Ready to start your own social media marketing business? Aside from a computer and strong social media skills, you should have an understanding of the steps that go into starting a successful company. Here’s what you should know.
Choose Your Niche and Your Audience
Your first step in starting any business is deciding who you are and who you’re selling to. A business that offers social media marketing services to retail companies will attract clients much differently than one looking to provide reputation management services for politicians. Do you want to work with a variety of sectors, or do you want to focus on one particular industry?
Next, you’ll want to consider the type of people you want as your clients. Say that your goal is to provide marketing services for retail companies. Are you looking for businesses with no social media presence that is starting from scratch, or is your specialty creating strategies for companies that want to scale?
Choose Your Services
Once you know the clients you want to work with, you can determine the services you’ll offer and what pricing model will be both profitable for you and appealing for them. Services for a social media marketing agency include, but are not limited to, social media account creation, content creation and publishing, research on their target audience, big-picture social media strategy, and re-branding.
The most important aspect of selecting your services is understanding where your social media marketing business can bring value. If your strengths include content creation, but you aren’t as effective with account management, you may want to offer select creation-based services only. You don’t need to do everything. You just need to do a few things so well that people come to you as the expert.
Create Your Social Media Marketing Business Pricing Model
You have a lot to think about when it comes to pricing. Most likely, your clients won’t hire you for one specific role. They’ll likely want you to perform a few services, such as strategy, copywriting, and graphic design. One way to make your pricing appealing is to offer packages with pre-determined pricing and select services. Clients will know exactly what to expect with costs and delivery.
How clients will pay you is another consideration. Most agencies charge a retainer fee that clients pay each month. You could also charge by the hour or agree upon a set price before starting a project.
Differentiate Yourself, Then Plan It Out
It’s not enough to offer high-quality social media services, though. There are thousands of social media agencies that offer many of the same services that you do. Your business’s success depends on your ability to understand the market and distinguish yourself from it. Look for holes in your niche and emphasize to your target clients how your agency is best equipped to fill them.
Don’t skip out on creating a business plan. Your plan will ensure that you know what your financial situation is ahead of time. With more knowledge about your cash flow and capital from the start, you won’t encounter the obstacles that many new social media business owners face due to a lack of foresight.
Build Your Brand Credibility
Just like no one people would trust a hairstylist with bad hair, potential clients aren’t going to choose you as their social media manager if your own online presence isn’t on point. When starting your business, don’t cut corners on developing a cutting-edge website and building a strong social media following. All of the skills that will benefit your clients should be on full display, from eye-catching designs and creative copy to high engagement with comments and posts.
Credibility also comes from what clients have to say about you. Landing your first client for your business can be tough, but you have everything you need to make your venture a success. Share with your community and other local businesses that you’re opening your doors, and engage often with the people around you. You’d be surprised at the people who can turn into both customers that will be happy to share positive testimonials about you.
Perfect Your Pitch
In a perfect world, all of your ideal clients will find you. But a key part of your business will be perfecting the tools to find the audience who will most appreciate and want to use your services. It all comes down to perfecting your pitch. There will be times when you’ll need to send cold emails and make cold phone calls to companies that have never heard of you. If you can’t make a memorable impression in the first second or two, that’s it.
Take time before pitching to research the specifics of the market of your client. Think about their pain points and how you can appeal to them. And don’t forget to follow up.
Take Advantage of Automation
Start your social media marketing business ahead of the curve by taking advantage of all that automation offers. Instead of waiting for your business to grow to the point where you can no longer manage it, master automation early on so you can manage many clients at once and scale without the hassle.
For example, the Automate My Social tool can automatically produce an unlimited amount of social media posts, complete with auto hashtags that will help you reach more people and analytics that will give you an understanding of what’s working and what isn’t.
Track Your Process and Adjust Your Approach
Lastly, always keep track of your progress, especially in the early stages of your business. The first clients you have are key for identifying the most important areas for improvement. Streamlining your business practices and creating strong client relationships early on will give you the foundation you need to establish yourself as a legitimate agency!
