How to start the social media business
Table of Contents
Starting a business is an important and bold move, and for many social media marketers, it’s the logical next step after gaining experience in the industry.
So what does it take to start a social media marketing agency and grow it successfully? From understanding which platforms you want to work with to finding your first client, there are many things you need to understand before starting your business.
This guide will take you through all the necessary steps to start a successful agency – from building a solid foundation and packaging your services to winning clients. Along with our research, we asked several people with experience or extensive backgrounds with social media about starting a social media marketing agency, and here’s what they had to say.
Choose a niche
The more focused your niche, the more relevant your potential audience. A niche can be focused on a specific industry (entertainment, beauty, tech) or a specific platform such as Instagram or TikTok. It needs to bring in enough new clients to maintain or increase your income.
A big part of building a successful social media marketing agency (i.e. a steady roster of clients and revenue stream) is presenting yourself online correctly.
Richard Barker is a former social media agency owner who now runs marketing at Clarion Security Systems. He asks you to consider, “Are you a LinkedIn expert or a TikTok expert? What kind of audience do you want to speak to?”
This question is important as you go through the content conception and creation process for your clients. “Depending on whether you want to specialize on one platform or all of them, you need to make sure your channels are producing great content that drives engagement,” says Richard. “
You’ll also need to have a place to avoid multitasking, especially if you’re starting out alone or with a small team. For many types of industries and platforms, doing too much can be overwhelming and quickly exhaust you when you start.
Jason White, social media industry expert and CEO of gardening information platform All About Gardening, has some great advice on choosing a niche. He advises, “When building a social media marketing agency, start by mastering one platform. Identify your niche and choose the best social media platform to reach them.”
Remember that each platform has its own rules and dynamics that you’ll need to master first. What works well on Instagram may not work so well on Facebook, so your marketing strategies will need to be tailored for each platform.
Picking a niche can be very beneficial – here are some reasons to consider yours extra-closely
- Specializing in a niche to the point where clients come to you for your knowledge.
- Expertise also lends itself to better pricing – clients will pay for your knowledge and experience if you can show that you have it.
- A lot of competition means that choosing a niche can help you focus on standing out at a certain level with a certain type of client. For example, you can choose to serve influencers, small businesses, or large corporations. Of course, different clients will bring in different levels of income, but if you focus on serving your audience well, you can have much more success.
Determine the services (and pricing) you want to offer
After picking a location nearby you have to choose services and prices. Social media marketing is different, and there are many services you will and will not be able to offer.
Some of the things that social media marketing agencies can offer include:
- Social media strategy
- Account creation, branding, and development
- Social media and community management
- Content creation: copywriting, graphic design, platform-specific content (IG Reels, TikToks, 140-character tweets)
- Publication of Content
- Research and analysis
- Social Media Consulting
You may be able to offer graphic design and social media copy, but not account creation and growth. Some clients want detailed reporting, while others can handle it. You can post content but not reply to comments. You can take a list of services that you are able to handle for clients and give them value for their money.
Two things cannot be understated – the value of a well-defined process and how to value it. Anna Sullivan, founder of The Creative Exchange, a content creation agency, shared that not having them can hurt your agency in the long run.
Determine your unique selling points and develop a business plan.
When starting a social media marketing agency, it is important to study and understand the market. Many agencies will offer different services just like yours. Understanding the market is therefore essential to determine what your audience wants and what your unique selling points will be.
“I also highly recommend finding a point of difference that differentiates your business from others,” says Roy Morejon, co-founder of Enventys Partners – a full-service product launch company. You are not only competing with local social media marketing agencies, but potentially worldwide. “It’s okay if you don’t have a differentiator from the start, but until you find one it’s going to be hard to succeed,” he adds.
Once you’ve determined what your unique selling points will be (growing TikTok accounts like Cozen Creative or creating visual content for Instagram), you’ll need a business plan. Even if you’re not yet hunting for investors or convincing a top CMO to join your company, a business plan can be a good template to guide your decision-making as a business owner. will
“An agency cannot be built without rigorous financial planning. The most basic step is to calculate the total set-up and base costs of running your agency. This advice may sound simple, but you should There are many financial elements to consider to make sure you’re starting your business the right way,” advises Alan Stolk, founder and CEO of loan-finding platform Bankly.
Lilia Tobin, founder and CEO of Big Mailer – an email marketing agency, adds, “Social media marketing entrepreneurs aren’t quite startups and may have venture capital early in their careers. However, they can still be competitive by bootstrapping their business, which means they can use cheap and efficient tools to make the most of their resources and not spend a lot of money. “
Start pitching clients
Once you’ve determined your niche, work on finding clients that fit your needs and building mutually beneficial relationships with them. Consider creating an ideal customer profile, which combined with your chosen niche can help you figure out who you can and can’t work with.
For those just starting out, Eric Ridenour, a marketing consultant at Strategus, a programmatic ad agency, recommends contacting a charity and volunteering to manage its social media. “Volunteering for an organization you agree with has several benefits,” he says. First, if you’re looking to set the culture and brand values behind your new business, Supporting a nonprofit is a great way to do this as you gain experience and sign them up as a client.
Eric also says that oftentimes, a nonprofit will have no problem using you for case studies and more, especially if the work you provide is of high quality. Also, many organizations have teams and certain policies, so you can learn how organizations work.
For those with experience, a good way to find clients is to visit freelancing sites and social media to find clients, especially those looking for long-term partnerships.
“Exceed their expectations and get the results they want, and express your desire to continue working together,” says digital marketing expert Johannes Larsen. love to do, represent your expertise well, and are happy to partner with you long-term.
Remember that your past work (along with its performance analytics) is the best way to get a potential client’s attention. You will need to expand and accumulate your experience in your portfolio to get better responses from the clients you attract.
Track your progress in a portfolio and turn it into social proof
Building a strong portfolio that leverages your services as a marketing expert is an important starting point in establishing yourself as a social media marketing agency. Highlight your credentials (and those of your team members), relevant experiences, and past clients to show potential clients that you’re an expert at what you do. Let your portfolio do the sales talk.
Why is a portfolio so important? As Brogan Renshaw, marketing expert and director of Modelers Central, a model ship manufacturer, says, “Building a strong portfolio answers the question if you’re just starting out as a social media marketing expert. Even if there are, why should consumers choose you.” To actively build a portfolio, you should:
- Add your successful projects to your workflow so you never forget.
- Display high-performing marketing campaigns on your website and accompanying testimonials on the go
- Evaluate your actions and what results they produced for your clients, i.e. X campaign achieved Y percent growth for my previous clients. “Analysis that shows the return on investment of your work is essential to client retention,” says Blake Smith, marketing consultant.
- Encourage satisfied clients to leave feedback on your page to bring authenticity to your brand.
Having a social media presence that reflects your brand and expertise is also important – it’s easier than waiting for your first client to come knocking.
To quote Richard Barker again, “No potential client wants to look at your social channels and see that your last post was a year ago. They come to get help because they Want someone who lives, understands, and gets engagement and sales from social media.”
For example, marketing agency Truffle Social has a TikTok account at around 28,000 followers, and has over 14,000 followers on Instagram. Agency social media content and accounts are a great way to showcase your skill set to potential clients – and make them more likely to sign a retainer with you.
Your clients can also serve as social proof for you, especially if you improve everything from their onboarding to your workflow to impressive standards.
“When business owners find great value and benefits in the social media marketing services you offer, they can become your first brand ambassadors,” says Tim Hill, CEO of SocialStatus, a social media analytics platform. Encourage them to mention your brand on their social media, post comments, like your posts, and follow you on your social media page. By doing this, you will build good long-term business relationships “
Doing good work for your clients creates a cycle of return business that can sustain and help your agency grow. Focus on creating and delivering quality work on your own and your clients’ platforms as the ultimate proof of your expertise. This encourages people to share your work by word of mouth and make referrals, ultimately reducing your need to find clients to sell your service and your target audience. Creates an automated funnel for the audience.
Grow your agency at a slow and steady pace and find community
It’s one thing to build a social media marketing agency, and another to grow it. From developing a deep understanding of how to run a company to managing various social media channels and accounts, there are many things you’ll need to keep track of as you go through the initial development stages. So slow, steady growth is essential.
The quality of your work and delivery should be good enough to speak for yourself so you don’t have to run around pitching clients. Returning to Richard Barker’s advice, he says, “Make sure you’re delivering – lead generation and new business are essential for an agency, but don’t forget about your existing clients – always Make sure you do what you say you will. Referrals are potentially the lifeblood of your business.
Communities can be a powerful resource for entrepreneurs. Find and connect with a community of people who are doing the same thing as you. For example, marketing-focused communities like Online Geniuses and DemandCrew can be extremely valuable for connecting with other marketers on a similar journey.
In the ultimate testament to the power of a community, The Creative Exchange’s Anna Sullivan says, “Have the right people in your corner, like people to help you get things done or be a mentor. There’s a lot that will happen to you.” There will be things along the way that you won’t know how to handle – everything feels like a unique situation, but having the right people to help will make it a lot easier.
The best part of building your own social media marketing agency is all the great social media management tools available to support your growth – and Buffer is at the top of that list.
More than 12,000 agencies use Buffer to manage social for their clients, handling everything from ideation to social media scheduling.
For More
how to make money typing subtitles