Pricing for social media marketing package

[straightdrive]

Afternoon all,

I recently started a social media marketing company and am at the stage of putting a package together which would be suitable for small to medium sized companies but I need some help as I'm not sure what a reasonable price is.

The package includes the following:

• Research into customers business
• Create content using the research so it is relevant to clients business
• Update Facebook, Twitter, Instagram everyday(without spam)
• Manage any customer enquiries that come in on the clients social media
• Engage and interact with possible customers on behalf of client

I've got 5 customers at the moment paying me about between £200 - £300 per month for this. It's a lot of work and I think I'm being underpaid because everyday I have to think of new content and then write it and design it, but it does seem to be working for the clients because I keep in touch with them once every couple of weeks for feedback etc and they say it's all good. These 5 customers I've had from last year but I was only doing this part time whilst employed. But now I want to take it up full time.


So are my prices too cheap or too expensive? What is the normal price for a package like this? I spoke to one company to do research, they wanted to charge about £1000/month for similar to what my package offers :S


Thanks in advance

 

[ProjectOcto]

If I wanted to own 7 Porsches, and had the credibility to sell to Tesco and Currys, I'd be charging £1000 an hour.

If I was a startup with more modest expectations, selling to smaller businesses with smaller budgets, I might charge £20 an hour.

There will be companies charging for those services at ALL levels (I know one firm who billed £18k just to create a Facebook profile, not manage it!) - so look at your pricing from a cost point of view - how much is your time worth?

Have a look at Creative Boom's website too as they have some fantastic articles on "how to price for your services". Oh, also the TheWordyBird podcasts talk about the same

 

[straightdrive]

Thank you, I'll check out creative booms

 

[joeptsearle]

Just in my opinion, I would be looking at around the 500 mark, seems the most reasonable for what you are offering, you'll get a tidy profit and your customers should be happy with that if your really helping them. Always remember though, offer value double the price.

 

[stender]

It comes down to how many hours pd you are going to devote to each customer and times that by what your hourly rate is. obviously the more customers you take on you'll either have to up the price or make your day longer.

 

[ethical PR]

Afternoon all,

I recently started a social media marketing company and am at the stage of putting a package together which would be suitable for small to medium sized companies but I need some help as I'm not sure what a reasonable price is.

The package includes the following:

• Research into customers business
• Create content using the research so it is relevant to clients business
• Update Facebook, Twitter, Instagram everyday(without spam)
• Manage any customer enquiries that come in on the clients social media
• Engage and interact with possible customers on behalf of client

I've got 5 customers at the moment paying me about between £200 - £300 per month for this. It's a lot of work and I think I'm being underpaid because everyday I have to think of new content and then write it and design it, but it does seem to be working for the clients because I keep in touch with them once every couple of weeks for feedback etc and they say it's all good. These 5 customers I've had from last year but I was only doing this part time whilst employed. But now I want to take it up full time.


So are my prices too cheap or too expensive? What is the normal price for a package like this? I spoke to one company to do research, they wanted to charge about £1000/month for similar to what my package offers :S


Thanks in advance

I think you need to do two things;

1. carry out research with your competitors (similar type, experience, expertise) to identify how they cost this sort of work so you can estimate how much they charge

2. Now you have five customers you can keep records of how long you spend on each to help you identify how many hours you are spending (by the way your client should be providing you with base content, rather than you having to develop it). Does how long you are spending equate with how much time you agreed to spend/estimated spending when you developed the package? Did you specify to the client how many hours a month you would provide? If you are spending too much time on a regular basis,did you under estimate how long it would take? Or are you over servicing the clients?

Once you have this information you can work out how much it should cost your clients taking into account the hourly charge out rate you have devised for your business ie the rate you need to charge taking into account your fixed and variable costs, and what you need to generate to pay your wages (including set aside for tax).

People on the forum won't be able to advise you as they won't necessarily be experts in your marketplace or know your operating costs and income requirements.

 

[Phil Richardson]

I think you are coming at it from the wrong angle. Clients aren't buying your time they are buying your many years of experience, in depth knowledge of marketing and sales, a great understanding of how social media can drive real value for companies and a real knowledge of your clients target market.

I'm assuming you have all of these, if you don't you are in the wrong market, and you should be focusing on the value your clients will receive.

Cost + is always going to be difficult to grow your business as it is your time you are selling. If you value your contribution to the company at £1000 then you just need to find a market that are willing to pay this.

 

[fisicx]

How much money do you need to earn each month?
How many clients can you comfortably handle each month?

Divide one by the other and that will tell you how much you need to charge.

EG: Money you need = £3000. Clients you can handle = 10. Cost per client = £300

 

[Spock]

or charge £400 each and work a few less hours

 

[thelegalstop]

When you started the business, did you check the average pricing other companies charge ? As a start up, you can always offer lower prices to get a portfolio of clients, but if you are professional enough, you`d know whether the times:money satisfies you and what should you do to improve your situation. I don`t know what exactly you are doing and how you do it, so I have no idea, whether you charge too little ortoo much.

 

[straightdrive]

Thanks for the input guys, it's all been helpful