The Ultimate Guide to Making Money as a Freelance Social Media Manager in 2024

Have you ever dreamt of making a living by becoming a freelance social media manager? With the ever-growing power of social media and its ability to reach potential customers, an increasing number of companies are looking for social media professionals to manage their accounts. If you’re interested in becoming a freelance social media manager, this is your ultimate guide.

In this guide, we’ll cover all the necessary steps to get started, the best practices for success, and the ways you can make money as a freelance social media manager. We’ll also provide some social media management tools, tips, and tricks to help you stand out from the competition and maximize your potential earnings.

Let’s get started!

Who is a Freelance Social Media Manager?

A freelance social media manager is a person who organizes and manages social media accounts for other people—either one-time or regularly. Essentially, a freelance social media manager manages social media accounts for clients.

As a result of the increasing social media influence, engagement, and the growing demand for social media management, the freelance social media manager industry is booming.

The job of a freelance social media manager can be extremely rewarding. With the right skills, you can earn well while working from home. Other benefits of becoming a freelance social media manager include the flexibility to choose your schedule and the ability to work part-time or full-time.

Benefits of Becoming a Freelance Social Media Manager

• Freelance social media management can be a highly rewarding career that can bring in a steady income. Working from home and choosing your schedule are two huge benefits of this career path.

• Another benefit of being a freelance social media manager is the ability to diversify your income. With the growing popularity of social media, there are multiple opportunities to make money as a freelance social media manager.

• You can specialize in managing specific social media platforms like Instagram, Pinterest, or YouTube. Or, you can branch out into digital marketing or website development with an online course. If you have the right skills, you can even become an online entrepreneur and sell social media management products, services, or leads to other businesses.

One of the best parts of this profession is that you can work to become an expert in any topic and expand your knowledge in any field you choose.

Bonus: 14 Do’s and Don’ts of Effective Social Media Branding

What Skills Do You Need to Become a Freelance Social Media Manager?

There are a few basic skills that all freelance social media managers need to have. To become successful in this field, you’ll want to focus on honing these skills to become an industry expert.

1. Creating Accessible Content

As a freelance social media manager, it’s important to produce engaging and accessible content for your clients—and for your social media accounts. You can learn a lot about a client’s business by reading their social media content and comments.

Therefore, to become an industry expert and increase your income, you must understand how to find and eliminate irrelevant information from clients’ social media content.

2. Analyzing what works and what doesn’t

As a freelance social media manager, you will likely be tasked with performing social media analysis. To become an industry expert, you need to know how to perform social media analysis on your clients’ content. Some clients may ask you to analyze their social media performance and determine the best way to improve their content.

3. Content Creation

Another important skill for freelance social media managers is content creation. As a freelancer, you may be assigned the task of creating social media posts, images, and videos for your clients. Therefore, it’s important to have social media management tools such as Simplified to master the art of creative writing and visual design.

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Bonus: Mastering Social Media Marketing: 11 Tips to Elevate Your Strategy Across Every Platform

Setting Up Your Freelance Social Media Manager Business

When it comes to setting up a freelance social media manager business, there are many ways to go about it. One of the most common ways is to use a site like Fiverr or Upwork to post gigs. Another common way is to create an independent website and use Facebook ads to generate traffic.

You can also create a professional website with Facebook and Instagram ads as a means of monetization. Use free tools on Simplified for website copy and other content needs. Once you’ve decided on a method, you’ll want to invest some time in setting up your business.

Setting up your business will give you a better understanding of how to operate it and make it as efficient as possible. Once you’ve set up your business, you should also consider networking with other freelancers and sharing knowledge.

Finding The Right Clients

Freelance social media managers can earn money from a variety of clients. Some of the most common clients are small to medium-sized businesses, non-profit organizations, and government entities.

However, the most profitable client type for freelance social media managers is the individual. With a steady stream of individual clients, you can have a truly lucrative freelance social media manager business.

Individual clients are the most common type of client for freelance social media managers. In relation to income, they are second only to businesses in terms of profitability. With individual clients, you can charge as much as you want based on the value you add to the relationship.

Bonus: 23+ Best Social Media Scheduling Tools (Free & Paid)

Different Ways to Make Money as a Freelance Social Media Manager

• Social media management – This is the most common type of freelance social media manager work. This can come from managing one or more social media accounts, posting content, engaging with followers, and managing SEO and keywords.
• Online course creation – This is another popular way for freelance social media managers to generate income. There are countless different ways to create an online course, including through Udemy and YouTube.
• Digital marketing – This can come in the form of content marketing and paid advertising. Content marketing can come in the form of blog posts or sponsored YouTube videos. Paid advertising can come in the form of Facebook ads and Google ads.

5 Tips and Tricks to Stand Out from the Competition + [FREE Tool]

As a freelance social media manager, you need to set realistic goals and make sure you’re following best practices to succeed in the field. Here are five best practices that can help you succeed as a freelancer.

1. Make your own content

Creating original content is an important way to stand out from the competition. You can use photo editing software or Photoshop to create images that represent your brand. You can also use a voice recorder to record voice-over content that represents your brand.

2. Create your online presence

The more online presence you build, the better your chances are at attracting clients and generating leads. You can use social media and hiring platforms to build your online presence, build websites, and even create online portfolios.

3. Build a Network of Freelance Social Media Partners

Networking is a great way to meet potential clients and build your freelancing business. Moreover, it’s important to build a network of fellow freelancers who you can learn from and help each other out. Networking with other freelancers will help you learn more quickly, help you find clients, and introduce you to others in your industry.

4. Focus on Quality, Not Quantity

While it’s important to consider the quantity of work you complete, it’s more important to focus on quality. If you want to become an industry expert, you’ll need to focus on a niche and commit to learning.

5. Take Advantage of Online Tools

Online platforms like Facebook groups, Slack channels, and design tools like Simplified are invaluable resources for freelancers. There’s a good chance there’s an online community for freelancers that you can join to help grow your network and learn from others.

Bonus: Social Media Platforms Your Business Should be Using Now

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• Get access to long-form AI writing assistance, analytics reporting, and much more!
• No design skills or code are required!

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