Wondering how to become a social media consultant? To become one, you will need to be able to market your client’s products and services correctly, and this requires technology, tools, advertising, and management skills.
This article explains the list of skills that you need to acquire, how to put your skills to test, what you can include in your consulting services and become a successful social media consultant.
Data Analytics and Measurement
For B2B companies, data-driven marketing is key to driving sales, while B2C companies see this as a crucial component for customer retention
In the earlier days, it was challenging to measure social media, but today, it’s straightforward as most of the social platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. provide excellent dashboards and metrics on each post.
You need to be able to crunch those numbers, gather insights, optimize your strategy, and deliver social campaigns that achieve your client’s goals.
Google Analytics is another great platform to analyze your campaign performance, monitor trends, and improve results.
You should be able to monitor conversions coming directly from social channels, look at assisted conversions, and how your social media campaign is contributing to clients success.
Social Media Tools
It is hard to manage everything on your own. Thanks to social media management tools, they can share a ton of time, automate half of your work and provide valuable features to be more strategic in terms of your campaign management.
Some of the tools that i recommend are, HootSuite, Buffer, SproutSocial and CoSchedule.
Conversion Rate Optimization
One of the primary purposes of being present on social channels is to ultimately drive traffic to your revenue-generating pages.
As a consultant, you should be able to convert those visitors into paying customers, clients or leads.
Only 52% of companies and agencies that use landing pages for their promotion also test them to find ways to improve conversions.
You should be able to optimize landing pages, recommend landing page software, conduct split test on your social campaigns, change audience targeting and test all the different variables to figure out a social campaign that converts well.
Create Engaging and Relevant Content
Social content like Instagram Stories / Facebook Stories is an example of a great way to connect instantly and authentically with your audience and add creative elements in such a way that it shows your brands personality.
Skills like photo and video editing will go a long way as they play an essential role in creating engaging, catchy, and creative media to grab audience attention on social platforms.
Build Your Personal Brand
It’s true; people are Googling you at every stage of your career. Regardless of your age or professional title, someone is screening you online. Thus, it is crucial to create an online brand that highlights the best in you.
Social media consultants, freelancers, and entrepreneurs need to build a personal brand.
You can build a personal brand by managing your website, Facebook page, YouTube channel, or any other digital platform where you can create an audience.
The main goal should be to get exposure and become known for the social media work that you do.
You can share social media engagement strategies, best practices, tips, and informational content to build a highly engaging audience on your personal digital channel.
Start Your Work by Volunteering for Social Media Services
Best way to get social media projects to build a portfolio is to volunteer for social media services.
You can choose a non-profit organization that you feel passionate about and want to promote it online via social channels.
Offer them your social media services to get a project, implement, and put your knowledge to test, document the success, and share your experience on your website.
This process will help you build a strong portfolio, which you can use to pitch for a consulting job and acquire professional clients.
Choose Your Social Media Services and Offerings
Now that you have a solid understanding of various social media platforms, gained skills and have to build a decent portfolio, it is time to decide what will be your Niche and social media services that you want to offer.
Your skills, projects, and passion might guide you to choose a particular niche that you may want to focus, or you can handle social media marketing for any company.
I recommend starting large, select projects as they come, figure out your likes and disliked, and then decide on a niche that will be more profitable.
As a social media consultant, you can offer social media audit, training, live sessions, strategy lessons for B2B and B2C companies and set strategic pricing for each of them.
Having a wide array of products and services will help you build multiple streams of income, identify the most profitable services, invest more resources on them, and scale your business.
It is time to go LIVE
Now that you have landed a couple of new clients, set your consulting processes and workflows to run a smooth social media consulting service.
Think about hiring new people, subscribing to online tools, handle invoices, manage client appoints, and set a proper client onboarding and management process.
Few tips to onboard new social media clients:
Prospect: Consistency counts! Open new relationships via digital channels, build a relationship with potential leads and start prospecting.
Contract: Prepare a list of service you can offer once you get a client request. Offer a deal and review the terms and conditions, deliverables, timeline, and budget.
On-board: Setup a project management system on Slack, Asana, or BaseCamp to manage clients projects, sent them your project scope, and walk through the project details to bring everyone on the same page.
Common Questions about Social Media Consultant
How much does a social media consultant make?
The average salary for social media consultant is $38,000. This salary can go as high as $70,000 and as low as $16,000.
It is best to work as a freelance, you can make your social media work as per your schedule and keep your day job, work with multiple clients and scale your income.
How much do social media consultants charge per hour?
Typical social media consultant will charge $50 to $100 per hour. This rate will go as high as $120/hr if the consultant have more than 5 to 10+ years of experience.
How can a social media consultant improve their skills?
Write clear, engaging and on-message blogs, content and publish them on your personal website. Go through Facebook Blueprint, Google Analytics, HubSpot academy and Design Certification.
