How to create a contract for a freelance social media marketing gig

From building a community or network of clients to negotiating your work's worth, here are a few things to keep in mind while drafting a contract for a freelance social media marketing gig.

If you have some free time on your hands or are looking for flexibility in your work lifestyle, you have likely considered the option of freelancing. After all, who wouldn't love the option of being their own boss and working with multiple projects to their heart's desire. However, it can be a bit overwhelming if you are a beginner and are trying to understand the worth of your work. The biggies and the sharks in the industry can be intimidating but as long as you keep faith in yourself and are ready to drive up a bargain, you can seal yourself a steal deal. Here are a few things that will help you create a fair contract for a freelance social media marketing gig.

First Things First: Talk Talk Talk

There is a lot of hush-hush around pricing. If you are a newbie, you are perhaps the perfect person to help break the chain and infuse some transparency in the system. Be open to conversations with your peers and seniors — tell them about what you feel is your worth and what you are being offered.

If someone is telling you to not discuss compensation openly, stay away from them. These talks can help you bargain better and earn more. You deserve a safe space where you can discuss money and only you can make it happen for yourself.

This openness should also be extended to your prospective employers. If they are not okay with hearing you out or understanding your financial position, rethink your choice of working with them. Also, spend a lot of time in research - understand the current payment brackets, use it as a base point to evaluate how much should be your fee for a given assignment. Don't over-quote, don't under-quote. Quote a fair fee and keep some room for negotiation.

Calculating Monies

Now that you have had the conversations, you can sit down to calculate the worth of your work. You must take into account the time it would take you to complete the task and the skills you have acquired thus far that help you finish it in the said time.

It could range from a few hundred to a few thousand for each post or a fixed amount every month — it would help for you to fix a base price, upon which you can add an amount as you see fit in a particular case scenario.

As a beginner, you are likely to take more time to work on something, the duration is likely to reduce as you up-skill yourself. These two would be the most important factors.

The third would be industry standards — a tricky one in an industry as opaque as social media marketing. However, if you have done your homework and talked to enough people, peers, and mentors, you are likely to cross this bridge with slight ease.

Also Read: How to set up a social media crisis response plan

Timeline of Payment

It is extremely important to define the timeline along which you would like to be paid. It could be a monthly retainer as well as a per-project or weekly pricing — make sure you shape up a timeline before dipping your feet into the project.

To experience a delay in getting paid is a real issue and you must be on your feet about it. It would help to get a sense of things from someone who has worked with a specific client or company before. Also, do not hesitate in following up and pulling up people, if required, to get paid fairly and on time.

Number of Reworks

You should also decide the number of re-works you would accept per piece of work, from the get-go. You can perhaps include up to two cycles of re-works and feedback as part of the package, beyond which every change would be charged extra.

If you are met with a client who is indecisive and cannot explain their idea properly, you can always extend a hand and help them with options and more conversations. However, it should neither come at a cost of what you deserve to be paid nor your mental health.

Confidentiality Clauses

If you are pitching an original idea or have been on the receiving end of some confidential information, it is the responsibility of both parties to not share it publicly. You can, in fact, add this to your contract.

On your part, you would have to respect the conversations you have with clients (especially if you are working with multiple people/organisations at once) and not inadvertently use an idea you picked from one place to pitch at another. Having a confidentiality clause will help safeguard the interests of all persons involved.

To begin with, you can refer to some social media marketing contract formats here. If you are looking for a job, you can check curated options at Social Samosa Jobs.