Do you know social media like the back of your hand? If you’ve successfully used sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to drive traffic and boost sales for your online business, you probably do. The cool thing is that if you know social media, this is a service you can start offering clients.
There are lots of small businesses that are absolutely clueless about how to establish a social media presence. They need somebody just like you to manage it for them. But before you launch your new social media consultant website and start offering your services, I’ve got a few warnings to give you.
You’ve Got to Be Good
Unfortunately, you’re not the first person with this brilliant idea. Lots of people think that just because they can get a bunch of fans and followers on social media, they’re poised to become a highly paid guru. That the market is flooded with folks who think they can do it but probably can’t get much in the way of results.
If you’re going to offer social media consulting services, you need to be good at what you do. You need to prove to clients that you can get results for them. Work on building a portfolio of your greatest social media achievements and use this to demonstrate what you can do for them.
Social Media Consulting Is a Form of Babysitting
Social media isn’t something you do once and it’s over. It’s an ongoing service that goes on for a long time, and this makes it tough to plan and price. You’ll also have clients that want you to solve all their problems for them, especially if they’re offline business that don’t know much about social media.
How to Get Clients
If you think you’ve got the skills and you can handle the little things that come up along the way, you’re ready to get started. You’ll need a website, of course, that you’ll drive traffic to. But what’s really going to matter is your outbound marketing. With so much competition out there, you’re going to need to grab them by the lapels and convince them you’re the one.
Create a pitch for your services and start approaching businesses you deal with. For example, you’ve noticed that your pool cleaner has a weak presence on Facebook. Explain to them how more activity there will translate to more business for them and see if they’re interested. Any local business you deal with is a possible client.
It’ll help you even more if you’ve got something extra to throw into the deal. If, for example, you also have web design skills or you’re a content creator, you can offer a package deal. Every good marketer knows that you need an integrated approach with social media working together with your website, your offline marketing, and everything else you’re doing to get your message out.
If you think social media consulting might be the thing for you, try it with one client before you launch completely into it. You’ll learn fast whether or not it’s right for you.
Tony
