Question

Topic: Strategy

First Consulting Gig Maintaining Social Media

Posted by Anonymous on 7/18/2012 at 10:51 PM ET 250 Points
Hi there,

I'm brand new to the field and negotiating my first consulting gig with a small marketing company who wants to hire me to create and maintain social media pages to start. Depending on how that goes, I've been given the proverbial carrot in front of my face to work into a full time salaried position doing more work with the company beyond the social media.

When I asked my prospective employer what he felt was fair payment for such a job, he was intentionally vague and encouraged me to do some research on independent contractors. This doesn't help.

The research I've done shows shockingly high prices for such a job, charged as a flat fee. Having a background in the world of nonprofits, I guess I'm suffering sticker shock when it comes to pay rates in the for-profit world?

Realistically it will likely take me 10-ish hours to learn what I need to learn about the social media outlets and the company itself, 5-ish hours for each site he wants me to create, and about 5 weekly hours of maintenance for them on an ongoing basis.

Ideas?

Mary
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RESPONSES

  • Posted on 7/19/2012 at 9:05 AM Author
    Yes, of course, I'm sorry if it wasn't clear that I had no intention of charging him for my education. I was simply trying to give a realistic picture if everything I'd be doing in relation to this project. He did indicate that he's expecting me to charge a flat fee, so I wasn't considering an hourly wage when I wrote my question.

    So perhaps something like $200 to make each page with an ongoing payment of $300 a month for maintenance/updates of said pages? Would that be considered fair?
  • Posted on 7/19/2012 at 9:07 AM Author
    I should add that I'm not starting from scratch here and that I have plenty of experience(10+ years) in most of what he's asking me to do, just in a very different context (coming from nonprofit management).
  • Posted by mgoodman on 7/19/2012 at 11:10 AM Moderator
    I think an effective hourly rate of anything less than $50/hour would indicate that you don't value your contribution very highly. So if you think you'll need, say, 15 hours to deliver what they need, you should be charging at least $750.

    I'd also be sure to do two things:

    1. Quote your fee as being +/- 20%, so if it ends up being really easy/fast, you can reflect that by charging a little less (everyone loves it when you come in under budget); and if it takes longer because they let project-creep take hold you can charge a bit more without having to get into a debate about whether it's your fault or theirs.

    2. Be very specific in your agreement about what the project deliverables are. That way if there is any project creep it will be clear to everyone, not subject to interpretation.

    You might want to get a copy of the book Rasputin For Hire. The subtitle is: An inside look at management consulting between jobs or as a second career. https://bit.ly/k3Z7m with a free bonus report, or through major booksellers in the United States, and from Amazon.com.

    The book has a whole section on fee options for consultants, as well as other information for new consultants and freelancers.
  • Posted by Peter (henna gaijin) on 7/19/2012 at 12:37 PM Member
    Don't forget to also include the fact that as a consultant, you have to allow for time finding clients (so you are unable to bill 40 hours per week) and have to pay your own benefits. So where as an employee of a company you might make what works out to one dollar amount hourly rate, as a consultant you should at least double that rate.

    As such, I would not use Phil's suggested rate, but something more like Mgoodman's.
  • Posted by ben.singkol on 7/20/2012 at 4:51 PM Accepted
    Yes, unfortunately the intricacies of social marketing maintenance is a process that takes more than 10 hours to grasp, but there are some basic tips you can use to enhance your existing campaign and bolster your results:

    Establish your brand voice
    Invite commentary instead of simply self-promoting
    Be timely and relevant
    Focus on being cohesive rather than consistent, mix it up a bit
    Be aware of your audience and their needs
  • Posted by Chris Blackman on 7/23/2012 at 11:02 AM Accepted
    Forget charging by the hour. It's unethical and has an inherent conflict of interest. You should instead be in a partnership with the client.

    Develop with the client a set of objectives for the project. Make three columns. Put the basic objectives in Column A, add some more intermediate level objectives into column B, and put the advanced objectives into C.

    Discuss with the client what would be their outcomes, i.e. revenue/profit growth, derived through achievement of the Column A, A+B, A+B +C objectives.

    Now divide his received value by some number - say five or ten - to develop a reasonable charge-out structure for delivering Column A, or A+B, or A +B +C.

    At five, you're delivering a 500% ROI on the rate charged for realising the objectives. At ten, you're giving the customer a 1000% ROI.

    Maybe skew the pricing a little to provide a higher ROI for the bigger project, i.e. Column A + B +C.

    If the prospective client baulks at your pricing, there's always Option A, the lower scope/lower price offering.

    Make the project fixed scope, fixed price. Nobody likes a consulting project that has no end, no result, and an interminable cost.

    For more help, feel free to contact me via my profile.

  • Posted on 7/23/2012 at 10:57 PM Author
    Thank you all very much. This has been extremely helpful! I'm putting together my terms/fees/etc. this week and you've all helped me get on the right track. This is so complicated... I really didn't know what I was getting into, but it's so interesting that I'm looking forward to continuing!
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