How to Price Your Social Media Management Services

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Buckle up, friends – we’re going to talk about the “M” word.

Yep, money.

If it makes you feel uncomfortable, you’re not alone, but as a business owner, you’re going to have to get good with it because it’s everywhere.

And let’s be honest, it’s the main reason we get up and work each day. So, shouldn’t the pricing we attach to our services reflect all the hard work we’re putting in?

Here’s something no new biz owner will be shocked by: A study found that 43% of freelancers and independent workers consider themselves less financially stable after becoming self-employed.

That’s almost half. Not only that, but the study found nearly a third earned less than $10 an hour in their first year!

Maybe if we stopped feeling so uncomfortable having conversations around the “M” word, more entrepreneurs would be making a viable income. And less would feel like they’ve got to shut the doors on their business dreams.

Learning how to price your social media management services is going to change the game for you. It’ll ensure you’re taking home an income that reflects your worth, AND it’ll help you attract the right kind of clients/customers to your business.

Why Your Prices are Important

Want a sustainable career? Pricing your services correctly is the key to long-term success.

And when you’re putting together your own pricing methodology, you should make sure to consider things like:

Your time
Your knowledge
Your skills
Researching
Accounting/taxes
Communication (both calls and emails!)
Admin and processes
Holidays, sick pay, pension, etc.

When you lay it all out, it *really* starts to add up, doesn’t it?

That’s why shortchanging yourself when it comes to time and the value you offer is such a mistake. It almost always leads to burnout – and stops any potential business growth dead in its tracks.

**Quick reminder: You can charge whatever you want!

Only you can truly decide what your work is worth and what you’re comfortable charging but with a whopping amount of service providers out there undercharging, it’s crucial to get a smart pricing structure in place.

How NOT to Price Your SMM Services

It might seem a little backwards to launch into how not to price, but hear me out on this one.

→ Don’t charge an hourly fee!

I’m not saying don’t put together an hourly fee. In fact, I highly recommend figuring out what your hourly rate should be, and then using that to calculate your fees (break down coming right up).

But what I am saying is, don’t charge your clients by the hour.

As we’ve seen, your fees need to consider much more than just the deliverables. You’re not an hourly employee where everything around you is taken care of by other departments – you’re running a whole show!

The way you price your social media management services has got to reflect that difference.

My Foolproof Pricing Methodology

Good news! The SMM pricing method I use works whether you’re a complete newbie or you’re ten years deep and is fully based around creating packages – a collection of your services neatly bundled up with set prices.

Packages do two things really well:

Keep things super simple and easy for potential clients to understand
Ensure you’re the one calling the shots when it comes to what’s included in a given rate

So, how do you figure out how to set their rates? Start by working out your hourly rate and dividing how much you wanna earn each month by how many hours you ideally want to work.

For example, if you want to earn $5k and work 80 hours per month (20 per week), you’d need your hourly rate to be around $60-70.

Once you’ve got your hourly rate, you can dig into how much each package needs to cost!

Remember, take everything into account, not just the time it takes to write the captions or schedule the posts. Think about all the time you spend doing research, sourcing images, back and forth emails, edits or amends – the whole she-bang.

Little jobs or scope creep can also crop up out of nowhere, so make sure you’re factoring enough for the unexpected.

I usually recommend setting a single price on packages to help avoid any rate disputes, but if a set package seems a little too rigid, tiered options and other add-on services are a great alternative.

Wanna know more? Check out my free lesson on pricing your services called ‘Money Making Offerings’. Drop your email address in my sign-up box, and I’ll send it to you right now!

You’ve Set Your Prices. Now, Don’t Budge!

No matter how you decide to price your social media management services, you must stick with it.

Confidence in your rates communicates your worth and value, and it also tells potential clients you’ve got desirable skills, a bucket load of knowledge and valuable experience to offer.

If someone questions your pricing or asks for discounts before work has even started (it happens!), consider it a no-go. You’ve set your rates strategically, and anyone unwilling to meet you there isn’t worth your energy.

Trust me.

The other upside of setting your rates with confidence? You set the bar for self-employed social media managers around you!

Prices have a ripple effect, and if everyone is consistently undercutting each other on price, clients will bite for the lowest offer. But, if everyone consistently raises their prices, the SMM minimum wage increases dramatically.

Um, WIN!

Struggling to figure out what and how to charge for your services? If you feel like you’re drowning in client work but your revenue isn’t matching up, my 4-week program The Social Biz System is for you!