Do you have the art of the social media proposal down? Do you know exactly how to make clients give a big, resounding yes to your social media skills?
Don’t worry if not - it can be tough. Social media marketing is an aspect of marketing that potential clients often think they can do themselves.
Hey, I use it day-to-day for my personal life, it can’t be that hard. I don’t need a marketing agency for this...
It is. If you don’t know what you’re doing…
We’re going to give you the gift of the perfect social media proposal template, so you can start air punching when you get a decision, rather than turning to comfort eating those biscuits in your desk-drawer.
Your social media marketing proposal is your time to shine. It needs to showcase your value to the client, overturning the major obstacle of ‘it can’t be that hard’. Clearly outline your goals, your team (and their expertise), tactics, timeline, type of content, tone of voice and how you’ll measure success.
Let’s take a closer look…
Your intro needs to do a few things: make you stand out from the competition right from the get-go, highlight what makes good social content and be personal enough to pique their interest.
Talk directly to the customer using words like you, yours and we. Remember you’re already establishing a relationship in the first page.
Hi [insert client name],
We’re over the moon you’ve asked us to show you how we can help boost your bottom line with our social media skills.
Talk about what the proposal is for/about - mention your client’s problems and how you’re going to solve them in the proposal.
This proposal is going to outline exactly how we can use proven social media strategy to deliver effective, sales-driven results right to your digital doorstep.
Talk about what makes successful social media posts, it’s a great opportunity to show off your knowledge from the get-go.
The secret to social media is to be engaging, directly addressing how you can help your customer. They need to be relevant, timely, useful and attractive. If you can nail this, you’ll see leads rolling in - and we can help.
TIP TO AVOID: Don’t be boring. Let your brand personality shine through; after all, they won’t want boring, bog-standard social posts!
This section is all about managing your prospective client’s expectations, showing that you understand their needs and how you can help them.
Often clients can easily identify that they need help with social media management, but they can’t pinpoint exactly why they need it or more specifically what their business goals are.
This is where you come in.
For effective goals that will make sense to your client, you’ll need to follow good ol’ S.M.A.R.T. objectives. Here’s an example for a retail store proposal:
You can see this is very specific. The client knows exactly what they can expect and they can see that you understand their needs better than they do.
TIP TO AVOID: Make sure you’re not too broad with your objectives: Raise profile on Instagram or Increase Facebook post engagement just won’t cut it I’m afraid.
As a consultant, here is your chance to analyze the current efforts of your client’s social media (if they have any) and give reasons why it’s not working for them.
For example:
You are averaging 10 link clicks per Facebook post.
Your current strategy isn’t working because your posts are too inward-facing. Your social posts need to directly address the benefit to your customer, not all about you.
Give more examples of where they aren’t quite getting it right, but make sure you’re being tactful and practical.
TOP TIP: The intention is to showcase your knowledge, not pick them apart (especially with new clients). Try and use language like ‘although the copy works well, the offer isn’t enticing enough to be effective’.
When it comes to strategy, you need to outline your primary areas of focus, including:
TOP TIP: Don’t use complicated marketing jargon they’re not going to understand. Try and steer clear of ‘KPIs’ and ‘Exponential Growth’ because quite simply, you can be more creative than that! ‘KPI’ is yawn-inducing and ‘Exponential Growth’? Well, you lost me at ‘Ex…’
Here is the big, chunky bit; you have to lay out your tactics and put your money where your mouth is. You’ve talked about what they’re doing wrong and now it’s time to say ok, this is how we’re going to tackle that for you.
Parts to include:
TOP TIP: You’ll notice that including why is very important. That’s because so many people just relay to a client what they’re going to do, but forget to leave out exactly why it matters.
If your client understands the importance of the tactic, they’re much more likely to get on board. You don’t want the reasons behind your tactics to be a mystery to them, it’s counter-productive.
This section has two goals; to persuade the client that your offering has good value and to lay out the T&Cs (so expectations are set in stone).
Include the following sections:
Here’s an example:
| Activity | Time Span | Cost |
|---|---|---|
|
Facebook and Instagram Management for Increased Leads |
3 months |
$5000 |
|
Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for Increased Leads |
6 months |
$7000 |
|
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Google Plus for Increased Leads |
12 months |
$13000 |
We appreciate the total time-span cost delivered to our specified account on a monthly basis.
We’ll agree to one day per week in your office, working directly with you (if you wish). This helps cement the team. Termination of the contract must be given with one month’s written notice to this email address sample@gmail.com.
TOP TIP: Don’t make it all about the money. This is about value. Highlight what the customer will get under each pricing option (and you must give 2-3 options!) and make that the focus point.
That’s a wrap; remember your social media proposal needs to be persuasive and let your company shine like the star you are. Be competitive, use attractive language and live by one rule: keep your customer at the center of the proposal.
You’ll shine just as brightly as a result.
The proliferation of social media brings with it a new world of business opportunities, but also the potential to wate an enormous amount of valuable time and resources. {client_name} needs to make intelligent investments in these tools to gain an edge over its competitors. With the help of an analytically-minded social media consultant, {client_name} can:
{client_name} will feel the pressure to invest more resources into social media as those networks continue to grow. Without a strategy that takes limited resources and numerical data into account, it will be impossible to know if its expenses are actually
producing results.
To meet the challenges {client_name} faces and achieve the results described above, we recommend the following social media consulting services as part of this project:
{my_company}’s social media consulting services will deliver the following results for {client_name}:
Increasing Social Media Leads
|
$400 |
Social Media Optimizing and Ongoing Analysis
|
$16,000 |
| Total | $20,000 |
If {client_name} selects {my_company} to provide the social media consulting services described, our timeline would proceed as follows:
|
Phase |
Activities |
Completion |
|
Social Media Audit |
Comprehensive analysis of {client_name}’s current social media use by {my_company}; actionable advice to improve results based on the findings. |
08/15/XX |
|
Social Media Strategic Plan Development |
Creation of a long-term plan to expand {client_name}’s social media presence and improve efficiency of {client_name}’s existing investments. |
09/07/XX |
|
Analytics System Training |
{my_company} will meet with {client_name}’s team to brief them about the social media analytics system, scoreboards, and how to interpret numerical data. |
09/14/XX |
To take advantage of this proposal and proceed with the project as outlined, {client_name}’s next steps must be to:
Once completed, {my_company} will contact {client_name} to schedule a project launch meeting to make introductions and gather information before beginning the work.
We’re happy to make changes to project scope on {client_name}’s request at any time, but may be subject to additional billing.
For {client_name}, social media can either be a commitment with uncertain results or the perfect opportunity to gain an edge over its competitors. {my_company}’s services assures it’s the latter. We’ll bring the following strengths to our work for {client_name}:
Once the project fee is paid in full to {my_company}, any elements of text, graphics, photos, contents, trademarks, or other artwork furnished to {client_name} for inclusion in the website are owned by {client_name}.
{my_company} assumes {client_name} has permission from the rightful owner to use any code, scripts, data, and reports provided by {client_name} for inclusion in its materials, and will hold harmless, protect, and defend {my_company} from any claim or suit arising from the use of such work.
{my_company} retains the right to display graphics and other web content elements as examples of their work in their portfolio and as content features in other projects.
This agreement becomes effective only when signed by agents of {client_name} and {my_company}. Regardless of the place of signing of this agreement, {client_name} agrees that for purposes of venue, this contract was entered into in [STATE] and any dispute will be litigated or arbitrated in [STATE].
The agreement contained in this contract constitutes the sole agreement between {client_name} and the {my_company} regarding all items included in this agreement.