Your Worth as a Freelance Social Media Manager for a Small Business

Written by Sami Pugmire, Hayley Perez, Kyla Bingham, Chrissy Edginton, Kennedy Kuang, and Rossy Galo Garcia

You are finally ready to enter the world of digital marketing as a freelancer. You’re confused about how you convey that you are qualified to other professionals. Through this blog, we will show and explain how to confidentially know your worth and portray that to future employers.

Skills Employers Look For

Searching for a job as a freelance social media manager might sound overwhelming, but we are here to help! After looking at job postings and some social media experts, we have compiled a list of 7 skills that employers are seeking in a social media manager.

Social Media Expertise

This one might seem obvious, but it’s probably the most crucial skill for social media managers. Employers expect that a social media manager has expertise in all relevant social media platforms (relevancy changes based on the business and audience). This means you must know the ins and outs of social media and how to stay updated on the constant changes that are made to each platform.

Audience Research

Social media managers must have the ability to research an audience. A large part of creating an interactive profile on social media is through knowing who your audience is. This means you can research their demographics, psychographics, geographics, and behavioral patterns. Social media managers should be constantly researching topics that are relevant, new, and interesting to their audience.

Organization and Management

As a social media manager, you will likely be in charge of coordinating the social media content for a brand over multiple platforms. You will find the most success in this with organization and project management. Employers are seeking applicants that can use editorial calendars as well as organizational software.

Visual Communication/Graphic Design

Social media managers need to have an eye for design. Employers typically look for applicants that have experience in graphic design software such as Adobe Suites. *DISCLAIMER*: while Canva can be a great tool for social media managers, it is important to know how to create your own unique content that is specific to the company. If you need more tips on creating high quality visuals, read our blog post about scroll-stopping visuals here.

Copywriting

Most of us have been writing for the majority of our lives, so writing a copy seems like a simple skill. However, social media managers have the challenge of intriguing audiences through storytelling to drive engagement. Writing is a skill you should always work to improve. If you need some ideas for improving your copywriting skills, click here for a short video on a copywriting hack!

Data Analysis

A stand-out social media manager understands the importance of data-driven decision-making. Through collecting and analyzing data from social media platforms, you must know how to adapt your strategies and campaigns to reflect the needs of your audience.

Customer Service

Community engagement is intertwined with the responsibilities of a social media manager. Because you will be interacting with potential and current customers, customer service skills are a must. This includes answering questions, responding to comments, and social listening.

Employers want social media managers that can create a connection with their audience. If you have all of these qualifications, you are likely ready to be a social media manager. If you’re not quite there, don’t worry! There are lots of different ways you can prepare and teach yourself to become the freelance social media manager you dream of becoming.

Levels of Experience

The Salary of a Social Media Manager

Depending on the amount of experience you have and your level of education, your salary as a social media manager may greatly differ. According to ziprecruiter.com “As of Jan 15, 2022, the average annual pay for an Entry Level Social Media in California is $33,263 a year.” This number reflects those working for a business, not those that are doing freelance social media management. If that’s starting, then what’s the average?

Builtin.com says, “the average salary for a Social Media Manager in the US is $71,220.” That’s a significant difference. Like a $38,000 difference. You may be asking yourself, “how do I know how much I should be paid depending on the experience I have? Great question! A freelance Social Media Manager can be kind of broad and there are more specific things you can do as a social media expert. On the website janbasktraining.com , they broke down different social media expert salaries.

Where to Start

You have to start somewhere, everyone does! That starting point looks different for everyone. For some, it might be a formal four education in Marketing, Communications, or Business. Others may have some personal experience under their belt and online certifications.

Or perhaps you’re somewhere in between. Either way, even if you are just beginning your career as a content creator you’re going to need to have some previous knowledge and experience.

If school is an option for you, that’s a great place to start. Many new degrees are popping up all over the country for social media marketing specifically! This degree could show your future employer the dedication you have to the field. It would also give many opportunities to build up your portfolio while you go to school.

Don’t worry if that’s not in the cards for you, because there are many other ways to gain experience. Social media is free for the world to use! Don’t waste any more time and start your own social media account today.

Whatever you have an interest, hobby, talent, or even business for you can create a social media account to market it. Get creative and brainstorm what you can offer on the internet and why it’s unique. These small “pet projects” can be turned into beautiful portfolios that are enough to convince a company to hire you.

No matter the level of experience you have there will always be more to learn and ways to grow. Be on the lookout for social media trends, updates, and announcements.

Be Confident in Your Experience

That being said, be confident in the knowledge you do have, especially when marketing yourself to a future employer. Show them what you have done in the past and what you can do for them as a company. You know what you are worth based on your experience and expertise.

You may need to learn and gain more experience before you are at the salary you want and that’s okay! But when you walk into an interview, know your worth beforehand so you can be firm with them and what you are asking for.

Size of Company/Location Matters

When deciding what you should charge as a freelance social media manager there are many different variables that you should look at. The two that we are going to focus on in this section are how the size of the company and the location of the company you will be working for, even if you are remote it still matters. These two different things matter because they differ in the amount you can charge as a freelance worker.

Size of Company

Working with a larger company there will be larger needs and higher demand for work which will result in making more money. Your worth as a freelance social media manager to a small business owner is still so important though. So what should you charge? The wonderful thing about being a freelance social media manager is you get to choose how much you get paid, within reason of course.

After determining your skillset, and the value you have to that company then it is time to see what their needs are. The size of the company is going to depend on what their needs are. For a small company, your job may include more than just posting to a single social media platform. You may need the skills to create content, do photoshoots, and do community engagement. Keeping this in mind you need to charge for each thing separately since they are not the same thing.

Small Soda Shop Interview

We interviewed the social media manager Izzy Belnap for a local soda shop. They have 4 locations but are rapidly growing. Izzy said that when the company approached her about working for them she decided to create different packages that she felt she was worth for different amounts of work.

Working for a small business she knew she might have to do some content creation and extra projects at times so she made sure to add that in as “extras”. After Izzy created these packages she presented them to the manager so they could choose what they wanted her to do that would fit their needs best. The small soda shop ended up deciding on the package that is $550 a month to do 3 posts and 2 stories a week with a reel every other week.

On top of that package, the company added on a $150 photoshoot for their monthly products once a month which results in 15-20 images that can be used for their marketing, social media, and other displays in their shop.

When the Soda shop decided to go with her lowest package they mentioned it was the best fit for their needs at the time and based on what they had for their marketing budget. Because this company is growing quickly, they will soon have a bigger budget for marketing and social media and will want to increase the amount of work.

Each company is different in their needs which is why it is important to know your worth as a freelancer so you don’t get underpaid but you are also not over charging either.

At the end of the interview Izzy said “Knowing your worth and having confidence will lead you to success”.

Location Matters

The location you are working from, whether remotely or on-site, will also come into play. Working for a company in Montana compared to California or Chicago will differ in the amount you can charge. The wages are different in all of these places because of the cost of living. That means you can charge according to the location even if you don’t live there.

Even if you are working remotely for a company, you have the right to charge whatever you feel is best. Based on their wages for other employees and of course, your time and talent, you can figure out the best price to charge. Keep in mind, something that seems easy to you does not mean it is easy for them. You have had hundreds of hours, maybe even years put into training that they haven’t had.

What the Experts Know

To gain more insight and understanding we asked experts on the subject. We interviewed a freelance social media manager, content creator, and business owner. From the interview that was conducted with Kaitlyn, you can see the value and cost of a social media manager and content creator for a small business.

To have a better understanding of the value that Kaitlyn has to say, here is a little bit about her. Kaitlyn is a co-owner and head of marketing for Crispy Cones. Crispy cones started as a food truck in a small college town. They have expanded and brought awareness to their business through Instagram. In this interview, she explains her thoughts on her worth as a marketer to her business.

Interview with Freelance Social Media Manager

Kaitlyn, Freelance Social Media Manager, Content Creator, and Co-owner of Crispy Cones

What is your education level?

-I have a Bachelor’s degree in Communications.

And what is your current job title? Are you working within your degree?

-Chief Marketing Officer

Do you currently have a team or are you the sole manager?

-I am the sole manager right now. I had an assistant on my team for a few months but we are re-adjusting our structure currently.

Being in this industry how much do you believe a content creator/marketer is worth? Both money wise and adding value to your business?

-The value of a marketer towards your business is HUGE because they have experienced knowledge on how to make a business known in the most effective ways. A content creator can showcase a business by giving high quality content to brands that they may not be able to create on their own.

-As far as money-wise goes, I don’t know the exact answer to that. I did a google search and saw that the salary for one is anywhere from $60,000-90,000 and I’d say that’s pretty accurate for all of the work that goes into the job!

If you were to hire someone what skills are you looking for?

-Someone who is self-motivated, thinks outside the box, creative, responsible, has marketing experience, understands current trends and platforms, visual design/photo/video experience!

On average how many hours a week do you spend on marketing and content creation

-I spend about 20 hours a week!

After hearing Kaitlyn’s thoughts we gain more insight into what a social media manager means to a small business and what they believe you should be paid. We hope this installs more confidence in your worth as you go out into the marketing world.

Templates for Profiles and Packages

This downloadable template is for those who are looking to create their profiles as social media managers. It’s a template where you can edit or change anything you want to make as your package profiles.

Included in the template: your name, a summary about you, contact information, profile picture, link to the website or portfolio, and 4 different packages of how much you are charging for certain platform creations. Click here or on the image below to get the editable template. It will open as a google slide. From there, make a copy of the presentation and you will be able to edit and customize this template!

Below are some generic pricing guides for your reference which include ideas for how much you should charge as a beginner content creator and as a beginner social media manager.

Be aware: sometimes a company not only asks you to post on social media platforms but also wants some photography work. These sheets contain the basic responsibilities of a social media manager: content creation, posts on social media platforms, email campaigns, and photography.

Through these pricing sheets, those who just started jobs as social media managers who are not sure how much to charge a company will be able to have a guideline and know how much they are worth.

Moving Forward

We are so excited for you to start your journey as a social media manager! Starting a new career path can be scary, but now you know your value. You now know the main skills that companies are looking for and what to charge future clients. And you can spot the needs for social media management in different sizes of businesses.

Finally, you’ve heard from experts professional and can learn from their experiences. Now have confidence in yourself and go land your dream job as a freelance social media manager! Fight for your worth and don’t be afraid to turn down a company if it doesn’t work for you.