“How much should I charge for my services?” – This is a question we hear from social media managers all the time.
Pricing can easily become a roadblock for many service providers, because there isn’t a single black & white answer to “how much should I charge?”.
When it comes to value-based pricing – a strategy used to charge at a rate you believe clients are willing to pay – it can get tricky.
For example: one person might charge $500 for the exact same service that someone else is charging $2000 for… but neither is “wrong” – as long as both service providers are able to provide the client with results that match their expectations, while feeling like they’re being compensated fairly for the exchange.
When pricing any service, there are a lot of factors to consider – including, but not limited to: your experience & skill level, specific location, the clients you work with & their goals, the results you deliver, your overhead expenses – plus all those other details surrounding your business model & the specific services you provide.
This is why, at The Social Media CEO, we don’t make a habit out of telling you what you should charge. We only offer personalized pricing advice to social media managers we get to know through one-on-one work.
Even then, at the end of the day, the decision around what to charge is completely up to each individual service provider. PS: You have to believe in your offer & its inherent value before you can successfully sell it to a client, over & over.
While we can't tell you exactly what to charge, we can provide you with a decent starting point based on your client’s desired budget. Here are social media service ideas at every price point…
$500 or Less Social Media Offer Ideas
This category of offers is perfect to propose to clients who need support, but haven’t yet allocated a proper budget for full service platform management or paid ads. These $500 or less service “containers” will allow you to meet them where they are, without feeling pressured to discount your more comprehensive packages.
When providing a service for $500 (or less) you’ll want to consider your experience, skills & time invested — plus the result or desired outcome you’re promising to the client.
Offers priced at $500 and below are generally “one & done” services like consultations or platform audits, DIY digital offers like templates, ebooks & courses, or can even be recurring monthly group programs.
When offering a lower cost service, you’ll want to craft it so that you can handle juggling a larger quantity of clients at one time, or within a specific time frame. This can also be done by creating an offer that is completely DIY, which provides a more passive stream of income for you. If a lead says they can’t afford your full service package, direct them to your DIY offer until they are ready to invest in working 1:1 with you.
Something else to keep in mind is you’ll want to plan & price your offers based on your monthly income goals and business model.
For example: If you want to earn $5000 a month and you decide to offer a $500 / month group coaching program for beauty businesses, you’d need to support 10 clients per month to hit your goal.
As a a solo freelancer, without a team, supporting 10 full service management clients is not long-term sustainable. However, offering a group coaching program allows you increase your revenue without increasing your workload. For example, instead of spending an hour per week working with 10 clients individually, you can work with all 10 clients during the same hour long group call — talk about efficient!
Even as a solo social media manager, it’s totally within reason to say you could support 2 groups of 10 business owners with a coaching program, which means you could double your monthly income to $10k per month providing one solid group offer.
Ideas for $500 or less services are:
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Consultations
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Group Coaching
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Social Media Templates
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DIY Digital Courses
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Memberships / Subscriptions
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SEO / Blog Writing
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Content Creation [charge per piece]
$500-$1500 Social Media Offer Ideas
This pricing tier covers the more “basic” services that many social media managers offer. Keep in mind, whenever you provide customizations, or create a strategy that includes industry-specific research on a client’s competitors & target market – you can charge more for those services. PS. We even have a template to help you deliver that information in a beautiful, professional way!
This price-level also covers specialized services like Lead Generation or Community Management — which can be offered as a standalone service or as an add-on to a package.
Ideas for $500-$1500 services are:
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Custom Built Single Platform Strategy
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Custom Built Content Calendar
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Strategy Calls
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Community Management
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Outbound Engagement / Lead Generation
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Pinterest Marketing
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LinkedIn Marketing
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Twitter Marketing
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Local Workshops & Training Events
$1500-$5000+ Social Media Offer Ideas
Finally, if you’re building detailed strategies for multiple social media platforms or offering full service management (which usually includes things like research, content planning, creation, scheduling, publishing, copy, community management, reporting, etc) on “heavy” platforms like Instagram & TikTok, you’ll want to ensure you’re charging appropriately to that effort & output.
Of course, this is a wide pricing tier, and that’s on purpose. The price you charge for services like these (and your ability to continuously charge them) depends on the value you’re providing the client and the results you’re able to get.
Generally, the more hands on or customized something is, the more you can charge. Additionally, the more experience you have and the bigger the outcomes or “promise” you can make to a client, the more valuable the service!
$1500-$5000 (and beyond) Social Media Offer Ideas
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Custom Built Omni-Channel Strategy
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Done For You - Full Service Instagram Marketing
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Done For You - Full Service TikTok Marketing
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Influencer / Content Creator Management
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Paid Advertising
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Content Creation [custom packages]
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1:1 Coaching
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Speaking
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Corporate Trainings
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Retreats
Ultimately, it's 100% up to you to determine what to charge. We hope these ideas help you narrow down your offers and create a pricing structure that feels good for both you & your clients.
