How much should I charge for the services?

How much should I charge for my soc media mgmt services?

• Hi- I'm starting my own sm mgmt co & I'm doing a proposal for my first prospect right now & trying to configure pricing. This guy runs a custom home plan design comp out of his house in another state.  No storefront, charges by $65/ per hour. He doesnt advertise or have any social media profiles etc so obviously not too mkting minded, he needs to advertise & knows it- but..but is one that I have to spell it out for him. My plan is to propose creating a FB pg, Twitter & Pinterest acct.  Mainly focusing on pinterest with the goal of increasing traffic to his website.  He said he never gets calls from ppl finding him via search engine. All word of mouth/referrals...business is great right now, but you never know 6 mo from now. His customer base is older and wants to reach younger demo. How much should I charge him? By the hour? Retainer? He's my first customer so Im not sure how much time I'll spend a day.  And how much should I charge to set everything up?  Facebook ad campaign? Since he doesn't advertise much, I am afraid of quoting him to high and turning him off.  It is really important for me to charge him appropriately. I am not going to promise a boom in his business, because I honestly don't want to promise something and then it not work.  BUT if you search 'custom home plans' on pinterest...hundreds of photos appear.  I'll have him in that mix now.  I'll get the traffic to him and it is up to him from there to sell them. I am supposed to send the proposal to him tomorrow AM.  I just found this site...hence the last minute posting of this question.  So, it would wonderful if someone could help me asap : ). I can comment with additional info if needed. Thanks so much in advance!!!

• Answer:

  Congratulations on heading into what is a growing market the world over. Good luck! Having said that I strongly feel you are rushing into this matter. I see a shotgun approach and that usually (not always) results in you trying to do everything and not focusing on any one in particular. You're talking about multiple services that this client can get: 1. Creating & then managing his Facebook page. 2. Advertising his Facebook page. 3. Creating & maintaining his Twitter page 4. Creating & maintaining his Pinterest profile 5. Getting him traffic to his website via Google Adwords. Each service category is so complex that entire companies (like mine) are devoted to servicing just one. My suggestion would be to pick just one, say Facebook and focus on that. You can charge for creating and managing the Facebook page on a monthly retainer and should bill the client separately for the Facebook advertising that he does. It sounds like a good opportunity so my suggestions is to not bite off more than you can chew. Good luck!