulting is such a sought-after field.

If you are looking to become successful in this industry, there are a few things you can do to raise your chances.

This article will discuss tips on building your business as a social media consultant and making the most of your skills!

Let’s dive in.

What Does a Social Media Consultant Do?

Growing your social media presence is the main responsibility of what social media consultants do for their clients.

With the vast growth in the social media industry, each social media consultant usually has expertise depending on the platform they excel at.

Depending on which social media platform you want to grow, many social media consultants offer expertise in specific platforms, from Facebook to TikTok. The services they provide may vary depending on their specialty.

Social media consultants typically provide different services, including:

Social Media Coaching

It is mainly to teach clients how to optimize their social media. Instead of providing a done-for-you service, they will teach step-by-step how to create optimized content on your social media platform, how to improve the engagement rate for your profile, and how to take advantage of social media to improve your business marketing and operation.

Social Media Audit

Consultants who conduct social media audits as a part of their service will outline what works and doesn’t in your social media profile. The service usually covers your profile optimization, reviewing your social media metrics to evaluate your current strategy, and creating a to-do list to restrategize your next social media campaign.

Interesting read: How to Run a Social Media Audit in 7 Simple Steps (+ Free Template)

Social Media Management and Strategy Development

These social media consultants usually work on a retainer basis for their clients. They provide a done-for-you service to implement the strategy to grow their clients’ social media profiles through various strategies, from content development and daily engagement to social media advertising if needed.

Let’s move on to how to become a social media consultant.

Being on social media doesn’t necessarily make you a good social media consultant.

To be a successful social media consultant, you need to combine different skillset, from content development and understanding the algorithms to knowing how to read the metrics and statistics to achieve better results.

Let’s delve into the tips for becoming a good social media consultant.

1. Improve Your Social Media Profiles

If you want businesses to take you seriously as a social media consultant, you need to have an online presence that screams professionalism . That starts with your social media profiles.

Your clients will look for your profiles to understand your work. Potential clients will move on to someone else if your profiles are sparse, outdated, or just plain unprofessional .

Walk the talk, so your potential clients can see that you know the dos and don’ts of effective social media marketing .

If you’re targeting a niche for your social media work, it’s also important to convey your interest and expertise. Are you an expert on formal and corporate communications, or do you build fun and engaging communities with your social media work?

For instance, Rachel Pedersen is one of the most popular social media consultants who claim herself as “the queen of social media,” and rightfully so if we’re looking at the metrics of her social media profiles combined.

She has gained over 1.5 million followers across the platforms, from Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok to Youtube. If you go over on Facebook, you can also find her Facebook group to find a community filled with over 80K social media experts across industries on the platform!

2. Create Your Social Media Portfolio

Having your social media profiles spruced up is an important step in getting set up for success as a social media consultant. But you also need a great portfolio to show off your work.

You don’t need a fancy schmancy portfolio to impress your clients — you just need to make sure it loads fast, is easy to navigate, and showcases your best work .

Try not to overwhelm your potential clients — think quality, not quantity.

Here are some pointers to keep in mind when creating your portfolio:

• Outline your experience as a social media consultant. What’s your “why”? What inspired you to become one? What’s your experience that justifies your role as a social media consultant now?
• Showcase some of your best-performed social media content or campaign. You can include the screenshot of the metrics for the campaign and add the case studies to outline what you do and how to get the result.
• Add client testimonials to showcase positive feedback about working with you on their social media platform.

A quality website builder can help you showcase the right things correctly.

However, it is also understandable that developing a website for your portfolio can be quite expensive when you have just started.

Don’t make this stop you from creating your portfolio, as you can also take advantage of some free tools and resources available to build a simple portfolio like Canva or Google Drive.

Suppose you don’t have any previous clients to showcase in your portfolio. In that case, you can consider taking on some pro bono work or showcasing past projects – even if they are personal endeavors.

This will allow you to show off your skills and simultaneously build a portfolio of great work.

3. Streamline Your Client Pipeline

Sometimes, the challenging part of starting your own business is to streamline your work system, and the same goes for being a social media consultant.

When you decide to offer your social media consultancy service, you need to streamline your client pipeline.

This is to ensure that they get the best customer experience when they work with you on the project. This involves pitching your service and onboarding them as a client to streamline the collaboration system between you and the client.

While free tools like Google Forms or Google Docs can help you streamline your collaboration, you can also invest in some automation tools for sending proposals, signing agreements, managing projects, and invoicing.

As a social media consultant, a few tools may help you streamline your collaborations with your clients . These include:

• CRM (client relationship management) tools with various features that include creating proposals and signing the agreement for onboarding and offboarding clients, such as Dubsado or HelloBonsai.
• Invoicing tools to ensure that you send out invoices and get paid on time, such as Billdu and InvoiceBerry.
• Project management tools to streamline your collaboration with clients, like Trello or Asana .

Interesting read: 17 Best Project Management Tools for Social Media Managers

4. Find Great Clients

It might be tempting just to accept any client that comes your way, especially when you’re starting. But that’s not always the best idea.

You want to ensure you’re working with clients that are a good fit for you and that you can deliver great work.

Some factors to consider when looking for clients:

• Do they have a budget that matches your rates?
• Are they in an industry or niche that you’re passionate about?
• Do they have a good reputation?
• Are they likely to be long-term clients?

Of course, you can’t always control who your clients are. But i t’s important to be selective and strategic about the clients you work with to set yourself up for success.

As an absolute beginner, you can consider taking up small freelance projects through Upwork or Fiverr.

Social media consultant jobs on Upwork

5. Expand Your Networking With Other Social Media Consultants

Expanding your network with other social media experts is essential for social media consultants, as social media is a fast pace industry where algorithms and strategies change frequently.

When you network with other experts, you’ll get updated with the latest social media change and trends to implement them to your account and clients.

Depending on what you do for your clients, networking with other social media experts will also open the chance for you to scale your business and expand.

You can collaborate with other social media consultants to bring more value to your potential clients according to your expertise.

6. Use Essential Tools for Social Media Consultants

No consultant is without their tools, and you should choose your tools of trade carefully.

There are many great social media tools , so you should take your time and get to know them to figure out the right fit for your needs.

We’ve got some great suggestions for you:

1. SocialPilot

SocialPilot is a great resource for managing your social media consulting business.

Whether flying solo or building a great team, SocialPilot will take care of your work, from social media scheduling and calendars to curation and automation.

It is a simple and cost-effective social media management tool for agencies and social media consultants to help them strengthen their brand presence across all major social media platforms.

Free trials for 14 days are available so you can take it out for a spin.

2. Biteable

It is a great tool for creating engaging videos that attract attention on whatever social media platform it’s on. Biteable can help you create great video content that can set you apart from others.

A free 7-day trial is available, and plans start at $49 per month.

Canva is a great tool for designing visuals for your social media content. Whether you need static content, animation, or even video, It has many features that will simplify your design process to develop your content.

As a social media consultant, you can benefit from using Canva in your working system. Whether you use Canva to create a proposal or develop a social media template to sell to your clients, the advantage of using Canva is endless.

4. Google Drive

If your focus is especially on social media management and strategy development, it’s essential to have a great file-sharing tool that enables you to get access to your client’s content and brand assets.

Google Drive is one of the cheapest and most efficient tools, as you can store various files, from documents and photos to videos, under one platform.

As your business grows, you can always upgrade if you need more storage to share more files.

Trello is an excellent project management tool you can use as a client portal for your social media clients. Whether you want to create a social media calendar or have an all-in-one platform to go and discuss the entire project across the team, Trello is a great option.

It offers many ready-to-use boards for social media consultants. Still, you can easily create a new board from scratch, which you can design accordingly based on each team member’s responsibilities. The platform is equipped with so many useful features, and you can connect it with various other tools that can support your role as a social media consultant.

Final Thoughts

Helping brands and businesses with their social media presence is a rewarding and creative job. Following the tips in this article, you can take your social media consulting business to the next level of success.

Remember always to learn and investigate new platforms, strategies, and tools to offer your clients the best possible service.

You can build a thriving social media consulting business you love with a little effort.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a must-have quality of a good social media consultant?

Social media consultants must always be learning and discovering, whether using the most effective social media marketing tools or learning how to optimize their campaigns effectively.

How do social media managers get clients?

Social media managers and consultants get clients in various ways, but mostly through their personal and professional networks. Check out various platforms like LinkedIn and Upwork as well. You can create a great bundle offer that potential clients can see the value of, making it easier to market your business.

How do I become a social media manager with no experience?

Focus on building a body of past work; personal, volunteer, or pro bono projects. You can volunteer at local nonprofits, partner with small businesses, or create a blog to showcase your insight and work.

What skills do I need to be a successful social media consultant?

Focus on cultivating your communication, creativity, and research skills. This will help you keep up to date on new trends and how this can be used to improve the campaigns you run for your clients. Project management is also important as you take on more clients and campaigns and know when to start taking on more staff for your growing consultancy business.

About the Author

Uwe is the Founder and CEO of InvoiceBerry. Invoiceberry helps small businesses and freelancers to create, send and manage their invoices online. He's been in the tech scene for over 15 years with companies ranging from FinTech to AdTech and games publishing. His newest venture is BlogHandy, a WordPress alternative .

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How To Write a Business Plan for Social Media Consulting in 9 Steps: Checklist

By alex ryzhkov, resources on social media consulting.

• Financial Model
• Business Plan
• Value Proposition
• One-Page Business Plan
• SWOT Analysis
• Business Model
• Marketing Plan

Are you considering starting a social media consulting business? With the ever-increasing importance of social media in digital marketing, there is a growing demand for consultants who can help businesses develop and execute effective social media strategies. In this blog post, we will outline the nine essential steps to writing a business plan for your social media consulting venture. But first, let's take a look at some fascinating statistics about the industry and its impressive growth.

According to a recent report, the social media consulting market in the US is projected to reach a value of $34.78 billion by 2026, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.3% during the forecast period. This staggering growth is driven by the increasing recognition of the impact that social media can have on businesses, as well as the rapid adoption of social media platforms by consumers.

As businesses strive to capitalize on the opportunities presented by social media, they are turning to consultants like you to guide them through the complexities of developing and implementing effective strategies. By following the steps outlined in this blog post, you will be well-equipped to create a comprehensive business plan that showcases your expertise and positions your social media consulting services for success.

Let's dive into the nine crucial steps that will ensure your business plan for social media consulting covers all essential aspects, from researching the market and defining your target audience, to outlining your services and creating a marketing and sales plan. By systematically addressing each of these steps, you will establish a solid foundation for your social media consulting business and set yourself up for long-term growth and profitability.

Research The Market And Industry Trends

Before starting a social media consulting business, it is crucial to conduct thorough research on the market and industry trends. This research will help you gain valuable insights into the current landscape and identify opportunities for your consulting services. Here are some key steps to consider:

• Identify the target market: Determine the specific industries or sectors that you want to target with your consulting services. This will help you focus your research efforts and tailor your offerings to the needs of your target audience.
• Analyze the demand: Assess the current demand for social media consulting services in your target market. Look for signs of growth, such as an increasing number of businesses seeking social media expertise or rising investments in digital marketing.
• Explore industry trends: Keep a close eye on the latest trends and developments in the social media and digital marketing industry. Stay updated on new platforms, features, algorithms, and best practices. This knowledge will give you a competitive edge and help you offer cutting-edge solutions to your clients.
• Stay informed about competitors: Research and analyze your competitors in the social media consulting space. Identify their strengths, weaknesses, and unique selling propositions. This information will help you differentiate yourself and position your services effectively.
• Monitor client needs: Understand the pain points and challenges that businesses face when it comes to social media management. Stay in touch with your target audience through surveys, interviews, or online forums to gather insights and stay ahead of their evolving needs.
• Utilize online tools and platforms to collect data and trends related to social media usage, user behavior, and industry-specific insights.
• Subscribe to industry newsletters, blogs, and podcasts to stay updated with the latest news and emerging trends in social media marketing.
• Attend industry conferences, webinars, and networking events to connect with industry experts and gain valuable knowledge.

By conducting thorough market research and staying informed about industry trends, you will be well-equipped to develop effective social media consulting strategies that address the needs of your target audience and position your business for success.

Identify Target Audience And Their Needs

Identifying your target audience is a critical step in any business plan, and social media consulting is no exception. By understanding who your target audience is and what they need, you can tailor your services and messaging to effectively reach and engage with them.

To begin identifying your target audience, start by researching the different segments of your potential market. Consider factors such as demographics, industries, and company sizes that align with your expertise in social media consulting. By narrowing down these segments, you can focus your efforts on the groups most likely to benefit from your services.

Once you have identified your target audience, it is essential to understand their needs. Conduct surveys, interviews, or market research to gather insights into the specific challenges and goals they face in relation to social media. This will allow you to position yourself as a solution to their problems and tailor your services accordingly.

Tips for identifying the target audience's needs:

• Engage in active listening during client meetings or consultations to understand their pain points.
• Monitor industry-specific forums or social media groups to gain insights into common challenges faced by your target audience.
• Stay up-to-date with the latest trends and developments in social media to anticipate the evolving needs of your audience.
• Seek feedback and testimonials from existing clients to gain a deeper understanding of the value they find in your services.

By taking the time to identify your target audience and their needs, you can position your social media consulting services as a valuable resource that meets their specific requirements. This understanding will not only help you attract and retain clients but also differentiate yourself from competitors in the market.

Conduct A Competitor Analysis

When starting a social media consulting business, it is essential to conduct a thorough competitor analysis. This step allows you to gather valuable insights about your competitors' strengths, weaknesses, and overall market positioning. By understanding your competitors, you can better position your own business and develop strategies to differentiate yourself in the market.

Here are some important aspects to consider when conducting a competitor analysis:

• Identify your direct competitors: Start by identifying the key players in the social media consulting industry. Look for businesses or individuals who offer similar services and target similar clients. This could include larger consulting agencies, freelance consultants, or specialized firms.
• Analyze their services and solutions: Take an in-depth look at the services and solutions your competitors provide. Evaluate the range of social media platforms they cover, the strategies they employ, and the expertise they offer. This analysis will help you understand the current market offerings and identify any gaps where you can provide unique value.
• Evaluate their target audience: Determine who your competitors are targeting. Are they focused on serving a specific industry or niche? Understanding their target audience can help you identify potential segments that are underserved or overlooked.
• Assess their online presence: Evaluate your competitors' online presence across various social media platforms. Analyze the quality and engagement levels of their content, the size of their audience, and the overall impression of their brand. This analysis will give you insights into their success and help you identify areas where you can improve.
• Research their pricing and positioning: Analyze how your competitors price their services and how they position themselves in the market. This information will be crucial in determining your own pricing strategy and unique selling proposition.
• Consider reaching out to industry professionals or networking with fellow consultants to gain additional insights about your competitors.
• Stay updated on the latest industry trends and developments to ensure you are aware of any new competitors entering the market.
• Regularly review and update your competitor analysis to adapt to changes in the market and stay ahead of the competition.

Conducting a comprehensive competitor analysis will provide you with valuable information that can guide your business strategy. By understanding your competitors' strengths and weaknesses, you can position your social media consulting business to stand out and attract clients in a crowded market.

Define The Unique Selling Proposition

In order to stand out in the competitive field of social media consulting, it is essential to define your unique selling proposition (USP). Your USP is what sets you apart from your competitors and makes your services valuable to your target audience. It is the unique combination of expertise, experience, and approaches that distinguishes your consulting services from others in the market.

To define your USP, consider the following steps:

• Evaluate your expertise: Assess your skills, knowledge, and experience in social media consulting. Identify the areas in which you excel and can provide exceptional value to your clients.
• Understand your target audience: Gain a deep understanding of the needs and challenges of your target audience. This knowledge will help you tailor your USP to meet their specific requirements.
• Identify your unique approach: Determine the methodologies, strategies, or techniques that differentiate your consulting services. This could include specialization in a particular industry, a specific focus on a particular social media platform, or a unique ability to drive engagement and conversions.
• Conduct market research to identify any gaps or unmet needs in the social media consulting industry.
• Consider surveying potential clients or interviewing existing ones to understand their pain points and expectations.
• Stay updated with the latest trends, tools, and techniques in social media marketing to continuously enhance your USP.

By defining your unique selling proposition, you can effectively communicate the value proposition of your social media consulting services to potential clients. Your USP will help you differentiate yourself in the market and attract clients who are seeking the specific expertise and approaches that you can offer.

Determine The Pricing Strategy

Setting a clear and effective pricing strategy is crucial for the success of your social media consulting business. It not only determines your profitability but also positions you in the market as a reliable and valuable service provider. Here are some important factors to consider when determining your pricing strategy:

• Market Rates: Research the prevailing rates in the social media consulting industry to understand the price range for similar services. This will help you stay competitive and ensure you don't overcharge or undercharge your clients.
• Value-Based Pricing: Instead of just basing your pricing on your costs, consider the unique value you provide to your clients. This can include your expertise, experience, and the results you can deliver. Price your services accordingly to reflect their value.
• Package Options: Offer different packages with varying levels of services and features to cater to different client needs and budgets. This allows you to cater to a wider range of clients and capture different segments of the market.
• Hourly vs. Project-Based Rates: Decide whether you prefer charging clients on an hourly basis or offering project-based rates. Each approach has its pros and cons, so consider factors such as the complexity of the project, the scope of work, and the level of ongoing support required.
• Upselling and Cross-Selling: Identify opportunities to upsell or cross-sell additional services or products to your clients. This can help increase your revenue per client and maximize the value you provide.

Tips for determining your pricing strategy:

• Regularly review and adjust your pricing strategy based on market trends and client feedback.
• Consider offering discounts or promotional packages to attract new clients or retain existing ones.
• Take into account your operational costs, including overhead expenses, to ensure your pricing covers all necessary expenses.
• Monitor your competitors' pricing strategies to stay competitive while offering unique value to differentiate yourself.

By carefully considering these factors and implementing a well-thought-out pricing strategy, you can position your social media consulting business for success and profitability.

Outline The Services And Solutions To Be Offered

When outlining the services and solutions to be offered as a social media consultant, it is crucial to clearly define your expertise and what value you can bring to your clients. This will help potential clients understand how your services align with their needs and why they should choose you over your competitors.

1. Social Media Strategy Development: This service involves creating a comprehensive social media strategy tailored to each client's unique goals and target audience. It includes identifying the most relevant social media platforms for their business, establishing key performance indicators (KPIs), and outlining the content and engagement strategies to achieve the desired results.

2. Social Media Account Setup and Optimization: Many businesses lack the knowledge and time to set up and optimize their social media accounts effectively. You can assist clients in creating professional and engaging profiles on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. This service may also involve optimizing existing profiles to improve visibility and attract their target audience.

3. Content Creation and Curation: As a social media consultant, you can offer clients content creation and curation services. This includes developing engaging and relevant content, such as blog posts, articles, infographics, and videos, to be shared across their social media platforms. Additionally, you can curate content from various sources, ensuring a consistent flow of valuable information for their audience.

4. Community Management and Engagement: Building a strong online community is essential for businesses looking to succeed on social media. You can offer community management services by monitoring and responding to comments, messages, and mentions on behalf of your clients. This helps maintain positive relationships with their audience and enhances engagement.

5. Social Media Advertising and Campaigns: Paid advertising campaigns play a significant role in social media marketing. You can assist clients in creating and managing targeted advertising campaigns on platforms such as Facebook Ads, Instagram Ads, or Twitter Ads. This service involves defining campaign objectives, setting budgets, creating captivating ad creatives, and analyzing campaign performance to optimize results.

By outlining a comprehensive range of services and solutions, you can demonstrate your expertise in social media consulting and provide potential clients with a clear understanding of how your services can benefit their business. Remember to continuously refine and update your service offerings to align with the ever-evolving social media landscape.

Identify The Necessary Resources And Investments

When starting a social media consulting business, it's important to identify the resources and investments you will need to effectively deliver your services and grow your business. Here are some key considerations:

• Human Resources: Determine the team you will need to manage your consulting projects and provide high-quality services to clients. This may include social media strategists, content creators, graphic designers, marketing analysts, and project managers. Assess the skills and expertise required and consider whether you will hire employees or work with freelancers and contractors.
• Technology: Identify the necessary tools and technologies to effectively manage and measure social media accounts. This may include social media management platforms, analytics tools, content scheduling tools, and graphic design software. Research and invest in reliable and user-friendly platforms that align with your business objectives.
• Training and Development: Stay up-to-date with the latest social media trends and strategies by investing in ongoing training and professional development for yourself and your team. This could include attending industry conferences, enrolling in online courses, and joining professional associations.
• Networking and Partnerships: Build relationships with complementary businesses and professionals in the marketing and digital space. This can help you expand your service offering and gain access to additional resources and expertise when needed. Consider attending industry events, joining networking groups, and establishing strategic partnerships.
• Financial Investment: Determine the financial resources required to start and grow your social media consulting business. This may include initial startup costs such as office space, equipment, and marketing materials, as well as ongoing expenses such as employee salaries, software subscriptions, and advertising campaigns. Create a comprehensive budget and explore funding options if necessary.

Tips for Identifying Resources and Investments:

• Conduct thorough research to identify the most effective and efficient resources for your specific business needs.
• Consider the scalability of your chosen resources to accommodate future growth.
• Regularly monitor and evaluate the performance and cost-effectiveness of your resources, making adjustments as necessary.
• Network and collaborate with industry professionals to access shared resources and expertise.

By identifying the necessary resources and investments upfront, you can ensure that your social media consulting business is well-equipped to deliver exceptional services and meet the needs of your clients. Continuously assess and adapt your resource allocation as your business evolves to stay ahead in the competitive social media consulting industry.

Create A Marketing And Sales Plan

Once you have defined your services and solutions, it is time to create a comprehensive marketing and sales plan to promote your social media consulting business. This plan will outline the strategies and tactics you will use to attract and acquire clients.

Identify Your Target Market: Begin by clearly identifying your target audience for your social media consulting services. Consider their demographics, industry, and specific needs when developing your marketing and sales strategy.

Develop a Strong Brand: Your brand is how you differentiate yourself from competitors and create a unique identity in the market. Develop a compelling brand message and design a visually appealing logo and website to portray a professional image.

Build an Online Presence: Social media consulting is closely tied to online platforms, so it is crucial to establish a strong online presence. Create profiles on relevant social media platforms and regularly update them with valuable content to showcase your expertise and attract potential clients.

Content Marketing: Produce high-quality content such as blog posts, articles, and videos that educate and provide value to your target audience. Share this content on your website and social media platforms to establish yourself as a thought leader and attract potential clients.

Network and Collaborate: Attend industry conferences, seminars, and networking events to connect with potential clients and establish relationships with other professionals in the field. Collaborating with complementary businesses can also help expand your reach and generate referrals.

Create a Sales Strategy: Develop a clear sales strategy that outlines how you will approach potential clients and convert leads into paying customers. Consider utilizing tactics such as cold calling, email marketing, and hosting webinars or workshops to showcase your expertise.

Track and Measure Results: Continually monitor the success of your marketing and sales efforts by tracking key metrics such as website traffic, social media engagement, and conversion rates. Use this data to refine your strategies and make informed decisions moving forward.

Marketing and Sales Plan Tips:

• Regularly update your social media profiles with fresh content to maintain engagement and attract new clients.
• Consider offering free consultations or introductory offers to entice potential clients to try your services.
• Utilize social media advertising platforms, such as Facebook Ads or LinkedIn Ads, to reach a larger audience and generate leads.
• Stay up to date with industry trends and changes in social media algorithms to adjust your marketing and sales strategies accordingly.

Establish Financial Projections And Budget

Financial projections and budgeting are crucial steps in writing a business plan for your social media consulting business. They help you understand the financial health of your venture and set realistic goals for growth. Here are the key aspects to consider when establishing financial projections and creating a budget:

• Revenue Forecast: Begin by estimating your revenue projections based on your pricing strategy and the number of clients you plan to serve. Consider variables such as project-based fees, hourly rates, and potential retainer contracts.
• Expenses: Identify all the necessary expenses for running your consulting business, including office space, equipment, software, marketing costs, and employee salaries, if applicable. Ensure that you allocate enough budget for each category.
• Profit Margin: Determine your desired profit margin and calculate it by subtracting expenses from revenue. A healthy profit margin is essential for sustaining and growing your business.
• Cash Flow Analysis: Evaluate your projected inflows and outflows of cash to ensure you have enough liquidity to cover expenses, especially during lean periods. This analysis helps you understand potential cash gaps and make contingency plans.
• Break-Even Analysis: Conduct a break-even analysis to determine the point at which your revenue covers all your fixed and variable costs. This analysis helps you understand when your business will start turning a profit.
• Be realistic with your revenue projections. Base them on market research and industry standards.
• Consider consulting industry benchmarks to understand typical profit margins and expenses.
• Regularly review and update your financial projections as your business evolves and market conditions change.
• Build a contingency fund to handle unexpected expenses or fluctuations in revenue.
• Seek professional advice from accountants or financial advisors to ensure your financial projections are accurate.

By establishing precise financial projections and creating a budget, you can gain a solid understanding of the financial aspect of your social media consulting business. It will help you make informed decisions, set realistic goals, and pave the way for long-term success.

Writing a business plan for social media consulting is essential for success in this fast-growing industry. By following these 9 steps, you can develop a comprehensive plan that addresses market research, target audience identification, competitor analysis, and more. By outlining your services, determining your pricing strategy, and creating a marketing and sales plan, you can position yourself as a valuable consultant. Additionally, by establishing financial projections and budget, you can ensure the profitability and sustainability of your business. So, take the time to carefully craft your business plan, and set yourself up for success in the world of social media consulting.

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How to Become a Social Media Consultant, According to 5 Successful Ones

Updated: November 12, 2019

Published: August 20, 2019

Nowadays, social media is a critical component of any business's marketing strategy.

There are over 3.2 billion people on social media globally . With such a large potential audience, it's becoming essential for every company to use social media to reach new prospects, boost brand awareness, and market their products or services.

But oftentimes, marketing on social media platforms is easier said than done -- and when you're working at a small company with limited resources, it can be tricky (or even impossible) to hire and train a fully-staffed social media team.

If a company doesn't have the resources to staff a social media team in-house, they aren't out of luck -- as an alternative, they can hire a social media consultant to help them increase their social media presence and grow traffic to their social accounts.

If you're a social media consultant, you're required to act as the voice, eyes, and ears of a client across various social platforms to properly engage with and grow an audience. While an undoubtedly rewarding role, it can be tricky -- which is why we've gathered insights from five successful social media consultants.

If you're interested in becoming a social media consultant but aren't sure how to get started, or you're hiring a social media consultant for your team but aren't sure what to look for, keep reading.

How to Become a Successful Social Media Consultant

1. build a portfolio of case studies, and produce and publish content that proves your worth..

Keith Kakadia, Founder and CEO Sociallyin.com , told me -- "My advice to anyone who is trying to build a portfolio of clients as a social media marketing consultant would be to do a few things, starting with building out your portfolio of case studies. Many clients want to see the work you have done in the past for others successfully."

"The second piece of advice I could give," Kakadia adds, "is to produce and publish content that shows your expertise in the field of social media marketing. Having a blog or even writing on a channel like Medium can help you stand out from the crowd of social media consultants."

If you're interested in creating your own blog, take a look at How to Create a Successful Blog Strategy: A Step-by-Step Guide .

2. Network, network, network.

Akvile DeFazio, President of AKvertise, Inc. , advises aspiring social media consultants to network: "The moment you decide you want to take the leap to become a social media consultant and eventually shift towards doing it full-time, I encourage you to begin networking and sharing your skillset and services with others, on and offline, even if you aren't working for yourself just quite yet."

"Relationships and building up your clientele can take time, so begin feeding your funnel as soon as you can. As someone who has always enjoyed networking, I didn't realize just how valuable my network was until I announced that I was leaving my former employer to go out on my own. I imagined that as soon as I did, I would lose some ties as I wouldn't be seeing industry peers and business owners in person as much, but to my surprise, many of them shared in my excitement and sent leads and clients my way."

To begin networking, DeFazio suggests checking out places like meetup.com , joining Twitter chats regarding topics relevant to social media, and guest blogging to expand your reach and visibility. She also recommends researching podcasts that might be interested in having you as a guest, attending industry events such as pop-up networking events or conferences, and checking out your local chamber of commerce.

3. Create an engaging Instagram account.

Simone, a social media consultant and Founder of Savvy Simone , told me -- "If you are hoping to become a successful Social Media Consultant, the first thing to do is create an Instagram and post frequently. Don't worry too much about a logo or a polished website, that can come later."

"Focus on growing a loyal following by providing value (social media tips and tricks) and sprinkling in some of your own personal life," Simone added. "If you don't have any formal experience, you can still attract potential leads by sharing your knowledge with the world. Be passionate about your new venture and make sure to spend time developing your own personal brand and online presence. Also, ask other social media consultants how they got started. Most are more than willing to chat with you!"

If you're unsure how to grow an Instagram following, check out Instagram Marketing: The Ultimate Guide .

4. Timing is critical.

Amy Bishop, owner of Cultivative, LLC. and a Digital Marketing Consultant, told me it's critical you remain practical when deciding when, and how, you're going to create your own business -- "Timing is typically one of the most difficult factors in deciding when to go out on your own. Only you will know when the time is right, but I suggest saving up about three to six months worth of living expenses, just in case things don't go as planned."

"Even if you don't need the money," she says, "it will save you some stress and likely prevent you from taking on clients that are a poor fit, or pricing yourself too low out of desperation to sign clients. Oftentimes (assuming it doesn't break any contracts with your current employer), consultants will pick up a few clients before quitting their current job, to ensure they have a little bit of revenue flow -- but I recognize sometimes that's not an option."

Additionally, Bishop mentions it's vital you set up an LLC for your new business (it's relatively inexpensive to set it up online), and keep track of expenses and income for tax purposes later on.

5. A tiered approach is a good one. 

Crystal King , HubSpot Academy Social Media Professor, told me -- "Make sure you understand upfront how big the job you are taking on will be. Survey your clients thoroughly. Sometimes they may not really know what they want or need. Be ready to deliver a proposal that accurately defines what you think is best for their business, the scope of the work, and what additional fees there may be for work that goes beyond the original parameters of the project.

"A tiered approach is often a good one -- what the client would get for a very high cost, a medium rate, and a low one."

Additionally, Crystal mentioned, "Be clear about hours and the activities that such a fee would encompass. And keep in mind that there is only one of you --be ready to say no if the job is too big, or ask if bringing in freelancers to help you is something that can be accommodated by their budget."

5. Prioritize lead generation.

Amy Bishop told me -- "Lead generation is critical and, for many folks, the most stress-inducing part of starting your own business. There's a huge demand for social media consultants -- you just have to know how to find them. Start by reaching out to your network to let them know you're offering consulting services. Ask them if they know of anyone that could use your services. Even if they don't, they'll likely keep you in mind for future reference."

"Additionally, join local networking groups and associations. Try to identify folks with skills that don't overlap with yours that you could partner with -- for instance, folks that do web development, email marketing, or SEO, but not social media management. If you find yourself struggling to sign on clients, consider reaching out to agencies and asking for overflow work. You can keep your skills sharp and have some income coming in while you continue to work on new business."

Ultimately, Amy insists if you're passionate and dedicated to social media consulting, it's worth the risk: "If you have experience managing social campaigns and you're considering making the leap to owning your own business, I can't begin to recommend it enough. For the right person, the benefits are limitless."

6. Overdeliver in the beginning.

Keith Kakadia says -- "My last piece of advice would be to overdeliver in the beginning as you start to build your brand."

"You need an army of evangelists for you and there is no better way of accomplishing that besides overdelivering for all your clients and making them feel as if they are your only client."

While you're ultimately in-control of what packages you offer and at what price, consider going the extra mile early on -- once clients' begin seeing an increase in traffic and engagement from your services, they'll be more willing to recommend you to another colleague or business, which is critical for your long-term success. Additionally, try including customer testimonials or reviews on your website to demonstrate your legitimacy.

Typical social media consulting/freelance rates 2019

• A consultant with 0-3 years experience and a limited portfolio will likely want to start charging between $15-$50 per hour, depending on the project scope and type of client.
• After three years, you can charge between $50 and $100 per hour.
• Once you're an advanced consultant with an impressive portfolio, you can charge upwards of $120+ per hour.
• Social media consultants can charge anywhere from $15-$250+ an hour, so it's important you keep in mind your prior work experience, the scope of the project, and the type of client when deciding your rate.

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How To Become a Social Media Consultant: Expert Tips and Tricks

Ready to turn your social media skills into a consulting career? We’ll teach you everything you need to become a social media consultant.

Table of Contents

As the expectations have grown for businesses to have a solid social media presence, so has the demand for social media consultants.

Do you have a passion for digital communication? What about a keen understanding of social media platforms? Want to help others get the most out of their online marketing strategy? Then becoming a social media consultant might be the perfect avenue for you.

But what does it take to become a successful social media marketing consultant? Aside from a passion for the craft, you’ll need some experience. Once you have that, it’s easy to get started. Below, we’ll explain the five key steps to becoming a social media consultant.

Bonus: Our free social media manager career toolkit includes resume, cover letter, and portfolio templates, along with a complete guide to social media job descriptions and frequently asked interview questions. You got this!

What is a social media consultant, and what do they do?

Social media consultants provide social media expertise to businesses and clients. Consultants offer advice and recommendations to help clients build and execute their social media strategies and reach their business goals.

Social media consulting work is flexible and can be done anywhere with a reliable Wi-Fi connection. Social marketing consultants may work full-time with one client on a project, juggle many clients and contracts at a time, or do it as a side hustle on top of a full-time job.

A social media consultant’s “job description” may include a variety of skills, like:

• Creating evergreen social media strategies
• Helping launch a new social media channel
• Conducting social media research
• Doing social media audits
• Setting up social listening dashboards
• Planning social media campaigns
• Providing comprehensive analytics reports
• Facilitating social media training sessions and workshops

The keyword in many of the points above is “strategy.” Social media consultants are usually more experienced and senior in their careers than freelance social media managers . Consultants also tend to work more on strategy rather than execution and content creation.

An example of the services offered by Josh Klemons , a social media consultant based in Wisconsin, USA.

The skills you’ll need to become a social media consultant

While the flexibility and freedom of being a social media consultant can seem very attractive, it may not be a fit for everyone.

First, there are a bunch of consulting-specific skills required on top of social media management skills :

• Content creation. Although consultants may not have to create content for clients, they should still have skills in design and copywriting. You’ll need to be able to edit posts for clients and create mockups to illustrate your proposals.
• Public speaking and sales. Pitching is a crucial step in securing new clients. You must be comfortable selling yourself and your services, often in front of executives. Once you land the client, you’ll often present proposals to them as part of your consulting work.
• Project management. As a business owner and team of one, you are responsible for everything. That includes managing invoices, tracking expenses, filing taxes, communicating with clients, and arranging contracts. And this is all on top of actual social media consulting work.
• Client relationship management. “One thing I do: Reply to emails quickly. Doing this has set me apart from so many others in the field. Prospective clients often say they reached out to several people, and I was the only one to respond” – Josh Klemons
• Advanced analytics & reporting. Clients can do day-to-day reporting, but they often rely on consultants for more advanced, in-depth analyses and reports. For example, social intelligence consultant Ben K. Ellis specializes in social intelligence: “I deliver research and data stories to answer anything from ‘what are the latest trends in our sector and how can we leverage them?’ to ‘what are the whitespace opportunities we could use and to improve our product positioning?’”

Download our Social Media Career Report for stats on social media manager salaries, benefits, job satisfaction, mental health, and more.

Why you should (or shouldn’t) become a social media consultant

Here are some of the pros, as shared by social media consultants themselves:

“Social media is always changing, so you are always in demand!” – Jennifer Kolbuc, Mountain Top Consulting ( @socialwithjen )

“Flexibility. Much of the work can be done remotely and in the hours that suit you best. For example, if you do your best work after 9 pm, that’s fine as long as you produce & deliver high-quality content on time!” – Shelly Terry, founder of Sheldon Social

“The variety of work! Every day is different. I get to use various skills, platforms are constantly changing, and I get to work with people across many industries. I’m always learning, honing my existing skills, and gaining new ones.” – Sara Hodge , social & digital consultant

And some of the downsides:

“The never-ending sales process. Even though I had a stable client base, this did not mean the work was constant. To get new clients or upsell the old ones, you have to be constantly pitching.” – Mark Valasik, CMO at Kontentino

“Since social media is open 24/7, you need to be prepared to work at unsociable hours.” – Justine Maher , marketing strategist

“It can be hard to take time to disconnect and stay offline when you need to.” – Jennifer Kolbuc

Still excited about becoming a social media consultant? Keep reading to find out the five steps to get there.

How to become a social media consultant in 5 steps

1. get experience.

Before you can build a viable business as a social media consultant, you’ll need some experience. That means doing social media marketing for clients or companies, not just your pet’s social media account. Experience will give you the confidence to answer any client’s needs and price your services accordingly.

If you don’t have experience yet, have no fear. Check out our guide to getting started as a social media manager first.

2. Brush up on your skills + toolkit

We’ve already covered the fundamental skills and knowledge required to be an excellent social media consultant. If you reviewed the list and found any gaps, now is the time to brush up and fill them. One thing that may help you build your authority is to get certified, such as through Hootsuite Academy .

Next, you should identify a way to stay up-to-date on social media trends and updates. If you’re transitioning from working as a social media manager to being a consultant, you’ll spend less time in the day-to-day work noticing trends and what’s working. So, you should find other ways to stay educated about the social media industry. The Hootsuite blog is a good place to start!

Lastly, you should build your toolkit as a social media consultant. Often, clients will ask you for recommendations on what tools to use. You should be familiar with the main categories of social media tools, including scheduling, analytics, listening, and engagement tools.

You should also know your preferred tools to work with. Here’s a complete list of social media marketing tools to get you started.

3. Build a portfolio

Before pitching yourself to potential clients, you’ll need a portfolio to showcase your past work and skills.

If you’ve only worked in full-time corporate positions, you can use examples from those roles. Just be sure you focus on the results you directly contributed to.

The format doesn’t matter for most clients, as long as the content makes them confident in your expertise. Here are some ideas to get you started:

• Share your LinkedIn profile . Ideally, this should have endorsements and links to work samples under each position.
• Create a PDF portfolio . If design isn’t your strong suit, we recommend using Canva .
• Share a Google Drive folder or build a website with past strategy decks and work samples.

Tip: Create a master version of your portfolio containing all your work examples and case studies. Then, tailor it for each new client pitch by removing any examples irrelevant to their industry or business model.

A snapshot of Jennifer Kolbuc ’s social media consulting portfolio

4. Establish your rates

One of the best and worst parts of being a social media consultant is that you have complete control over pricing your services. On the one hand, setting your rates can be one of the most challenging mental parts of being a consultant. On the other hand, no one is limiting how much you can earn (unlike a day job).

Before finding clients, you should have your rates in mind. We’ll share some benchmarks and more detailed guidance on determining them below.

5. Find clients

Now that you’ve built your skillset, toolkit, portfolio, and rate card, it’s time for the most crucial step: finding clients.

I won’t sugarcoat it — landing clients and consulting opportunities is grueling. And unfortunately, it’s a process that never ends once you become a consultant.

Here are tips and sources that have worked for me, as well as advice from other consultants:

• Facebook & Slack groups. Many Slack and Facebook groups have channels or tags for “jobs” where members can post consulting opportunities. I’ve found almost all my consulting gigs through these types of groups.
• Word of mouth & referrals. “85% of the clients I work with come from previous agency relationships or referrals.” – Christoph Schachner, social media consultant
• Personal branding. “Always put yourself out there for podcasts, workshops, and events.” – Jennifer Kolbuc. “Most of my clients found me through my online writing or speaking at conferences.” – Ben K. Ellis
• Mentorship. “Many of my clients come from mentoring on platforms like Growthmentor.” – Christoph Schachner
• Audience-building and email marketing. “Build an email list! I’ve spent two years working hard to build an email list that regularly brings in sales and new clients.” – Jennifer Kolbuc

How to charge for social media consulting services

Deciding what to charge is one of the most challenging aspects of being a social media consultant.

Not only is it difficult to know what you should charge, but also to know what clients are willing to pay, what other consultants are charging, and what value you’re giving to clients.

Take a deep breath — we’re here to help. First, let’s start with the different ways that consultants can charge:

• Hourly. Consultant tracks their hours and bills the client based on total hours multiplied by their hourly rate. Best if a client’s needs are unpredictable or the scope of work is unknown. However, this will require more admin work for the consultant (time tracking, invoicing).
• Retainer (monthly). Consultant quotes a fixed monthly rate to cover all work required by the client each month. Best for long-term projects or clients that need the same support on a recurring basis.
• Project-based. Consultant charges a fixed one-time fee. Best for projects that have a clear set of tasks and a definite start and end date.

Benchmark rates for social media consulting services in 2023

We surveyed ten consultants to identify benchmarks for freelance social media consultant rates in 2023. The rates ranged from $30 to $200 per hour , varying based on the consultant (years of experience, relevant expertise), the client (size of the company, budget), and work scope (length of project, number of services required, hours required).

With that said, many consultants don’t charge by the hour — most prefer monthly retainers or fixed project-based fees.

Ben K. Ellis shared this example: “If you provide benchmarking reports, consider the number of hours it typically takes you to produce these reports and the skill set and tools needed. Then, pick a price point that honors the value the project provides to your client’s business.”

Remember that as a freelancer, your rate needs to cover your overhead costs (business registration, taxes, supplies & expenses, laptop, software & tool subscriptions, etc.), and the lack of stability of a permanent contract and benefits.

Tip: Once you set your rates, they shouldn’t stay the same over time. Jennifer Kolbuc explains: “With my first clients, I was very affordable (undercharging) so that I could build up a client list. Now that I have 15+ years of experience, I charge more.”

5 tips and best practices from real social media consultants

Find your community.

Ben K. Ellis recommends that you find a community of fellow consultants.

“Moving from a job with colleagues to a consulting role can be a lonely experience. I’ve found a community on amazing platforms like The Dots , Social Intelligence Lab , and Contra , engaging with and learning from other consultants and sharing tips, answering questions, and helping each other.”

Convey the long-term value of social

“Trends come and go, but a good strategy works much longer. Don’t sell your clients on ‘more followers.’ Sell them on the long-term vision of building a community. Social media is not about short-term success, it’s about building something that will benefit your business long-term.” – Jennifer Kolbuc

Focus on business results, not vanity metrics

Christoph Schachner’s best tip is to focus on bottom-line results, not followers or engagement metrics.

“You need to define how you add value to the business. Not everything is 100% traceable or will have an immediate impact. But using a combination of self-reported attribution, qualitative metrics, and correlated revenue will earn you trust and clients.”

Be a social media scientist

Shelly Terry emphasizes the value of experimentation.

“You should always be testing, theorizing what tactics will deliver the strategy you’re working on, and repeating what works until it doesn’t! Everything constantly changes in the social landscape, and we must be adaptive.”

Put everything in writing

“EVERYTHING needs to be in a contract. Your scope of work, a buffer for out-of-scope work you’re willing to add for free, and your hourly rate for extra work beyond that. Doing this will help you to negotiate work you haven’t agreed on or raise prices.” – Mark Valasik

Frequently asked questions about social media consultants

What does a social media consultant do.

Social media consultants provide businesses with advice and guidance to help them build and execute their social media strategy.

How much do social media consultants charge?

Social media consultants can charge a range based on various factors, such as their experience, the scope of the work, the size of the client, the project’s length, and more. They may charge by the hour, a monthly retainer, or a fixed fee for the whole project.

How can I be a good social media consultant?

Being a good social media consultant comes down to putting your client first. You should always consider their business priorities when providing recommendations and focus on helping them achieve their business objectives through social media.

What’s the difference between a social media consultant and a freelance social media manager?

The main difference is seniority. Consultants are more experienced, specialized and often charge higher rates than social media freelancers. Both roles provide advice and services to help businesses achieve their objectives through social media.

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Laura Wong is a Canadian social media strategist based in Amsterdam. She is the founder of SchoolofSocial.io, an online platform that helps anyone land their dream social media job. Besides social media, Laura is passionate about travel, photography, entrepreneurship, and finding the best bubble tea in every city she visits.

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How To Start A Social Media Consulting Business

To start a social media consulting business, identify your target market, develop a comprehensive business plan detailing your services, establish your brand identity online, constantly update your knowledge on social media trends, and begin marketing your services to potential clients.

• Last Update: November 23, 2023

• Steps in this Guide: 11

Are you passionate about social media and well-versed in the art of engaging and connecting with online audiences? If so, starting your own social media consulting business could be the perfect venture for you. With the prevalence of social media platforms across all industries, businesses are increasingly seeking experts to help navigate the ever-changing digital landscape. In this blog post, we will guide you through the essential steps to successfully launch your social media consulting business and ensure its long-term success. From identifying your niche to building a strong client base, we’ll provide invaluable insights and strategies to help you establish yourself as a trusted social media consultant. So, if you’re ready to turn your social media expertise into a lucrative business opportunity, read on to learn how to get started.

How To Start A Social Media Consulting Business: Step-by-Step

Step 1: identifying your niche,.

Identifying your niche as a consultant means specializing in a specific industry or social media platform, allowing you to stand out from the crowd by offering unique expertise and tailored solutions that cater to the specific needs of your clients.

Step 2: Understanding The Social Media Platforms,

It is crucial to familiarize yourself with the operations of social media platforms, tailor your content to each platform’s preferences, and effectively create captivating posts to maximize audience engagement.

Step 3: Developing A Business Plan,

Our target audience consists of small and medium-sized businesses that need expert advice on improving their operations. We will employ social media marketing and local networking events to reach potential clients. Our services include business consulting, strategy development, and operational optimization. Our pricing strategy will be competitive, offering packages tailored to meet our clients’ specific needs. As we grow, we plan to expand our services to include training workshops and online resources to reach a wider audience and increase our revenue.

Step 4: Setting Up The Business,

To legally register your consulting firm, comply with the legal requirements in your area by obtaining the necessary permits and licenses. This will ensure your business operates within the bounds of the law.

Step 5: Building A Portfolio,

To establish a strong reputation and gather client testimonials, consider providing complimentary or discounted services in the early stages. This strategy will help build credibility and attract new customers to further develop your business.

Step 6: Pricing Your Services,

When determining a pricing structure, it is important to consider the time spent on each project, the complexity of the job, and what your competitors charge in order to ensure fair and competitive pricing.

Step 7: Marketing Your Services,

To effectively reach your target audience, implement a multi-channel approach encompassing online and offline strategies. Explore avenues such as social media, networking events, and email marketing to maximize your reach and engagement potential.

Step 8: Building Customer Relationships,

To maintain strong client relationships, keep communication open, offer top-notch service, seek feedback, and provide frequent updates.

Step 9: Staying Up-to-date With Social Media Trends,

In order to thrive in the dynamic digital marketing landscape, it is crucial to continually expand your knowledge and embrace evolving trends. Only by doing so can you stay ahead and retain your competitive advantage.

Step 10: Expanding Your Services,

As your business expands, it’s essential to diversify and explore additional services like social media ads, search engine optimization (SEO), and content marketing to effectively reach and engage with your target audience.

Step 11: Evaluating And Adjusting Your Plan,

Regularly reevaluate your business plan and strategy, keeping up with evolving market trends and incorporating valuable client feedback, to ensure your business stays current and achieves long-term success.

Starting a social media consulting business can be a rewarding and profitable venture for anyone with a passion for digital marketing and a knack for social media strategy. In this blog post, we have explored the key steps to consider when launching your consulting business.

We began by understanding the importance of defining your niche and target audience. By specializing in a specific industry or platform, you can build a reputation as an expert and offer tailored solutions to your clients.

Next, we discussed the significance of building a strong personal brand and online presence. Your own social media profiles and content showcase your expertise and attract potential clients.

Moreover, finding the right tools and resources is crucial for efficiently managing client accounts and analyzing performance metrics. Utilizing social media management platforms, scheduling tools, and analytics software can help streamline your processes and provide valuable insights to your clients.

Additionally, we emphasized the importance of continuously learning and staying updated with the latest social media trends and algorithms. As social media is constantly evolving, it is essential to invest time in professional development and staying ahead of the curve.

Lastly, we highlighted the significance of networking and building relationships in this industry. Attend industry events, participate in online communities, collaborate with other professionals, and utilize referrals to expand your reach and grow your client base.

Starting a social media consulting business requires dedication, perseverance, and a genuine passion for helping businesses thrive online. By following the steps outlined in this blog post and staying committed to providing exceptional service, you are well on your way to building a successful social media consulting business.

Remember, social media is not just a trend, but a powerful tool that businesses of all sizes need to embrace to thrive in today’s digital landscape. Take the knowledge and insights you have gained from this blog post and apply them to your own journey as you embark on the exciting adventure of starting your own social media consulting business. Good luck!

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Table of Contents

There is no doubt that social media is one of the most powerful marketing tools available today. But knowing how to use it effectively can be a challenge for businesses of all sizes. If you’re a whiz with social media and want to help others harness its power, starting a social media consulting business could be the perfect option.

This guide will walk you through everything you need to know to get started. We’ll cover setting up your business, determining your services, and building your client base. So whether you’re just getting started or are looking for ways to take your business to the next level, read on for all the info you need.

1. Master The Skill

The first step to starting a social media consulting business is to ensure that you have the necessary skills. This means being up-to-date on all the latest trends and platforms and knowing how to use them for business purposes effectively.

Also, you must be able to identify social media strategy and goals to create content that aligns with those goals. Furthermore, you must be able to measure the success of your efforts and provide clients with reports detailing your findings.

2. Build Your Portfolio

The next step is to build up your portfolio so that potential clients can see what you’re capable social media manager.

• Start by creating a blog or website, and populate it with articles and case studies demonstrating your expertise in the field.
• Then, list your qualifications and experience on well-known job boards and freelancer platforms.
• Also, actively participate in social media groups and forums so that people are aware of your presence and can get in touch with you quickly.

3. Find Your Target Clients

The next step is to identify your target clients. These are the businesses or individuals you want to work with and who will benefit most from your services.

Start by brainstorming a list of companies or industries that could use social media help to find them. Then, use online tools like LinkedIn and Twitter search to find specific businesses within those industries.

Finally, take some time to research each company to tailor your pitch when reaching out to them.

4. Make A Plan

Now that you know who your target clients are, it’s time to plan how you’re going to reach them by offering social media consultants’ services.

• First, create a list of all the platforms and channels you’ll use to market your business.
• Then, come up with a strategy for each platform or channel. For example, if you’re using LinkedIn, you might create a plan to post articles and join relevant groups.
• On the other hand, if you’re using Twitter, you might focus on tweeting interesting content and participating in conversations.

5. Set Your Rates

The fifth step is to set your rates. This can be tricky, as you don’t want to charge too much and scare away potential clients, but you also don’t want to charge too little and end up undervaluing your services.

An excellent way to develop a rate is first to calculate your costs.

There are two main types of costs you need to take into account:

• Direct Costs : These are the costs associated with providing your services, such as software subscriptions and advertising spending.
• Indirect Costs : These are the costs associated with running your own business, such as office rent and employee salaries.

Then, add a profit margin on top of that to make a reasonable profit. Also, consider offering discounts for long-term contracts or package deals for social media services.

6. Create A Digital Business Card

The next step is to create a digital business card. This is essentially an online version of a traditional business card, and it’s a great way to make sure potential clients can easily find your contact information.

Your digital business card should include your name, title, company name, website URL, email address, and social media profiles. You can also include a headshot and brief bio if you want.

Use Zapped To Create Your vCard

If you want to create a compelling digital business card, there’s no better way to use Zapped . With its simple and easy-to-use interface, you can create a beautiful vCard in minutes without hiring a designer or spending hours learning complex software.

Also, it allows you to customize your card with your branding, colors, and logo. And if you ever need to update your information, you can do so with just a few clicks.

7. Develop A Pitch Deck

The next step is to develop a pitch deck for social media presence. This is a presentation that social media managers can use to quickly and effectively explain their services to potential clients.

Your pitch deck should be around 10 slides depending on the social media platforms, and it should cover topics like your company overview, social media marketing strategies, case studies, and rates.

8. Get Testimonials

Another great way to build credibility and attract new clients is to get testimonials from current or past clients.

A testimonial is essentially a review, and it’s a great way to show potential clients that you’re an expert in your field.

To get testimonials, reach out to your current or past clients and ask if they’d be willing to write a review. If they say yes, thank them and include their testimonial about your social media marketing agency on your website, pitch deck, and social media profiles.

9. Get The Word Out

Now that you have everything in place, it’s time to start marketing your social media consultant business. There are several ways you can do this, but some of the most effective include:

• Creating A Website : This is where you’ll showcase your portfolio and list your services. Ensure clear calls to action so that visitors know how to get in touch with you.
• Writing Blog Articles : Blogging is a great way to attract attention to your new business and demonstrate your expertise. Try to write at least one article per week and promote your articles on social media and other channels.
• Guest Posting : Guest posting is great to get exposure on high-traffic websites. Reach out to bloggers and website owners in your industry, and offer to write a guest post for them.

10. Stay Up To Date

The final step is to make sure you stay up to date with the latest trends and developments in social media. This will help you keep your skills sharp, and it will also ensure that you’re able to provide the most up-to-date services to your clients.

One way to stay up to date is to follow industry news sources and influencers on social media. Additionally, attend conferences and webinars, and participate in online courses and forums.

Final Thoughts

That was all about adopting social media management and marketing as a business model. We hope you’ve found it helpful and that you feel ready to start your social media business. Remember, nothing is set in stone. These are just guidelines to help you get started. Feel free to tailor them to fit your unique needs and goals. And most importantly, have fun with it.

Social media is a great way to connect with people and build relationships, so enjoy yourself and let your personality shine through. Are you excited about starting your social media management business? What questions do you still have? Let us know in the comments below, and we’ll be happy to help out.

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Wax Melt Business Card Ideas: How to Attract Potential Customers and Build a Strong Customer Base

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Social Media Planning

Creating a 30-Day Social Media Plan

Reading time  19 minutes

Published on  September 29, 2022

Table of Contents

• Setting realistic social marketing goals to align with your overall business goals
• Determining how you will measure the success of your social marketing efforts
• Integrating emerging trends and best practices into your strategy and content development

This 30-day social media plan template is designed to help you re-invent your social media management strategy so that what you share aligns with the interests of your community and contributes to overall business value.

You will learn how to:

• Create an effective social strategy that aligns with audience interest
• Diversify your content and build a robust content calendar
• Determine business value driven by social

Use the social media plan template below to track your progress as you work through the plan. By completing just one task each day for the next 30 days, you can fully transform your social marketing strategy.

Week 1: Establish your goals and define your metrics

Day 1: establish goals for social.

Establishing clear social media goals is the first step toward transforming your strategy . Determine exactly what you want social to achieve. Here are several examples of goals you might consider:

• Drive website traffic
• Raise brand awareness
• Boost brand engagement
• Generate new leads
• Nurture leads
• Build a community around your business
• Establish authority and industry expertise
• Improve customer support
• Shift brand sentiment

The objective here is to give purpose to your social efforts. Once you’ve established your social goals, the content you produce and share should continually support those goals.

There are several methods to help you write out specific social media goals, including the Objectives and Key Results (OKR) method.

The OKR method asks you to set a broad objective statement and list out key results that describe what successfully achieving that objective looks like. Here’s an example of a broad objective statement supported by clear, result metrics that define meeting the objective.

According to this example, if your objective is to boost brand engagement, you must increase the number of likes, shares, mentions and comments by 20% by the end of the fourth quarter.

Day 2: Define your success metrics

How are you going to define the success of your social efforts? Decide which metrics will provide the right data to determine whether or not social is supporting your business goals.

As you identify your success metrics (e.g. organic mentions, share of voice or conversions), set clear standards for your social campaigns so that you know when you achieve success. If you are tracking audience engagement, what exactly do you consider successful engagement rates for your social content?

Depending on the type of content you produce, where you share and the goals you set for your social marketing efforts, the metrics you track will change.

If you’re at a loss for the goals your team should set, use the Social Media Metrics Map to assess options for owned, earned and paid social.

Day 3: List out your challenges

The task is simple: Make a list of the challenges you face when it comes to social media marketing. Think of any barriers that are keeping your social content from making its biggest impact.

As you list out your challenges, write out simple explanations of how these barriers are impacting your marketing efforts or overall business success. Here are a couple of examples to help you get started.

Challenge 1:

Although we consistently post on social, we are not achieving ideal engagement levels.

Challenge 2:

We have seen a dramatic drop in our social content’s organic reach.

Not sure what your specific challenges may be? Our 2022 Sprout Social Index ™ surveyed social marketers and found these five challenges are the most common.

Day 4: Brainstorm solutions

Round up your marketing team and brainstorm possible solutions to the challenges you previously listed.

Be sure to provide evidence to justify effective solutions so that you’re prepared when the time comes to gather resources and advocate for your budget .

Solution to Challenge 1:

We can use creators to engage with our social content and drive conversation.

Justification: In 2022, most marketers (74%) planned to spend at least a quarter of their social media budget on partnering with a content creator. With loyal followings, creators can boost engagement and keep relevant conversations going on social.

Solution to Challenge 2:

We can invest in paid social media advertising to run highly targeted campaigns and reach the right people.

Justification: Almost half of consumers report they “find the perfect products” by seeing targeted ads. By 2025, social shopping is set to become a $1.2 trillion channel .

Day 5: Analyze the competition

If you’re running out of ideas, try running a competitive analysis . Be careful not to mimic your competitors’ content, but use your analysis to determine your brand’s unique positioning instead.

Your brand and its competitors have similar ideal customer personas, so focus on the type of content that is resonating, both within your own social efforts and those of the competition.

Here are a few questions to consider as you analyze your competitor’s social marketing efforts:

• Which marketing channels are my competitors using and are they successful in those channels?
• What are my competitors talking about and are those topics generating high audience engagement?
• Are there areas within our social strategy where we are outperforming our competitors?

Social analytics solutions are an effective way to compare your efforts against your competitors. Using Sprout’s Analytics , you can directly benchmark your efforts against one or more competitors.

Start your free Sprout trial

You can pinpoint days when competitors experienced peak engagement and dive deeper into what content was shared on those days to understand what resonates most with target audiences.

Week 2: Optimize your profiles and brand voice on social media

Day 6: determine your strengths and weaknesses.

Take a deep dive into your social strategy and determine where you are successful and where there is room for growth.

Conduct a survey among your marketing, sales, customer service and product teams to gauge where they see areas of success or room for improvement.

For each criteria regarding your social marketing strategy, determine whether it’s one of your strengths or weaknesses. This will help identify what you should focus on over the next five weeks.

Day 7: Audit your content

Run a social media audit to identify your best-performing content and most popular channels. Take time to understand what’s working and why. Your metrics can help you identify which posts effectively cater to the interests of your audience.

If your posts aren’t engaging and resonating with your followers, your social media content strategy needs to shift. Use your audit to review the content you’ve shared and identify which posts had the biggest impact.

You can use Sprout’s Post Performance Report to parse through your most popular posts across platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn and Pinterest.

Day 8: Create a list of relevant keywords

Use social media listening tools to identify the keywords most often associated with your brand. These keywords can help your team throughout the content brainstorm and creation process.

Social listening can help you uncover unique opportunities to tie trending conversations to your business and products.

For example, our team of analysts found that a new TikTok sound titled “Corn but it becomes a song and unites world” spawned over 607,000 videos . Nando's UK went all-in on this trend by showcasing their grilled corn to the sound, garnering 11.6 million views and over a 330,000 likes.

Day 9: Determine your brand voice and social persona

When it comes to building a social audience, consistency is key. Creating a brand voice and identifying a persona will enable you to remain consistent across all of your social channels.

Take this 3-minute assessment to help you characterize your brand and determine the business goals you’re trying to achieve. Select the responses that best describe your objectives, vision and audience.

After you narrow in on your persona, choose three words that describe your brand then explain what they mean for your brand and create dos and dont’s to guide content creation .

Day 10: Optimize your social profiles

While much of your time is spent planning and creating content, the information included on your profiles is vital to the success of your social marketing efforts.

After you’ve determined your brand’s persona, build out your profiles to align with your voice.

At a quick glance, your profile should speak to your brand with relevant visuals and engaging copy. Here are a few tactics to optimize your social profiles.

1. Use a consistent profile picture

If you own multiple social channels for your business, it’s important that your profile picture is consistent across every channel. Most businesses will use their company logo or variations of their logo that have been designed specifically for their social accounts. Staying consistent across your profiles will increase opportunities for brand recognition.

2. Complete every section of your profile

If there is a field for information, take advantage of the opportunity to tell your brand’s story. In creative and succinct ways, you should be able to describe what your business does, the offerings you can provide and how you add value to the lives of your customers.

3. Add keywords to boost SEO

On Day 8, you compiled a list of keywords relevant to your industry, brand and its offerings. Use these strategic keywords in every section of your profile to boost SEO. They should appear in your bio copy, in photo names, interests and experiences.

Week 3: Find and listen to your community to better understand your industry

Day 11: develop your buyer persona.

Transforming your social marketing strategy may require you to either revisit your current buyer personas or to create new ones from scratch.

Buyer personas help you better understand current and future customers, so you know exactly who you are marketing to and can create relevant content and offerings. Start by writing down everything you know about your target customer and perform research to fill in any gaps. For a robust buyer persona, try to capture the following information.

• Demographics
• Purchase behaviors
• Goals, challenges, pain points

Day 12: Listen to your audience

Listening to your community can help you gain insight into the minds of your followers, so you can be more strategic in your social marketing efforts.

Using social media listening , you can learn a lot about your community (even when they’re not directly interacting with your brand) to inform a more effective strategy.

Here’s what you should listen for on social media:

• What your audience is talking about and what they share most often
• What your audience is saying about your brand, industry, products, services and competitors
• What your audience is sharing on forum-style platforms like Reddit or Quora
• How your audience engages with creators, trending topics and industry events

Day 13: Research industry trends and topics

To create relevant content and establish your brand as an authority on social, you must stay up to date with what’s happening in your industry.

Join conversations surrounding high-interest topics. Perform ongoing research to make sure the content you produce and share aligns with the current interests of your community. Here are a few resources that will help guide your research.

Newsletters

As social marketers, research is one of our most valuable skills. Instead of browsing aimlessly through content, rummaging through thousands of social profiles or running endless Google searches, an easy way to streamline research is to sign up for a solid mix of newsletters.

Newsletters provide insights into the state of the industry, changes in technology, updates to social networks and emerging trends and best practices.

Here are a few newsletters that social media marketers should add to their resource list:

• Link in Bio features expert interviews from industry-leading social media managers. The newsletter shares actionable advice and relatable experiences to inspire their community.
• Social Media Today focuses on sharing original analyses of what’s happening in social media. Their content is platform-focused, providing social marketers with insights on how to adopt new features and where other brands are finding success.
• SocialMedia.org is a membership organization for leaders in the social media marketing space. Their weekly newsletter, The Shortlist , highlights member stories as they share what they’re working on and what they’re keeping an eye on in the space.

Webinars can have a significant impact on social marketing strategies by generating new leads and prospects, nurturing existing relationships and demonstrating expertise in our industries. During webinars, many businesses will live-Tweet along with their users to answer questions and keep the online conversation going.

Webinars can also provide a way for us to learn, which can spark content ideas during our brainstorming sessions. Social Media Today provides a wide variety of webinars specific to social marketers. You can register for upcoming webinars or watch from their library of on-demand sessions .

Forums give marketers an effective way to identify the topics that spur the most conversation online. Quora is a great resource to discover topics of interest, ask questions and engage in conversations relevant to your brand. As a brainstorming tool, forums can help social marketers build social content plans that address questions people are already asking.

Adweek (and publications like Digiday and Marketing Land ) present the anatomy of the latest, most creative campaigns out there, and also fill you in on the most recent news. The Mission (and Medium generally) is great to turn to for thought leadership and gauging the pulse of our industry and the visionaries in it.

Day 14: Connect with other departments

As you continue researching industry trends and topics as inspiration for your content, connect with other departments within your organization.

Social is no longer limited to marketing, with functions across the business weighing in on strategy. But as a more diverse set of stakeholders gets involved, core social teams will need to adapt. Figuring out who owns what, and which proficiencies are needed across teams, has to be addressed as social strategies become more sophisticated.

For example, try speaking with members of your sales team: they are often the first points of contact for consumers, and they can provide insight into customers’ needs, challenges and successes. This insight can help generate content that addresses these needs or highlights successes.

Your human resources team can also provide insight into ongoing employer brand initiatives. Collaborate with HR to investigate how employees and potential hires are engaging with your brand on social. Their understanding of your workforce can help you identify what content is most effective for this important group of stakeholders.

A social media collaboration tool can help you streamline your efforts and manage cross-functional initiatives.

Day 15: Choose your content types

Start thinking about the types of content that will benefit your brand the most, while keeping your audience engaged.

Refer back to the buyer personas you created to determine if an image linking to a blog post would perform better than a Twitter chat or an Instagram Live event. Consider the resources available to you to determine if you can create a high quality how-to video, or if you need to scale down your efforts and create an infographic using the same content.

For the best results, diversify your content to keep your audience interested. If you post the same type of content day after day or week after week, your audience will inevitably disengage.

Here’s a list of possible content types you can start incorporating into your social marketing strategies:

• Infographics

User-generated content

• Photo and video
• Live streaming

Before you start searching for content to share on social, figure out what your audience actually likes. One way to do that is to look at past social media posts to see which were most successful.

Pull all of your unique social media analytics with a tool like Sprout Social , Twitter Analytics or Facebook Insights . Below is an example of how to view your published posts with Sprout ( available with a free, 30-day trial ).

Make sure you sort your posts by the metric that is most important to you, whether that’s clicks, responses or total reach. Once you have an idea of what kind of content works best, you can move onto the next step.

Week 4: Fill out your social content calendar to increase reach and engagement

Day 16: develop a posting schedule.

Your publishing cadence depends on a handful of factors including your company, your audience, the campaign in question and the social networks being used. We cover this more in our guide on how often to post on social media , but here are some recommended cadences for each network:

• TikTok: 1-4 times per day
• Instagram: 1-2 times per day
• Facebook: 4-5 times per day
• LinkedIn: No more than 1 time per day
• Twitter: 3-4 times per day
• Pinterest: No more than 1 time per day

There’s a good chance your post frequency will depend on the size, experience and authority of your social media team, so don’t feel like you have to send out less than stellar content to meet these guidelines.

Your brand’s analytics can help you determine your best posting frequency. You can use a tool like Sprout to see how often you post on each social network, then compare that to how much engagement you received over that same time period.

Look for trends between publishing rate and engagement. The screenshots above are from our Facebook Page Report , but you can do the same for Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn posts as well.

Day 17: Brainstorm content ideas

Now’s the time to gather your inspiration and plan out content you know will resonate with your audience. The key to effective brainstorming is to put yourself in the mindset that inspiration can come from anywhere.

Think of what your business does well and how you can turn that into an engaging content piece. Look through some of your older content and see if you can repurpose or reformat it for a different channel.

Based on the conversations you’ve discovered are popular among your audience, how can you contribute to those conversations with fresh content? Here are some of 2022’s most popular content types.

About 66% of consumers cite short-form video as the overall most engaging social content, while 37% prefer live video and 24% prefer long-form video. Even if you don’t have the budget to hire a videographer, don’t rule this medium out. Tools like Canva and Biteable have democratized the creation process. Anyone on your team can make professional, on-brand videos, even while working remote .

Images and text-based posts 

In the era of video, images and text-based posts still pack a punch with today’s social users. In fact, 61% of consumers find images to be the most engaging social content. From Instagram carousels to Twitter threads, these posts are key pieces of leading content strategies.

Marketers have been able to amplify user-generated content to increase brand awareness, promote products and services and use the digital word-of-mouth concept to build brand trust and increase sales. In fact, 39% of consumers like to see brands share customer testimonials or real customer demos.

Day 18: Gather resources

Once you’ve determined the types of content best suited for your business and have decided on a publishing cadence, start gathering your resources.

Think back to the types of content you decided to incorporate into your social strategy and what resources you need to bring them to life. Here are several questions for you to consider as you start collecting your resources.

• Have you decided on the type of creative assets you’ll use and how you’ll store them?
• Who within the company needs to be involved in order to create this specific content piece?
• Do you need any sort of creative support for visual elements?
• Do you already own content (guides, e-books, blog posts) that can easily be repurposed for social?

Day 19: Draft your social media plan calendar and create your content

It’s time to get to work. Start the content creation process and set reasonable timelines for project completion.

Be sure to build social content that speaks to your customer personas, stays true to your brand voice and can easily fit within the posting schedule you’ve established.

Day 20: Optimize your content

During the creation process, it’s essential for you to optimize your content so that your efforts don’t go unnoticed in consumers’ crowded social feeds. Every net new content piece you create should be able to be repurposed for another use down the line.

Consider your video strategy . A video can be broken down into short clips, quote graphics, still images and more. Think through your options while creating content so you can fill out your social calendar with less effort going forward.

Here are a few additional tactics to optimize your social content to maximize reach and increase engagement:

• Include hashtags
• Shorten links
• Include images
• Adapt content for various social channels

Week 5: Supplement and boost your social media content calendar for the best results

Day 21: create a call to action.

Not all of the content you share on social needs to encourage customers to take action. You may even find that some of your most popular posts are those that simply showcase your brand personality or provide a good laugh for your audience.

If the primary goal of your social marketing is to generate new leads and guide people into your sales funnel, you need to give your audience a clear next step. Include direct CTAs (call to action) on the posts you are using to drive action.

For copy inspiration, check out this article on effective social CTA phrases .

Day 22: Connect to more resources

By connecting your audience to more resources (especially owned resources) you are establishing your brand as an authority on your space while inviting them to engage further. The more they learn about you and stay engaged with your brand, the more likely they are to convert.

At Sprout, we often share links to some of our favorite blog posts for our audience to learn more about social networks, best marketing practices and trending topics.

Day 23: Amplify your efforts

Once you’ve started promoting your content on social, think of ways you can amplify your messages to reach a larger audience.

Here is a short list of methods to consider in order to extend the reach of your content:

• Leverage your employees by using Sprout Social’s Employee Advocacy platform to amplify your content
• Give incentives for customers to share on their social channels
• Use creators to extend the reach of your content

Day 24: Invest in your best content

As you promote and amplify your content, you may quickly notice that some types of content perform better than others in terms of engagement and conversion.

Extend the reach of these high-performing pieces through paid ads. You can target a highly specific audience, attract qualified traffic and leads and grow your customer base.

The algorithms for social networks like Facebook and Instagram are now starting to favor paid content over organic content, making it increasingly important to invest in paid to give your content a fighting chance for discovery.

Which social media network you choose will depend on three important factors:

• Where your target customers are most concentrated
• Where your target customers are most accessible
• Where your target customers most actively engage with ads

Day 25: Engage with your audience

About 80% of consumers expect brands and companies that have a social media presence to interact with their customers in meaningful ways.

It’s important to engage with and respond to your audience. Engaging with your audience in a two-way dialogue builds brand trust and adds authenticity. As you monitor your audience’s reaction to your content, you can also gain valuable insight into its effectiveness.

Read through comments on your social posts and respond to questions and insightful comments. The comments section is a great tool for social marketers looking for feedback and can even inspire ideas for future content.

Week 6: Report on your social media results and celebrate your success

Day 26: track your content.

Content tracking is an effective way to gauge engagement and track the movement of your content across social channels.

You can track all of your content with the Sprout Social Post Performance Report. Use the Post Performance reports to analyze published content down to the individual post and understand its performance with your audience.

Here’s an example of how to view your cross-channel post performance with Sprout ( available with a free trial ).

Day 27: Compare results to goals

Think back to the objectives you set at the beginning of these 30 days.

For example, if your objective was to boost brand engagement, you needed to increase the number of likes, shares, mentions and comments by 20% by the end of the fourth quarter.

Using a social media analytics tool, you can compare month-over-month engagement for all of your social profiles to determine if you are on track to meet your social marketing goals.

Day 28: Report out

Share the results of your social marketing efforts with your marketing team and leadership. If you’re new to reporting or need to brush up on best practices, here’s a suite of resources that can help you create a routine reporting system.

This is your opportunity to showcase the goals you’ve established and your progress toward them. You should use hard evidence, like the data you’ve gathered through listening and analytics, to report on the success of your social marketing efforts.

Depending on your goals, you may want to build a custom report that zeroes in on what matters to your team. With Sprout’s Report Builder , you can customize performance reports to meet your exact business needs. Once you’re happy with your report, you can customize your branding and export it as a .PDF or a .CSV file for easy sharing.

Day 29: Revisit and readjust your strategy

The most savvy marketers know that marketing strategies are in constant flux. Revisit your strategy , revise your marketing goals and adapt your strategies based on the data you’ve collected.

Day 30: Celebrate your transformation

Congratulations, you’ve successfully made it through the 30-day social marketing transformation program.

Celebrate your new strategy and the effort you’ve made to enhance your social marketing.

Plan with Sprout Social: Create your social media marketing plan with Sprout Social

This social media plan was created to help social marketers refine their strategies. Our goal is to provide you with actionable steps to transform your social marketing strategies to help you create content that is purposeful, engaging and, ultimately, delivers real business results.

Keep in mind that transforming your social media strategic planning doesn’t end with these 30 days—continue to identify challenges to your social marketing strategy, analyze your competitors, discover ways to optimize your content and social profiles and remember to always revisit and adjust your strategies as needed.

Want to learn how Sprout Social’s features and solutions can help you create an even better social media plan? Start a free, 30-day trial to try Sprout for yourself.

Use this worksheet to stay on track with the social media strategy template outlined in this guide.

Additional resources for Social Media Planning

• Social Media Content

Your downloadable social media calendar template for 2024

• Branding & Creative
• Marketing Disciplines

Complete guide to content calendar creation

• Leveling Up
• Social Media Strategy

How to optimize your social media workflow

• Social Media Engagement
• Social Media Scheduling

A complete guide to creating a social media calendar

Build and grow stronger relationships on social

Sprout Social helps you understand and reach your audience, engage your community and measure performance with the only all-in-one social media management platform built for connection.

Social Media Consulting Business Plan

Running a business is a huge risk for any aspiring entrepreneur, but when done correctly, it can also be a risk worth taking. With social media being a core platform for various marketing efforts, many social media-savvy individuals have began using the platform as a means of income by becoming social media consultants. You may also see  social media business plan examples .

• 48+ Plan Examples
• 17+ Business Plan Examples in PDF

But to become an established social media consultant in the competitive industry, you have to be qualified for the job and have enough time and resources to make your social media consulting business a success. It’s a tough job, but by making the right decisions and building a solid plan, you can lead your business toward a better and brighter future. You may also see engineering consulting business plan examples .

Consulting Business Plan for Social Media Example

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Consulting Business Plan Guide Example

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Sample Consulting Business Plan

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What Does a Consultant Do?

You’ve probably heard about business consultants before. These are people who are hired to share their expertise and knowledge to assist a business in solving problems and achieving goals. Most consultants are simply paid to supplement their current staff in order to save on costs when it comes to hiring a full-time employee. The great thing about consultants is that they have the ability to view the situation from a whole new perspective. They aren’t biased to your company, nor are they exposed to a particular corporate culture or morale. You may also see  food catering business plan examples .

Instead, consultants are there to share their thoughts and understandings about a situation for you to consider. Their expert opinions can mean a lot to a company, especially in cases of internal conflict. Keep in mind that a consultant can also act as a catalyst for change in a situation.

While there are no degree requirements for one to become a consultant, it is necessary for them to possess vast knowledge and experience in a particular field. An impressive track record of past accomplishments would also look good from an employer’s perspective. In addition to your expertise, individuals with a higher level of educational attainment and experience will likely be granted a greater compensation for their services. Some companies even hire former or retired employees as consultants to keep them within the loop despite not being an official member of the workforce anymore. You may also see  strategic action plan examples .

The duties of a consultant can greatly vary depending on the industry in which the individual is a part of, along with their specific field of expertise. Generally, consultants are tasked to improve or fix a particular component of the client’s business. They can sometimes be asked to teach and educate an employee how to manipulate a new software system the consultant might be familiar with, or any other task that could help increase productivity and garner more revenue. You may also see  tutoring business plan examples .

Most business consultants are hired to provide professional advice and make recommendations during critical situations as well. The length for which these services are rendered may vary, depending on the needs of a client and on any additions to the project for which the consultant was hired. Some of the key skills that every consultant must have include logical reasoning, leadership, communication, ingenuity, and the ability to work well with others. You may also see  direct marketing plan examples .

Social Media Consulting Business Plan Example

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Social Media Consulting Business Plan for Startups Example

How to Become a Social Media Consultant

Now that we’ve established what a consultant does in the world of business, it’s time that we tackle a specific field that we all know about: social media. Though social media may seem like a familiar matter to deal with, there’s nothing easy about being a consultant, regardless of your field of expertise. You may also see  hotel operational business plan examples .

1. Benefits

Being a consultant also means you’re self-employed. You can decide on your work schedule, workload, and wages, all with the approval of a potential client. You can even be in another continent but still deliver the same services without having to answer to your boss. Many consultants also work from anywhere in the world with globally-based clients, which is a plus for consultants hoping to extend their services to a wider market. This appeals to those who wish to work flexibly for personal reasons. You may also see  restaurant project plan examples .

But owning your own business also means that you’re constantly learning and evolving through exposure to different clients and cases. Though this may be a challenge for most individuals, it’s also an ongoing professional development you won’t find anywhere else. This way, you can decide where you want your career to move toward.

2. Disadvantages

As much as we want to focus on the good stuff, we also have to be aware of the disadvantages that come with being your own boss. The life of an entrepreneur isn’t all sunshine and butterflies, as there’s more to it than working in pajamas all day and traveling whenever you feel like it. You have to remember that with great power comes great responsibility, so working as a consultant doesn’t exactly exempt you from the ugly truth of the corporate world.

Unless you have the funds necessary to outsource, you’re responsible for handling everything from accounting, billing, and tax payments to marketing, pitching, and content development, all of which are essential to keep your business running. You may also see  security consulting business plan examples .

An undervalued skill set that not many people seem to emphasize is self-motivation. There will always be slow days, and those are the worst days to deal with. But at the end of the day, the key to operating a successful consulting business is to remain committed and dedicated toward your main company goal. It won’t be easy, but the results will definitely be worth the effort. You may also see  lawn care business plan examples .

Since we’ve already covered the basics of running a consulting business, and your mind still hasn’t changed, maybe becoming a social media consultant is the job for you.

5 Ways to Become a Successful Social Media Consultant

1. do your homework..

Like at the beginning of any other business, you need to do your research before you embark in a potential venture. Study your industry and client base. This will help you develop a business plan that centers on your purpose and ideal market. You can conduct a research on your potential competitors through various platforms such as LinkedIn and Google searches. This will provide you with a clearer understanding of your client’s needs, as well as the strategies that you can invest on.

2. Get close with clients.

The transition from your day job to becoming a full-time consultant is often slow and painful. You wouldn’t know where to start, or if it’s even worth the time and effort. But if you want to test it out despite the uncertainty that consumes you, perhaps you can start out slow with one or two clients. This way, you can fully analyze each situation carefully without being overwhelmed by other duties. You wouldn’t want to quit your current job yet, either, as this will serve as a safety net to keep you on your feet while you’re still trying to figure out how things should go. You may also see  remodeling business plan examples .

If you don’t know anyone who could refer you to their bosses, you can browse through various websites to make a pitch with potential clients. Networking can also do wonders for you by building formal relationships with professionals from different fields and industries. You’re likely to spend most of your time as a consultant performing self-promotional efforts and establishing your expertise.

3. Set up a workstation.

There’s more to running a business than facing a computer for at least eight hours a day. You still need certain business processes and workflows to keep operations intact. When the time is right, you have to find the right people or software to handle client appointments, invoices, and even tax payments. Otherwise, running a one-man show can lead to a series of complications. You may also see  convenience store business plan examples .

The five steps of a good client intake process involves prospecting, proposal, contract, on-boarding, and invoicing. Using a business proposal to sell your services to prospects can help you establish professionalism and credibility in the marketplace. Even more so with a business contract, as this can help you develop a solid bond with clients that’s built on trust and understanding. You may also see  one-page marketing plan examples .

4. Decide between a niche or general expertise.

As a social media consultant, you have to decide between opening your services to whoever asks for it, or to a limited client base. Keep in mind that the former can be a lot more challenging than the latter, as it does require an in-depth knowledge on a particular field, even if it goes beyond your expertise. There are a few pros and cons for each, so be sure to weigh them down carefully. You may also see  business plan profit and loss template examples .

After which, you have to focus on your identity. What can you do to stand out from those who are offering the same services? A unique identity will keep you on top of your game for prospects to recognize.

5. Choose your products and services.

A social media consultant is capable of many things. You have to be flexible with your job, as you’re likely to do more than you would expect. Fortunately, you have several choices on your offerings, which include social media audit, training, coaching sessions or retainers, social media manager, account creation and setup, as well as a social media strategy session. Offering a diverse mix of products and services can help widen your income stream for better business results. But you also have to be careful about having one too many offers, as you wouldn’t want your tasks to be all over the place. The last thing you would want to do is to scramble around for solutions to problems you’re absolutely clueless about. You may also see  compliance strategic plan examples .

Once you have decided on your products and services, setting fees would be another stressful task to accomplish. It’s best to do your research for this to arrive at a more informed (and reasonable) decision for your business and its clients.

Social Media Consulting Business Plan Guidelines Example

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Social Media Consulting Business Plan Template

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Starting a Consulting Business

Launching a consulting business, or any business for that matter, can be extremely challenging for any inexperienced entrepreneur. You might be new to the scene, and after contemplating whether or not becoming a consultant is a wise career move, you took the leap anyway and found yourself here, a bit confused about what to do and where to begin. This is a common problem that has left many start-up owners scratching their heads in confusion. You may also see  restaurant operational plan examples .

But it doesn’t have to be that way for too long. When starting a consulting business, take note of the following steps:

1. Credibility

There’s no point in questioning this, because it’s pretty obvious that without credibility, nobody would want to hire you in the first place. But establishing credibility in the market is quite tricky, especially without prior experience in the craft. The least you could do is to showcase your online brand in order to build a social media presence that potential clients will notice. You can also begin writing your own e-books to showcase your knowledge about social media marketing , which is essential as a consultant, for clients to recognize.

2. Experience

Along with credibility, any sort of experience associated with social media can serve as a foundation for your business. It’s best to start out small by charging a minimum fee to people within your network who might be seeking for your services. This will help you gain a good level of experience before you venture out to bigger projects. There are also a number of nonprofit organizations that would greatly appreciate your contributions. You may also see  social media business plan examples .

3. Online Branding

The web is a vast universe filled with many wonders waiting to be discovered. Since social media marketing is all about being recognized online, you need to make sure your presence is made known in a particular platform. Set up an account in various networks, such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter, and you can begin shaping your online brand with the help of various blog posts, articles, illustrations, and videos.

It’s so easy to go on social media and share everyone else’s content. But when you’re utilizing social media to build your own business, creating your own unique and insightful content should be a top priority. This is where you can prove yourself through your works, without having to make a direct pitch to your audience. Contributing your own content to the online world can work wonders for your business, with the help of a blog post, an e-book, or a regular newsletter sent to prospective clients. You may also see  real estate investor marketing plan examples .

5. Connections

In business, it’s common for people to buy from people they know, or through recommendations from trusted friends via referral marketing. While social media might be a bit new to the scene, the same business rules still apply. The key is to engage with others on various social media channels to expand your network to its full potential. Your online and offline relationships will help you strike better deals with clients who might already possess a certain level of trust toward you. If you’re lucky, these deals would come locally, and it won’t be long until you could finally widen your network to the national or global market. You may also see  waste management plan examples .

6. Learn from clients

Assuming you have followed the steps listed above, you’re sure to meet someone who might be interested in what you have to offer. See what your customers need and understand their pain. This will help you construct the perfect solutions to their problems. You may also see  work action plan examples .

And there you have it! Developing a successful social media consulting business is a grueling process that requires patience and perseverance. So if you ever find yourself in need of a business plan to get started, our templates and examples are sure to come in handy!

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What Is Social Media Consulting? (The Complete Mini Guide)

November 3rd, 2022 by Dan G 0 Respond-->

Social media has dramatically influenced our daily lives. Many people depend on social media as a primary source of information and entertainment. In 2021, 82% of the U.S population had social media accounts. Due to their massive influx of users and reach, social media platforms have become vital for businesses.

You should talk with a social media consultant if you want to integrate social media with your business. This guide explains what a social media consultant is, how they can help your business grow, and what factors you should consider before hiring them.

What Is Social Media Consulting?

Social media is popular because it is addictive. The algorithm notes your activity on the platform and gathers information on your preferences. It provides you with tailored content you will most likely engage with. Social media consultants utilize this algorithm for businesses to increase the brand’s reach and engagement.

Social media consultants provide unique insights on formatting social media profiles that will encourage potential customers to engage with the profile and generate traffic to their website. They also suggest strategies to ensure good performance and can improve their plans based on the data.

Depending on your business size and social media requirements, you can hire a part-time or full-time social media consultant. Start-ups and small businesses with fewer funds can get freelance social media consulting, gaining all the advantages while paying less.

Advantages of Social Media Consulting

Social media consulting can provide multiple benefits for your business. It can help you attract new customers through innovative marketing strategies while retaining old ones through a new form of customer service. Here some of the advantages of social media consulting are explained.

Knowledge and Expertise

Social media consultants have full knowledge of the inner workings of social media platforms. They know which in-application tools will help boost the brand’s reach. For example, Twitter promotes content using its poll tool, and Instagram focuses on its reels. The consultants also know the most effective keyword search and integration methods to help your profile rank higher based on SEO strategies.

The consultants also research your business’s demographic and curate content according to the target audience. Social media consultants also determine which platforms will hold the most sway. For example, Twitter and Facebook are the best way to influence individuals over 40. For teenagers, TikTok and Instagram are more suitable.

Professional social media consultants also keep up with the latest updates, frequently read articles, and attend seminars on social media marketing. This further enhances their knowledge of social media, and they can further improve your social media profiles.

Objective View

Social media consultants are not a direct part of your company, which means they have no emotional sentiment involved with the business’s products or services. They can analyze social media methods from an objective point of view and provide critical solutions. They always base their advice on results that they obtain from analytics. Collecting data on the audience and social media strategies’ performance can determine which areas to improve and what methods are wasting too many resources and not bringing enough customers.

Teach your Employees

The best part of social media consulting is that consultants are willing to share their information and tactics with your company. Their goal is to self-sustain your company, so its PR and marketing teams can manage the social media profiles.

They focus on revamping social media methods to be efficient and help the company grow at first. As time progresses, they begin engaging your other employees in the process so they can learn how to manage and navigate through social media.

In the long run, hiring social media consultants is cost-effective, as you only require their services for a limited time. Once their contract expires, your team should possess the proper skills to keep the social profiles afloat.

Qualities to Look for in a Social Media Consultant

To help your business grow and compete with competitors, you want to hire a social media consultant with the proper skills and experience. Here are a few qualities you must look for when hiring a social media consultant.

Reviews and Experience

The most important aspect of a social media constant is their experience. While their knowledge of demographics, social media platforms, and analytic software is crucial, you must also look at their past work. The performance rate of their previous social media platforms can help in determining whether a particular constant can help your business grow or not.

Social media consultants will also have testimonials from their past clients. These will indicate their work efficiency and dedication to improving the company’s social media presence. Experienced consultants will have tested social media strategies they can apply for fast and effective results.

Ability to Align with your Business Goal

Social media consultants are not directly part of your business and have little idea of your business goal and work ethic. Hiring someone willing to put in the effort to understand your business plan and create unique social media strategies based on your brand is vital.

Similarly, social media consultants must integrate well with your existing business model. They will work over your past employees and should work hard to be seen as a helping hand rather than someone to reject their work and order them around. To maintain a healthy work environment, the consultants should align with the existing working model to maintain a healthy work environment.

Willing to Adapt

Social media is constantly evolving. Regularly, new tools are being launched on the platforms as they compete with each other for user attention. They also bring changes in policies and the content they prioritize in sharing. A good social media consultant must stay on top of these updates and be the first to know about policy changes. They can work on improving social media profiles accordingly and update past content to match the new metrics. A social media consultant willing to adapt to change will ensure your social media ratings never drop.

The above guide briefly explains social media consultancy and how it brings knowledge, objective views, and training to your company’s social media profiles. It also indicates the qualities needed to hire an effective social media consultant. Social media consulting is becoming growingly essential for businesses. To ensure you attract customers and engage with previous ones, you should hire a social media consultant.

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How to Start a Social Media Consulting Business in 2024

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As the need to leverage the power of digital marketing continues to rise, the demand for social media consultants is increasing. Social media marketing is one type of content marketing that can come with great returns when done right. Several social media consulting businesses have sprouted over the years to make use of this growing trend.

If you are looking to start your own social media consulting business, then you need to take the time to do detailed market research to see if this is the right form of business for you. While you might be fine as a social media consultant freelancer, running a business is an entirely different story.

To help you jumpstart your social media consulting business, we have compiled 13 of the best and snackable steps that you need to follow to ensure a successful launch of your social media marketing business.

Who is a social media consultant?

A social media consultant is a prowess in the field of social media management and marketing.

They are responsible for helping businesses and brands in effecting their social media strategy so that they can reach a wider social audience, increase engagement, boost brands awareness and drive traffic to business websites as well as sales.

Staffing a complete in-house social media team is an expensive affair, and so small scale and medium businesses may not afford this addition. Luckily, outsourcing social media consultancy services has never been this easier, with the advent of marketplaces such as Fiverr , Upwork, iHire, etc.

While responsibilities of a social media consultant tend to vary from one firm to another, they are always charged with two main tasks:

• Increase the social media presence of their clients
• Grow traffic to their client’s social media accounts

How to Become a Social Media Consultant

Let’s now dive in and explore these steps one by one.

1: Acquire necessary social media consulting skills

As a consultant, your social media clients view you as an expert in all things social media. You can only provide value if you’ve got it within you. Take time to learn everything there is in social media marketing. For instance, you need to:

• Know how to set up various social media accounts and pages including Whatsapp for Business
• Keep up with the ever-changing algorithms that affect the ranking of posts on social media
• Have an understanding of social media branding
• Have an ability to find, portray and maintain the brand’s voice
• Have an operational understanding of how to make social media posts more effective across various social networks
• Know the best posting times for various social networks
• Have the ability to run social media ads e.g. Facebook ads, Instagram Ads, Twitter Ads, etc.
• Ability to comprehend and break down social metrics in a way that they can be turned into useful information that will help a brand affect its social media strategy.
• Possess technical know-how of working with various social media schedulers and analytic tools as well as collaboration tools such as Slack and Trello.

There are various guides online that can help you acquire the skills above. If unsure, head over to Udemy and you will find a comprehensive course on almost any topic at discounted prices.

Find Dozens of Social Media Marketing Courses

Skillshare gives you 30 Days of Free Access to 12000+ classes if you sign up using my link.

More Resources? Social Media Management School offers extensive social media management training that will prepare you accordingly.

2: Network as early as you can.

Believe it or not, it’s hard to break through a market where you barely know anyone. Networking takes time, so you need to start making real connections as early as you can.

The best places to meet awesome people who share in your line of thoughts are meetups that are specific to your niche. Visit Meetup.com and search for relevant meetups such as social media marketing, digital marketing, coaching, consulting businesses, etc. Find those near your area and mark your calendar.

Twitter chats can also help you meet some awesome people who are into what you are doing.

3: Start saving for your social media business.

Starting any business requires an investment. Even if your consulting is purely online, you still need living expenses before you can close a client or two.

Saving up for at least three to six months of living expenses will not only save you from some stress of paying your bills when not having booked a client the entire month but also prevent you from taking on bad clients or selling yourself short just to get by.

If you don’t want to bootstrap your own business, then you can work on your own business plan and start soliciting funds from family, investors, and banks to help you with the initial marketing and branding costs that can quite quickly add up and fall out of control. There are various start-up business loans options that you can leverage as well

4: Timing is everything.

When it comes to deciding when, and how to create your own social media consulting business, you need to be as calculative as possible.

You typically want to set out to start your consulting business when you have saved a fair amount of money, done a bit of networking, and have some local businesses in mind that you want to give your first shot.

It’s okay to taste the waters before diving in. You don’t want to quit your job before you are certain that social media consulting is something you want to pursue, and having your facts right.

You can start off as a freelance social media consultant while still keeping your day job. This allows you to keep your job if your business doesn’t pick up, continue saving as well as grow your side hustle on the side before you can fully commit to turning it into a full-time business.

5: Creating an engaging Instagram account.

If you are a general social media consultant, then there are three main social networks that you need to hone your skills on: Facebook pages, Instagram and Twitter. Instagram is big for branding yourself.

You want to focus on growing a loyal audience rather than amassing thousands of followers who will not be interested in what you are or what you do. Share tips relevant to your profession such as social media tips, PPC, etc.

You want to sprinkle a bit of your personality as well so as to have a fully engaging account with a real person on the other end of the platform.

Use these Instagram Marketing Tips to grow your audience

6: Build a compelling portfolio

Booking new clients requires a level of trust. Your portfolio is what will convince your prospects to go ahead and contact you or proceed to your competitors.

Be creative when it comes to displaying your case studies and asking for testimonials. Custom design your portfolio single pages with branding that pops out.

Detailed testimonials do exceedingly well than generic ones. If you offer awesome work, your clients will give honest reviews about your services.

7: Find Local Businesses as your first clients

Finding your first social media clients is perhaps the real step in propelling your business forward. Local businesses can help you build a great portfolio. Identify local businesses that can benefit from your businesses and offer them discounted pricing.

Every client is gold, but your first clients are a rarer form of jewel, and you should treat them as such. Amaze, no, dazzle them and they will write raving testimonials, get you referrals, etc.

The goal of your first clients is not to make you profitable, but to build your portfolio so that you can organically acquire high-end long-term clients. The business of consulting requires a good deal of patience, but it all pays off in the long run.

8: Establish your rates

Now that you have acquired your first clients and built an engaging portfolio, it’s time to establish your standard rates.

Depending on your expertise and the level of value that your business brings to your clients you can charge anywhere between $50 and $100 per hour as a freelance consultant. You can also come up with monthly packages that can be customized to include additional services at an extra cost.

You want to be cautious when it comes to pricing your social media services packages as wrong pricing can break your business’ credibility.

9. Develop your business processes.

Running a full-service social media consulting business is a huge task. By grouping tasks together and organizing a workflow, you make it way easier.

Your processes could include pitching, on-boarding, consultation, monitoring, analysis, reporting, writing case studies, etc. Use tools such as Slack or Trello to visualize these processes and keep track of every stage.

10: Set up a convenient workstation.

While you can get away from juggling coffee shops, study areas, and living rooms as a freelance social media consultant, you will be forced to have a steady workstation as your business unfolds into a full-suite enterprise with a dozen clients or two.

You may want to transform one of your rooms into a home office or rent an office if you can afford it, especially if your team has grown to four and above employees who do not work remotely.

Staying organized is the key to being more productive in business

11: Decide if it’s necessary for you to niche down:

Nicheing can help you wade through competition. For a social media consulting business, you can choose to only work with clients in particular industries e.g., SaaS, Real estate, Law firms, etc.

Another way you can niche is the types of social media services that you choose to offer. You can see yourself as a generalist, data analyst, community manager, or content marketer. This will affect the types of service that you get to offer, thus the clients that you get to serve.

Some of the social media services that you can offer include

• Training for specific social networks
• Coaching sessions
• Social media accounts audit
• Social media management
• Account creation and set-up
• Social media strategy sessions
• Social media graphics

12: Hire a team/ Outsourcing

To make your work easier, you need to streamline your processes. Different processes should have specific people in charge. This way you will get a lot more done, deliver better results, and wow your clients.

However, hiring a full in-house team comes with a cost and thus may not be a smart move when you are starting off. A better alternative is to find freelancers who you can outsource work and pay them per project.

Make real connections with your remote workers as they will have a major role in the success of your business. Some of the tasks that you can outsource could include market research, graphic design, ghostwriting , scheduling posts, etc.

Find great freelancers to outsource your tasks to on the Fiverr Platform

13: Embrace a tiered approach

The needs of your clients will be diverse and so your packages should be designed in such a way that they allow your clients to customize their services. Give your clients the ability to add more services at specific additional costs. This way you will be a one-stop for all their social media marketing needs

What do you think of these steps to starting your own social media consulting business? Let us know in the comments section below

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• March 28, 2024

2 Responses

It’s important to note that starting a business like this will be a long-term effort, but points like the ones you detailed here help the process along. Starting early, especially on a social media standpoint, goes a long way. Establishing a presence on not just Instagram but Facebook, Twitter, and other platforms will help once the business starts moving.

That’s very true Rob. You want to think long term from day one and align your marketing strategy accordingly.

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Social media consultant business plan

in 8+ Do you need help getting started with your social media marketing strategy? 8 Essential Elements of a Social Media Marketing Strategy Look closely at your company's overall Marketing objectives define how you get from Point A to Point B. Make needs and decide how you want to use social your objectives specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound. media to contribute to reaching them. 1: Identify Business Goals 2: Set Marketing Objectives When you know your target audience's age, occupation, competition not only keeps income, interests, obstacles, habits, likes, dislikes, then it's easier and working so you can integrate cheaper to target them on social or any other media. Researching your you apprised of their activity, it gives you an idea of what's those successful tactics into your own efforts. 3: Identify Ideal Customers # 4: Research Competition If your prospects tell you they spend 40% of their online time on Facebook relationship: Without great and 20% on Twitter, you know which primary and secondary social networks you should focus on. Content and social media have a symbiotic content social media is meaningless and without social media nobody will know about your content. 5: Choose Channels & Tactics 6: Create a Content Strategy Make a list of the tools you need, services you'I outsource and any advertising productivity and avoids you'll purchase. Next, include confusion and overlapping the annual projected cost so you can have a view of what you're investing in and how it ActiveCollab to manage your affects marketing Knowing who's responsible for what increases efforts. You can use tools like Basecamp or your budget. team and assign tasks to each member. 7: Allocate Budget & Resources 8: Assign Roles twitter facebook. You Tube flickr Linked in WIKIPEDIA Source: http://sjainventures.com/

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How Can Startups Leverage Social Media for Brand Building?

Apr 5, 2024

In the fast-paced world of startups, mastering social media can be a game changer for brand building. We've gathered insights from brand managers and creative directors to bring you 15 expert strategies. From planning consistent, high-quality posts to leveraging user-generated content campaigns, discover how to make social media work for your startup's brand narrative

Plan Consistent, High-Quality Posts

We paved our way from a small startup to an international company with clients in over 150 countries. A huge part of it has always been social media. Before we started our blog and began appearing on webinars, we built our brand awareness on LinkedIn and Twitter.

The most effective way of building your brand on social media is through a simple strategy: Plan out when and how you want to post. Consistency is the most important part of creating a reliable image. So, think about how much time you can actually devote each week to each platform. Don't plan out too many posts per week if the tempo will be too high for you and you will have to eventually resign. It's better to post once or twice a week, but ensure that what you post is consistent with your brand, your color identification, and your needs.

Just because you're working on your own doesn't mean you can't create high-quality content. High-quality content is rich in information; it's engaging and memorable. So, each time you create a post, create a small checklist in your head: Is this content quality?

It's good to focus on building a very strong base audience when you're starting. You are going to achieve that by holding Q&A sessions and creating engaging posts and stories where you explain some concepts or ask questions to the viewers. You can quiz them on matters connected to your field of work. We used to ask our audience what were indicators of a strong brand in their opinion, answer some of the top comments, and then post research on the topic the following week. This way, our audience started to rely on us as thought leaders in the field. They would share the research with their colleagues, and suddenly, our following would grow more and more.

Waleria Pagowska , Product Marketing Specialist, Brand24

Showcase Behind-the-Scenes Content

One highly effective way for startups to leverage video marketing on social media is through the creation of "behind-the-scenes" content. This approach humanizes your brand, allowing your audience to connect on a more personal level. Showcasing the faces behind your products or services, your workspace, and even the process of how your goods are made, or services are executed can significantly enhance brand loyalty and trust. This type of content doesn't always require high production values, making it a cost-effective strategy that can yield high engagement rates. By giving your audience a peek into your brand's world, you're not just selling a product or service; you're inviting them into a story they'll want to be a part of.

Mike Vannelli , Creative Director, Envy Creative

Engage in Relevant Facebook Groups

A proven method of leveraging social media for brand building is to have members of your team join and engage in relevant Facebook groups. For example, if you sell cheese, you could join recipe groups, moms' groups, and, wait for it... cheese groups! Engage with the posts and group members through posts and comments, and try to elevate your profile to moderator status when possible to give you a bit more leeway with self-promotion. From there, start funneling people to your brand page and consider making a group for your brand once you have momentum.

Dennis Consorte , Digital Marketing & Leadership Consultant for Startups, Snackable Solutions

Be Creative and Take Risks

Honestly, the mistake most startups—and businesses in general—make on social media is taking it too seriously without being willing to take a risk. Be creative and have fun with it. Which brands do you actually remember for their social media posts? For me, it's brands that have fun with it, like Wendy's, or sports teams like the Chargers, who do cool stuff like turning their schedule reveal into an anime video instead of just dropping a screenshot of a list of dates, times, and opponents.

If all you're doing on social media is posting 'Here's our mandatory post celebrating (insert holiday here),' interspersed with sharing a blog post from your website because you read somewhere that you need to post on social media, you're not going to get anywhere.

Your brand on social media doesn't have to mesh perfectly with how you are perceived elsewhere. Just because Wendy's social media is sarcastic and witty doesn't mean I expect the cashier to make a quip about how my diet is going because I ordered a Diet Coke with my four Baconators.

So, if you're just starting out and don't already have a healthy number of followers, you need to actually get some attention somewhere. Start out trying to engage in a fun, funny, or creative way wherever and whenever you can in replies or trending topics. No one is going to find you if you're just posting generic content to your timeline or story every day with no followers, so you have to insert yourself where people are already engaged.

Travis Schreiber , Director of Operations, Erase Technologies

Tailor Strategy to Startup Nature

Social media offers a cost-effective way to not only increase brand awareness but also reach a global audience, thanks to the large user base of platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

The key to successfully using social media is to tailor the approach to the specific nature of the startup—be it a product (B2C) or a business-to-business (B2B) solution. This differentiation is critical because it dictates the strategy that should be used.

For B2C, direct interaction with the target audience is of paramount importance. One effective method is to use influencers. Depending on your available budget, initiating collaborations with micro-influencers can be a smart strategy. They can reinforce a brand's message by reaching potential customers in a way that is both authentic and engaging.

And for B2B, the most suitable platform is LinkedIn. The emphasis should be on demonstrating expertise and clearly articulating the startup's unique value proposition. Partnering with influencers who are respected experts in the field can also be beneficial, as their endorsement can increase trust.

Olga Natalchenko , pr manager, Wiserbrand

Integrate Channels into Unified Strategy

Reusing everything and integrating all channels into a single strategy, then adapting them to different channels, is what works best for us—and it's the most cost-effective approach.

Here's an example from my workplace: SEO is our most crucial customer acquisition channel, which is why it is the centerpiece of our strategy. Now, when we create an article on a certain topic, we ensure to also create an infographic that we share on social networks on that topic, make posts on X and LinkedIn, and produce a YouTube video.

This way, we cover the topic comprehensively and ensure we reach our audience, no matter which channel they prefer.

Marco Genaro Palma , Chief Marketing Officer, PRLab

Host Live Virtual Events

Start by doing live virtual events on social media! These days, social media platforms allow startups to easily go live. Startups can host AMAs on their social media channels to directly connect and speak with their community members on social media.

Brian Wong , founder, Spectrum

Build CEO/Founder's Personal Brand

The social media strategy used for your startup is critical to its success, and leveraging the right outlets is key. However, one often overlooked marketing tool is building the CEO/Founder's personal brand.

Leveraging the expertise of the leaders in the organization, showcasing their passion for the brand, and building their sphere of influence can take your startup to the next level. The human-to-human factor builds the 'know, like, and trust' factor that is nearly impossible for a faceless startup to reproduce on its own.

Also, for startups that are seeking funding, the saying is 'VCs fund the founder,' thus adding to the importance of building the CEO/Founder's personal brand.

Claire Bahn , CEO and Co-Founder, Claire Bahn Group

Create Engaging, Shareable Content

One effective way for startups to leverage social media for brand-building is by creating engaging and shareable content that resonates with their target audience. This could include behind-the-scenes glimpses, user-generated content, and interactive posts. From my experience, this approach helps foster a sense of community around the brand and encourages users to become brand advocates, ultimately leading to increased brand visibility and loyalty.

Jayen Ashar , CTO, Scaleup Consulting

Weave a Relatable Brand Narrative

Use storytelling. Storytelling on social media isn't just about sharing what your product or service does; it's about weaving a narrative that connects your brand's values, mission, and vision with your audience on a personal level. This method goes beyond traditional advertising by engaging potential customers in a narrative they find relatable, inspiring, or compelling.

For instance, a startup can share stories about the challenges it faced in the early stages of its business, the inspiration behind its products, or how its services are making a difference in customers' lives. This approach enhances brand visibility. It's about creating content that resonates on a human level, making its brand memorable and distinct in a crowded market.

When done effectively, storytelling can boost engagement rates, increase followers, and drive conversion rates, as people are more likely to support and purchase from brands they feel emotionally connected to. Additionally, leveraging user-generated content as part of your storytelling strategy can amplify your brand's reach and authenticity.

Encouraging your audience to share their stories about your brand or how your product has impacted their lives expands your brand's presence and credibility through genuine, customer-driven narratives. This approach enriches your brand's storytelling and builds a community that feels valued and connected to your startup's journey.

Kristin Kimberly Marquet , Founder and Creative Director, Marquet Media

Proactively Manage Online Communities

One effective way for startups to leverage social media for brand building is through proactive community management. This involves actively engaging with the audience on social media platforms by initiating conversations, responding to comments, and participating in relevant discussions. Proactive community management helps in creating a relatable and approachable brand image, fostering a sense of connection and loyalty among followers.

Engaging with the community doesn't just mean addressing queries or concerns; it also involves sharing valuable content, asking for feedback, and showing appreciation for customer interaction. By doing so, startups can build a strong, engaged community that feels valued and heard. This active engagement not only increases brand visibility but also provides invaluable insights into customer preferences and behaviors, which can guide future marketing strategies and product development.

Steven Picanza , Co Founder, ANEWBrand

Integrate SEO Keywords in Posts

Searching for products/services within social media is gaining popularity, especially with younger audiences. Startups can integrate SEO keywords into their social media content to make their posts searchable within the app and search engines. The brand should add keywords within their video content (spoken out loud and/or included within overlay text), captions, alt text, and image file names. This strategy can be effective for noting the products/services that the brand offers, where the business is based, and the core mission of the company.

Megan Gersch , Owner + CEO, Megan Gersch

Share Stories and Nurture Community

I think the best use of social media for effective brand building is, one, sharing storytelling content and, two, nurturing your community. Creating engaging content that tells a story and feels true to your brand and voice will resonate with (and attract) the right people.

Social media is a great way to have one-on-one conversations with your community and to build loyalty. Your community and brand will be shaped by their (customers') feedback. Nurture these relationships!

Ally Case , Founder + CEO, Uppercase Media

Analyze Competitors for Content Strategy

Startups leveraging social media for brand-building should rely heavily on a data-led approach. This means analyzing the performance of content published by their competitors and understanding what kind of content is working best with different audiences on different social channels.

In the ever-changing landscape of social media marketing, this kind of intel helps brand managers tweak and pivot their content strategy because what worked last month isn't necessarily going to work next month—trends move quickly!

Furthermore, utilizing competitor analytics on your target social media channels will de-risk your social content strategy overall. Doing so essentially shortcuts the test-and-learn process and enables you to execute content ideas based on competitive data insight. Why not utilize the communication techniques and media types that you know are already cutting through in the News Feed and use these to inform your next best posts?

Tim Hill , Co-Founder and CEO, Social Status

Leverage User-Generated Content Campaigns

Use UGC campaigns to build up customer relationships and leverage their recommendations to promote your new product. By releasing a product beta to unique customers and testers, you can begin to build buzz with their reviews, ratings, and video content before launch.

Customer videos using your product and similar UGC can become the marketing material to run in your social media campaigns, landing pages, and other content. UGC strategies are also easy to gamify to pump up engagement rates, or in hashtag marketing to encourage more views and interactions.

Feature users' content as your promotional material to inspire new customers, pique their interest, and get involved. Authenticity and social proof drive better purchase conversions, making UGC the natural route to onboarding customers and building new rapport.

Joanne Demeireles , CXO, Oula Health

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Six ways social media fuels b2b startup growth: attracting success.

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Nat Lennox is a B2B Marketing Advisor & Consultant at Nat Lennox .

In part one of this series, I briefly discussed how B2B startups can use social media to create positive business outcomes by driving revenue. In this follow-up, let’s discuss using your socials to attract success through talent acquisition, earned press and easier funding rounds.

If you haven’t done it yet, I recommend reading part one, " Six Ways Social Media Fuels B2B Startup Growth: Generating Revenue ," as a primer to this piece. It details three ways social media drives revenue to accelerate growth for your business.

OK! Let’s dive in. Here are three more things social media can help achieve for your B2B startup:

1. Attract top-tier talent to your organization.

The economy ebbs and flows, but the highest caliber talent is always well sought-after, even in a down market. Especially for startups, it can be hard to compete with larger competitors that can throw top salaries and lush perks at prospective employees. However, social media can help startups even the talent playing field.

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The best way to attract top-tier talent—on and off social media—is by leading your current team with integrity and creating a positive culture within your organization. On social media, you can easily highlight these aspects of your business. Social gives potential employees a chance to discover what working for you might be like.

Ready to use social media to land top candidates? Here are some tips:

• Showcase and celebrate your current team members’ wins. Tag them by name (with their permission) and show genuine gratitude for their efforts.

• Like and engage with current employees’ posts. Support their thoughts and opinions at every opportunity.

• Always treat previous employees with integrity and kindness. Wish them well and celebrate their new professional adventures on socials.

• Nominate your talented team members for awards. Celebrate and share any industry recognition they receive.

• Share educational achievements and team activities that made a difference. Off-sites, team-building sessions and conferences that enhance your team’s professional development are great opportunities to share.

2. Generate interest from the press.

Earned media can accelerate a startup's success through increased exposure and brand reach.

When a company secures positive coverage from reputable publications, the credibility earned can build significant legitimacy with potential customers and partners. Well-crafted press proliferates a company’s narrative into the market, building trust and enhancing reputation.

However, many fledgling startups lack the financial resources needed to hire high-powered public relations firms to secure media connections.

Luckily, journalists continually look for stories and sources on your social platforms. Social media allows startups to reach the media with less investment. By sharing thought leadership, investing in video content and encouraging your senior leaders to share their expertise on social platforms, you place your company in the landscape where journalists source material.

Ready to use social media to earn some press attention? Here are some tips:

• Make sure you’re investing time and energy into developing your creative content. Similarly to your customer strategy—engaging thought leadership pieces, industry insights and visually appealing posts will help you stand out in a journalist's feed.

• Use relevant hashtags or occasionally tag journalists in posts related to their areas of interest to increase visibility. Don't overdo it; you want to get their attention without hounding them.

• Stay engaged by actively participating in industry conversations online and responding promptly to comments.

• Focus on building relationships through genuine interactions.

• Steer clear of shameless self-promotion. Journalists seek valuable resources for reliable information and are likely to be turned away by sales-like language.

3. Make fundraising fast and easy.

Venture capitalist funds want to invest in winning businesses that enhance or improve their current portfolios—but from a financial and reputational perspective. VCs are paying attention to which startups are rising fast, who’s grabbing headlines, and which founders are the “ones to watch” with fresh ideas and perspectives. Beyond the numbers, all of these factors help inform their investment decisions.

When founders enter a funding round, they don’t want to feel like they’re begging for pennies.

The most successful rounds start with investors approaching the startup proactively—typically because that investor has already heard the hype about said company and is intrigued by the potential investment before ever meeting them.

Social media is the perfect platform to prime the pump for easy fundraising. By encouraging each of your founders and senior leadership team members to build their brands, you can elevate the VC community’s perception of your business so that they’re primed and intrigued long before you’re talking dollars.

Ready to entice VCs via social media? Here are some tips:

• Take time to develop and build out your founders’ and senior leadership members’ individual social presence. Let them craft their voice and share their genuine interests. Resharing company content is great, but senior team members should be sharing beyond that, with a regular cadence.

• Make sure your company pages and senior leadership pages are connected to relevant VCs in your area to increase visibility.

• Regularly send out a Slack or email reminder to senior leadership with links to earned media articles for easy sharing.

• Encourage your senior leadership team to engage in like-minded communities.

• Measuring social media’s impact on your fundraising efforts will be a breeze—either you’ll have interested parties approaching your business with investment inquiries, or not. Learn as you go and adjust. If you have a hard time during Series A, for instance, it might be prudent to double down your social visibility efforts far ahead of Series B.

Hopefully, this two-part series can be a reference for making social media an integral part of your B2B marketing strategy. Whether you are using your social channels to shorten the sales cycle, generate demand, enhance the customer experience, attract investment, entice the press or woo top-tier talent, thinking strategically and investing properly in socials can accelerate your growth and lead to incredible outcomes.

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The Sunday Read: ‘What Deathbed Visions Teach Us About Living’

Researchers are documenting a phenomenon that seems to help the dying, as well as those they leave behind..

By Phoebe Zerwick

Read by Samantha Desz

Produced by Jack D’Isidoro and Aaron Esposito

Narration produced by Anna Diamond and Emma Kehlbeck

Original music by Aaron Esposito

Engineered by Sophia Lanman and Sharon Kearney

Listen and follow The Daily Apple Podcasts | Spotify

Chris Kerr was 12 when he first observed a deathbed vision. His memory of that summer in 1974 is blurred, but not the sense of mystery he felt at the bedside of his dying father. Throughout Kerr’s childhood in Toronto, his father, a surgeon, was too busy to spend much time with his son, except for an annual fishing trip they took, just the two of them, to the Canadian wilderness. Gaunt and weakened by cancer at 42, his father reached for the buttons on Kerr’s shirt, fiddled with them and said something about getting ready to catch the plane to their cabin in the woods. “I knew intuitively, I knew wherever he was, must be a good place because we were going fishing,” Kerr told me.

Kerr now calls what he witnessed an end-of-life vision. His father wasn’t delusional, he believes. His mind was taking him to a time and place where he and his son could be together, in the wilds of northern Canada.

Kerr followed his father into medicine, and in the last 10 years he has hired a permanent research team that expanded studies on deathbed visions to include interviews with patients receiving hospice care at home and with their families, deepening researchers’ understanding of the variety and profundity of these visions.

There are a lot of ways to listen to ‘The Daily.’ Here’s how.

We want to hear from you. Tune in, and tell us what you think. Email us at [email protected] . Follow Michael Barbaro on X: @mikiebarb . And if you’re interested in advertising with The Daily, write to us at [email protected] .

Additional production for The Sunday Read was contributed by Isabella Anderson, Anna Diamond, Sarah Diamond, Elena Hecht, Emma Kehlbeck, Tanya Pérez and Krish Seenivasan.

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