Having a great social media proposal is a vital tool for the success of both an agency and a freelance social media manager. It is no brainer that as a freelance social media manager, you need clients to survive. It takes a steady influx of new and repeat clients to keep the lights on. Whereas 90% of social media management is all about how efficient one is in their operations and consistency, the remaining 10% comes into play when scouting for new clients.
Landing clients is not an easy task, as you will be faced with a lot of stiff competition gunning for the same business. You may have employed some of the best lead generation tactics, such as having a vibrant social media presence and a well-optimized website, but that’s only half the battle.
Once you have attracted the leads to your website or social pages, you may have done part of the heavy lifting, which involves beating other agencies and freelancers to the customer. However, you will still need to convince them that you are the best choice for their social media marketing campaign strategies.
Having a well-written social media proposal is key to closing deals. If you lack the know-how for drafting winning copies, you can get the services of a professional freelance content writer or marketer. However, if working solo, you will still have to figure out the best ways to prove that you are indeed the best option for them.
Whether you are responding to an RFP (request for proposal) or following up on a lead that you have been nurturing, it is vital to have a proposal template ready that you would customize to fit the client’s needs. In this post, we will walk you through the important components of a winning social media proposal, with best practices and tips to draft the ones that will make you land clients easily. By the end of the article, you should be ready to write your own proposal or do so by customizing an already existing template.
But before we get into the nitty-gritties, let’s first delve deeper and find out what exactly a social media marketing proposal is:
What is a social media marketing proposal?
A social media marketing proposal is a document used by social media managers to propose a set of social media marketing services that they would assist a potential client with. The document also showcases your skills and how they would help boost the client’s campaign strategies. In a nutshell, a proposal formalizes your ideas to clients.
Creating one is pretty simple, so long as you follow a set of rules. For starters, you need to consult with the prospect, trying to understand precisely what their needs and goals are. Once you have a brief understanding of what they’re looking for, you can draft a document that identifies all those goals and create milestones with how you plan to achieve them.
In the process, you should also indicate how social media marketing would impact the prospect’s business goals and establish your authority on the subject matter. Even though you might have a good template ready, it would be prudent to always conduct extensive research on the client’s industry so that you can demonstrate exactly what would be needed to get the job done.
Here, you’ll also go into the specifics, including indicating a timeline and a budget for the work. With all those details well-stated within the document, you will be more likely to start off on a good working relationship with the new client.
What does a social media proposal need to include?
A good social media proposal needs to show your prospects that you understand their business well and that you possess the right technical skills to ensure that they reach their goals. Your proposal always has to be client-centric while covering the following parts:
1. Determine your prospect’s business and social media goals
This is the part that you show that you understand the client’s business and that you are an expert in that field. Highlight all their needs and other possible areas of consideration. Some of the questions you need to find the answers to are:
- What are the goals of your prospect’s business?
- What challenges are they currently facing, and how long have they faced these challenges?
- What are some of the attempts made to address these goals and challenges before?
- How has the business used social media so far?
- Has any of the tactics used before worked?
- What are the client’s timelines and budget?
- How are they currently using social media?
- What are their social media goals?
So how do you get the answers to these questions? The best thing to do would be to jump on a call with the client beforehand or organize a meeting with them. Use this chance to understand more about their business and ask all the necessary questions to help you know more about them.
If you are responding to a request for a proposal, you should go through all the details carefully and ensure to digest all the information provided.
2. Value proposition
This might just be the most important part of your social media proposal. Here, you bring key strategies into focus, backing up your claims with the research and the competitive/ social audits you’ve done.
Now that you know about the client’s goals, it is also advisable to include a list of the things you’ll be doing to help them achieve their goals. Ensure that the plans you jot down comply with the S.M.A.R.T framework.
That is, make sure your stated goals are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely. Keep the prospect’s timeline and budget in mind when thinking about timing and attainability.
This section solely focuses on you, and instead of talking more about who you are, etc., you use this section to show that you are well-positioned to offer the services that the client seeks. Communicate to your client about the various things that you will do to help them achieve their goals and also how you plan on doing so.
Your scope of work might cover aspects such as:
- Social media promotions and campaigns
- Content creation
- Social media monitoring
- Social media engagement
- Social selling
- Lead generation
After listing the things that you will be doing, having considered all the best practices and trends, it would be prudent to highlight some of the ways you will do them. Which tactics will you use? What methodologies do you have in mind and would love to recommend?
When presenting your value proposition, you should also introduce any past experience dealing with a similar campaign. Here’s where your portfolio comes in, but ensure that whatever you present is directly related to what the client seeks.
3. Objectives and workflow
After listing the services you will provide to help the client achieve their goals, you should also write down the objectives and have a more detailed workflow ready. You can use advanced metrics and bring to the client’s attention the tools you’ll use for analytics purposes. This is also where you set your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), showing your target goals and how you plan on measuring your success.
This will give the client a reason to trust in you as it shows that you know your job well. You can also use this section to identify the different roles and expertise that might need to play out during the campaign. For instance, you can add the roles of a designer, writer, and an account manager in your proposal. Moreover, do not also forget to indicate what the client’s role will be.
After listing all the things you plan on doing, how will that impact your client’s business? Do you have any projections or predictions on the current vs. the results you wish to achieve?
4. Timelines and cost
How long will this project take? A good proposal will always have a timeline of events. If you plan on working on various tasks for the same client, you need to indicate how long each will take while giving precedence to the priority projects.
A proposal is not complete without mentioning how much the client will have to part with for the job to be done. You should also add the payment terms in the proposal: how you would like to be paid (medium), the details of the payment medium, and indicate if you’ll allow for a particular percentage to be paid beforehand.
Be sure to consider not over-charging or under-charging for your services. The best way around this is to consider the nature of the job, how big the client is, and consider the standard rates for freelance social media managers.
5. Use the proposal as a contract.
Did you know that a well-written contract can be used to sell you as a professional to a prospect? Why not use this chance to mention your terms of the agreement instead of disturbing the client with back and forth emails?
This section is used to clearly communicate how you would like to work, how you will communicate with the client, the timelines of the project, and the terms of payment. You can also include a termination slot, which indicates the process for the termination of the contract should you get into an agreement to work together. This is a very important section, more so for freelance social media managers that may not have a legal team to help them in case of disputes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is a social media marketing proposal?
A: A social media marketing proposal is a document used by social media managers to propose a set of social media marketing services that they would assist a potential client with. The document also showcases the social media marketer’s skills and how they would help boost the client’s campaign strategies.
Q: What should you include when writing a social media marketing proposal?
A: A good social media marketing proposal has the following sections:
- The client’s needs, goals, and objectives
- Your value proposition where you highlight your skills and how they will be helpful to the client
- The nature of the work, what tools and resources would be required to get the job done
- The timeline for the project and the budget needed.
Q: Can I use the same social media marketing templates for all my clients?
A: No. That would be a big mistake. This is because every client has unique needs and goals and two campaigns would be directly similar. What you need is a guide on what to include in a social media marketing proposal and customize it depending on the nature of the job. Ensure that you include the client’s goals, the objective of the work, the timeline, and budgetary requirements.
Q: How do you build trust with a client when sending out a social media marketing proposal?
A: You can build trust with a new client when sending out your social media marketing proposal by including details such as,
- Your understanding of the prospect’s goals and needs;
- How your skills and expertise would help them achieve their goals;
- Your experience in doing that kind of work in the same industry, and what results you managed to receive from your previous campaigns;
- You also build trust with a client by identifying your key performance indicators (KPIs). These are metrics that will be used to measure the success of your work. This instills trust in the client as they will know that you know what you’re doing and that you’re confident of achieving your goals.
Bottom line
There isn’t a one-size-fits-all template that you can use to create your social media proposals. This is because it greatly varies depending on the nature of the project and the needs of the client. However, using our tips will enable you to draft a winning proposal template, landing more clients, and spearheading your career as one of the best freelance social media managers in the market.
from Best Blog For Freelancers https://blog.bawabba.com/freelance-social-media-marketing/how-to-write-a-winning-social-media-proposal/
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