Around 70% of Americans use social media to stay connected today. As a marketing professional, you’re likely well aware of the vast opportunities available on these platforms, but a majority of your potential clients probably aren’t. Even if they are, many of them don’t know how to harness the power of social media in their marketing efforts.
Luckily for them, you’re here to help use these platforms to their full potential. However, getting clients on board with your services isn’t always that simple.
In order to convert prospective clients to signed contracts, you’ll need to demonstrate that you’re the top candidate for the job. What’s more, you’ll have to show that you understand their market, their goals, and what it would take to go above and beyond what they could accomplish on their own.
A social media marketing proposal is the best way you can map out everything listed above. With the right formatting and details, you can show your future clients that you not only understand the power of social media marketing, but that you know how to apply this knowledge to help them achieve their specific goals.
In order to be successful, your social media marketing proposal needs to have all the relevant details that will help sell your services to your future clients. If you’re not sure where to start, we’ve got the perfect social media proposal template to get things going.
Read on for our complete guide on creating a social media marketing proposal.
The Importance of Social Media in Marketing
Before you begin pitching social media marketing proposal ideas to potential clients, it’s important to emphasize how vital social media is in today’s marketing climate.
No matter the nature of your business, having a social media presence has come to be expected from customers. The average person spends roughly two and a half hours on social media per day, providing plenty of opportunities for businesses to capture a segment of the collective attention span in their target market.
By building a decent following on the major social media platforms, a business opens up a whole new world of possibilities for promotion, customer interaction, and general visibility in their chosen market. It’s also relatively inexpensive when compared to more traditional forms of marketing (such as printed advertisements, TV or radio spots, etc).
From there, a business can choose to focus on facilitating customer communication, running promotions, building their brand, or carrying out a number of other activities that can contribute to the overall growth of their business.
To make the most out of these new opportunities, they’ll need someone with the know-how to create a social media marketing proposal that is sure to help them reach their goals: that’s where you come in.
Writing a Successful Social Media Marketing Proposal
Once your potential clients are sold on the power and potential of incorporating social media into their marketing, they’ll need a solid plan in order to make the most out of their campaigns. You know you’re excellent at social media management, but you’ll have to demonstrate your expertise in order to seal the deal.
A social media marketing proposal can help you do just that. Essentially, this is a document that you will present to your prospective clients. It provides a solid outline regarding how you plan to assist them in achieving their goals. It’s not designed to be a sales pitch, nor a contract; instead, it will act as your main tool for convincing clients to choose you for their social media marketing needs.
Before you reach the social media marketing proposal phase of your client acquisition, you’ll ideally have gone through a consultation or some kind of other introduction that confirms the client’s interest in your services. From there, you’ll do further research on the client and come up with a social media proposal that ultimately leads to the client signing a contract with you.
Template for Your Social Media Marketing Proposal
Your social media marketing proposal should show that you have a complete grasp of the client’s requirements for growing their business digitally. On top of that, you’ll also have to emphasize that you’re the perfect candidate for the job.
There’s definitely some room to be creative here, but you should generally be answering the following questions:
- What will you do to grow the business’s social media presence? How will you accomplish this?
- If you’re working with a team of social media marketing professionals, who will personally be handling the account and the tasks associated with it?
- How will your efforts directly benefit the client?
- Why should they choose you to handle their social media marketing?
- What is the cost of your services?
By answering all these questions in an organized and formal manner, you’ll be creating the blueprints for your client’s future success as well as outlining the costs and potential ROI if they choose to move forward. By following this social media proposal template, you’ll be able to present a compelling visual of the value of your services.
1. Introduction/Market Analysis
First and foremost, you’ll need to provide an introduction to yourself and your services in your social media marketing proposal. If you’ve already done a consultation as recommended, this can be brief. Be sure to use the pronouns “we” and “us” in order to set the tone for a future working relationship.
You’ll also need to demonstrate a thorough understanding of your client’s expectations as well as what you will do to ensure these are met (and exceeded).
Next, you’ll need to show a more in-depth analysis of their market, identifying the specific challenges that your client is currently facing and what you will do to help. You should know the particular needs of the client from a social media standpoint, as well as how you will use your expertise to achieve these goals and propel their business forward. On top of that, you should also address the competition in your client’s market and what you can do to help them surpass it.
Most clients are aware that they need some help with managing their social media presence, but aren’t too sure about what these needs are. The first section of your social media marketing proposal is your opportunity to identify these problems and give them a thorough understanding of what they stand to potentially gain from your services.
2. Your Planned Scope of Work
Once you’ve provided an introduction and an abstract of your social media marketing services, the next section of your social media marketing proposal can get into specific detail about the work you will provide. If the client ends up signing a contract with you, you should also include this scope of work in the contract.
The scope of work will most likely be the largest section of your social media marketing proposal. It’s best to break it down into smaller parts that detail each task you plan on carrying out.
Some examples of work that you can outline in this section of your social media marketing proposal include the following:
- SEO keyword tracking and monitoring, detailing specific keywords that you will be monitoring throughout your service contract
- Reporting Google Analytics and similar SEO monitoring tools and how often you will be providing these reports
- Social media content creation and how often you will be posting (social media content calendar)
- Details about your social media management, such as hours you’ll be available for engaging and the amount of time you’ll be spending on the client’s social media
The scope of work section in your social media marketing proposal should contain a specific outline of all the work you plan on carrying out. That way, you’ll be managing the client’s expectations ahead of time, as well as creating a detailed project list for your management of that client.
3. Project Calendar
Once you’ve outlined the specific work you’ll be doing in your social media marketing proposal, you should include a calendar that details when you’ll be carrying them out. For example, if you’ve created a series of promotional ideas in your scope of work section, use this calendar to map out when these will be carried out.
If you’re planning on a certain amount of posts per week, these should be included in your project calendar as well. On top of that, you should also have your planned client engagement mapped out on a “per diem” basis.
This is also the section of your social media marketing proposal where you’ll include specific goals for metrics and growth rates. Feature specific numbers to help gauge the progress they can expect from your services.
4. Your Work and Credentials
Even if you have personally convinced your prospective client to take on social media marketing services, you haven’t necessarily cemented yourself as the prime choice for the job. In fact, chances are the client will reach out to your competitors before they make a decision.
This is why your social media marketing proposal should always include a section detailing the work you’ve already accomplished. Use specific numbers to demonstrate your achievements, such as specific SEO growth metrics and the timeline in which they were achieved.
Another good number to include in this section is follower growth for your past clients. Again, use a specific timeline here to demonstrate the effectiveness of your approach.
At the end of this section, be sure to tie everything back to your client’s specific needs. Show them how all your accomplishments demonstrate your capabilities of managing their social media platform.
5. Your Service Terms
As you get towards the end of your social media marketing proposal, you should include details about the cost of your services and other specific practices. This should clearly outline your terms of service and eliminate potential problems down the line.
Some items you can include in this section are the following:
- Your specific work terms, such as when/if you will meet and whether you’ll be working remotely or in-office
- Your service fees, whether they are hourly, per project, or a retainer
- How you will bill the clients and terms of payments
- How you will handle project termination if either you or the client decides to halt the project
This section of your social media marketing proposal is designed to eliminate any surprises. On your end, they cover client expectations and prevent you from having to work beyond your agreement terms. On the client’s end, they detail what to expect if they terminate the project and what your specific work terms entail.
It’s recommended that you also include a “kill fee” in this section. That way, if your client terminates the project, you’ll still receive adequate compensation for the work you’ve already put in.
6. Planned Next Steps
Once you’ve put together an entire social media marketing proposal, you should also include a section of the next steps you’ll be taking. This will help protect you from continuous back-and-forth interactions with the client and will also help move the project forward within a reasonable timeline.
Depending on your agency, you may include things like copyright notices and deadlines in order to protect your work. It’s also a good idea to set a limit for client revisions, so you don’t end up doing more work than you planned to.
Delivering Your Social Media Marketing Proposal
When you’re ready to present your social media marketing proposal to the client, you have a couple of options at your disposal.
Most of the time, you’ll be able to send the proposal digitally. However, on average, only about 20% of the text on a page is read: that’s why it’s a good idea to be as concise as possible in order to successfully deliver your message. Using solid headers and breaking your work into sections will help enhance the readability of your message.
If you do decide to do an in-person presentation, keeping it simple is the best approach. That way, you’ll be able to make a good impression while clearly outlining your social media marketing proposal.
Optimize Your Marketing Approach
Growing your marketing business is a lot of work, but the right social media marketing proposal will help you streamline your efforts for new client acquisition. Now that you know how to create a successful marketing proposal, start working on growing your business today.