When it comes to offering your social media services, there are a lot of ways to get paid! And we don’t mean like cash, check, credit or bitcoin…
What we mean is you’ll want to think about the way you’re charging your clients for the work your do & how it supports your lifestyle and future goals.
When it comes to offering services, there are 3 main ways to get paid:
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Hourly
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Per Project
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Monthly Retainers.
When deciding which method is right for you, here are some things to consider:
Hourly
Charging by the hour can be great for one-off projects, but it can also be limiting. There are only so many hours in the day, and as you get better & more efficient at delivering your services, you may find that you earn less the faster you work.
Since you have integrity, you’re obviously not going to work slower, so you’ll likely need to take on more clients in order to make the same amount of income. Of course, as your work becomes more efficient & you’re more knowledgeable, you can choose to increase your hourly rates to reflect that.
Per Project
Charging per project can be a bit easier on both you & your client, because there are no surprises. You’ll both agree on a fixed price for the completion of a specific set of deliverables during a fixed amount of time. This way it’s understood exactly what the client gets & how much it costs from the start.
You may even start out working with a client on a temporary per project basis which can be a great gateway into more consistent work -- which leads to the last way to get paid...
Monthly Retainer
Retainers are our preferred method of payment because we believe it’s the perfect solution for ongoing monthly social media deliverables.
By providing your clients with the same services via a retainer contract or monthly service agreement, you can plan better financially—because you know exactly how much is coming in month after month.
Some service providers will even offer a price break if a client signs a longer term agreement, locking in that income for an extended time period & motivating the client to enter into the business relationship for the long haul.
We’ve known social media managers who will work with clients via monthly retainer, then have a special hourly rate for anything outside the agreed upon scope of work.
There is no right or wrong way—as long as you’re getting paid in a way that supports your long term goals & lifestyle!
