Hiring a Cheap Social Media Manager

Whether it’s social media marketing or electrical work, it takes time, experience and continuous learning to be successful in an industry. Regardless of your specialty, I’m sure you’ve heard a prospective client complain about the pricing of your services.

You Get What You Pay For

Many social media marketers I talk to experience the same issue when it comes to prospective clients. Do the quotes below sound familiar to you? Just replace the italicized words with what you specialize in (construction, law, IT, welding… whatever).

“I want the highest quality of social media marketing work done, but at the cheapest price.”

“I’m going to hire my nephew because he’s young and uses Instagram all the time… and will do our social media for free.”

“Why are you so expensive? I can find someone on Kijiji for cheaper.”

“Want to go for coffee, I need to ask you about social media and networking! I’ll buy the coffee!”

What is Social Media Marketing?

Social media is a necessary chunk of your business’ marketing plan, a modern way to provide customer service and to generate awareness and sales. It’s not the next cool thing for your business, sure it sounds more fun and interactive than bus bench advertising, but in plain words, it’s to help your business generate conversions/sales and leads.

For companies that don’t see the “value” in social media marketing, of course they’re not going to be willing to pay a decent rate for it. I turn down work all the time (as I’m sure other social media professionals do as well) because I can tell when someone isn’t respectful of my time or experience.

Best Priced Social Media Marketing

I’m by no means saying that you need to pay an arm and a leg for a service, but you also shouldn’t be looking for the “cheapest” or “best priced” either. Go cheap with your social media services and your company won’t be getting what it needs, I guarantee it. You’ll probably have to pay for someone else to come in and fix the mistakes made by that “best priced” company, build a proper strategy and show you what you could have been doing months ago should you have hired the qualified person in the first place.

Think about what social media is, it’s representing your brand, company or organization to the public. Do you want to entrust that with someone because they were the cheapest? Do you want to find the cheapest baby sitter, as opposed to the most qualified, and trust them to watch your child while you’re not looking? Most likely not (if you answered yes, please close this browser window immediately).

Say No to Social Media Experts, Gurus, Rockstars, Savants

In any industry, it’s important for professionals to say “I’m not sure, let me check”. When you hire someone who claims they’re a social media expert or guru (gross!) at what they do, you’re actually hiring a liar. NOBODY knows everything there is to know about social media (if you find someone who actually does, please pay them a jillion dollars) and so when you’re paying out your butt for a social media rockstar to help you with your social media marketing, you’re actually paying for someone who CAN’T say “I don’t know” because they’re claiming to know everything!

This post is by no means telling you empty your bank account and hire the most expensive social media strategist or manager, but what it should be getting across to you is that when you hire someone who claims to have the “best price” or the “cheapest service”, you’re getting shit for brains marketing. I see a lot of “secrets to social media success” workshops for hundreds of dollars being offered by individuals and companies who don’t know fuck all when it comes to social media, and it irks me.

Further explanation so you don’t yell at me: My pal, Jon, actually wrote a comment about this post, in it he said:

I say if a prospective client complains about price, I’ve done a bad job at selling. It’s always about ROI and if I can convince any business owner that $100 or $100,000 spent on my service will result in 10 times that number on their bottom line, they always pull out their wallet.

If I can’t convince them of that, then either I suck, or my marketing or sales suck. If we blame the client for being cheap, we miss the lesson.

And yes, I wholeheartedly agree. I’m not blaming you for being cheap, I’m telling you to do due diligence.

Too Long, Didn’t Read

So no, I’m not saying pay a million dollars and you’ll get everything you need, I’m saying:

• be smart about who you hire
• most of the time, the “cheapest” and “best priced” don’t offer the “best” service
• look for experience, skill set, past work and knowledge when searching for a professional
• if you find the right, legit, social media agency or individual you want to work with but can’t necessarily afford to pay them a retainer to manage your accounts, reach out and see if they offer training services
• don’t be stupid and expect people to work for free or cheap

Looking to Hire a Social Media Manager?

Watch this video before you sign a contract!