Why Freelance Social Media Jobs Pay More Than You Think

It’s the way of the world now: we can’t avoid social media. It’s how we keep up with our friends, find out about the latest news, and get exposed to new ideas. It’s how we’re able to connect with our favorite brands, learn more about them, and ultimately shop their products.

It’s also how many brands and businesses are building a following and creating a community around their product or service. When it comes to social media, it’s not enough to just have an account you need to create valuable content on a regular basis, engage your followers, and continually develop new strategies to reach your audience.

Businesses know that this is important and they’re willing to pay for it. If you have a passion for social media, you could turn your skills into an incredible career by becoming a freelance social media manager! Let us tell you why these jobs pay more than you think.

6 Reasons to Grow Your Social Media Business

Takeaways
1. Freelance social media jobs offer flexibility in work hours.
2. High demand for social media expertise drives higher pay.
3. Niche specialization in social media commands premium rates.
4. Remote work opportunities lead to increased earnings.
5. Freelancers can cater to global clients, expanding income.
6. Experience and expertise lead to higher project fees.
7. Freelancers can take on multiple clients for added income.
8. Offering comprehensive social media strategies justifies higher rates.
9. Freelancers can adapt quickly to changing industry trends.
10. Access to diverse projects contributes to better pay.

Table of Contents

1. It’s In Demand

Freelance social media jobs are in demand, and they’re here to stay. With companies seeing the huge benefits that social media has brought them in terms of exposure and engagement with their customers, more and more businesses have started investing in freelance social media jobs as part of their marketing strategy. There’s no reason to think these trends will change any time soon, so even if you’re just starting out now, there’s plenty of opportunity for growth over the years.

Cracking the code to success on Upwork requires more than just skill. Discover the $14 secret that can significantly boost your chances of getting hired on platforms like Upwork. Learn from the insights shared in The $14 Secret to Getting Hired on Upwork.

2. It’s Not Easy

While it may seem simple enough to log into Facebook and post something on a page, there are actually many things that go into effective social media management as a whole from deciding what kind of content to share, to curating that content, to engaging with followers and customers, to measuring analytics and reporting progress.

There’s a lot! Not everyone wants to spend four hours figuring out how to craft the perfect tweet (but we’re really happy that people like you do want to do that!)

3. There Are Lots Of Options Out There

There are so many different ways to make money using your social media skills (and we’ll go over some here). Whether you want to get into a niche market like blogging or start your own social media management service, your possibilities are limitless!

4. No Commuting

Whether it’s an hour-long drive to an office downtown, or an hour-long subway ride followed by a ten-minute walk, commuting sucks hours out of the day that would be way better spent on actual work (or on relaxing). As a freelancer, you don’t have to waste hours every day commuting you can just roll out of bed, grab your laptop and coffee, and get started! Your clients will thank you (and so will your bank account).

Looking to boost your freelance client base? Explore these 10 tactics to generate more freelance clients and take your lead generation skills to the next level.

5. You Can Take On As Many Or As Few Projects As You Want

When you work for a company full-time, you’re basically confined to that one job. Even if it’s a really cool job, it can really limit your earning potential you probably don’t have time to work another job on top of that! And once those 40 hours are up, your pay stops coming.

But when you freelance, the sky’s the limit. If you want to take on a bunch of projects at once and hustle like crazy for a couple of weeks, then take time off for yourself afterward? You can do that! If it’s slow for one month but picks up again later? You’ll still get paid for all the work you did you just may not have gotten paid right away.

6. You Can Charge More Per Project

Social media is a great way to earn money, but you don’t want to work for free. As a social media marketer, you need to make sure you’re charging the right rate for your services.

“Why do I charge so much?” you ask. It’s simple: Because I’m a professional. I have a degree in marketing, and I have more than 10 years of experience.

You might be thinking that working as a social media consultant isn’t worth the money, but it’s important that you consider what kind of value your customers are getting from your services. Are they getting a lot of value from your work? Then you should be able to charge them a lot for what you do!

Freelancers often charge by the project instead of by the hour—this lets them finish a project in less time and work on multiple projects at once (so they’re always billing), rather than just one. And if they’re billing more hours per project, they can charge more overall.

7. The Need For Social Media Is Growing But Social Media Managers Are Not

Businesses are realizing more and more how important it is to have an online presence. But where do they find people to help them with it? Hiring freelance professionals is a good option for small businesses that can’t afford full-time employees, while larger companies often want to bring on someone with specific talents or experience working in their industry.

Wondering how to price your services as a freelance social media manager? Our guide on how much should I charge a client as a freelance social media manager provides valuable insights to help you determine your rates effectively.

8. It’s A Huge Money-Maker For Freelancers

If you’ve ever considered getting into social media management, now is the time. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median annual salary for advertising and promotions managers was $133,380 in May 2021. The top 10 percent earned more than $208,000! Salaries for marketing managers were similar:

9. You Get Paid For Your Following

How many clients would you need to make a living? That depends on the size of your social media following, and how much they’re willing to pay. If you have a large number of followers on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and other popular platforms, then there’s a good chance that clients will pay more for your services.

10. You Can Build A Large Following Of Clients

As a freelancer, it’s up to you to find clients and convince them that your work is worth their time (and money). This gives you an advantage over other types of workers who are not self-employed: your personal brand can help you attract new customers!

11. You Have More Control Over What You’re Paid

With a perennial job, you’re stuck with whatever salary they’re willing to pay you—and unless you want to negotiate every few months, that’s just not going to change much. But with freelance jobs, you can set your own rates and be paid per project or per hour, depending on how you prefer to work.

If your skills improve or if you gain experience working with a different client, you can change your rates to reflect that new knowledge and demand higher compensation. That’s much harder (if not impossible) to do with a regular job

12. You Get Paid For The Number Of Hours It Takes For Each Project

This is great and terrible at the same time. If you’re working on a project that’s right up your alley or something that you’ve done a million times before, then it goes pretty quickly. But if you’re working on something new? It might take twice as long as it would if an expert were doing it (that’s where you come in).

It can be stressful to figure out how much to charge for each project since you’ll be getting paid by the hour rather than an annual salary but that’s why they invented time-tracking software! Make sure to keep track of how much time you spend on every task so that once you have a couple of projects under your supervision you will be done with it all.

Managing social media for clients as a freelancer requires a deep understanding of the field. Dive into our comprehensive resource on freelance social media manager: everything you need to know and gain the knowledge to thrive in this role.

13. It Is More Flexible And Easy To Fit Into Your Lifestyle

Working as a social media manager doesn’t require any special training or skills outside of what you already have if you use Facebook or Twitter regularly, you have enough experience to start working right away! And because so many people have access to these platforms, there are plenty of jobs available across all industries and locations.

You don’t need an office space with high rent prices either most companies will let their remote employees work from home without having to provide them any equipment (unless it’s something specifically needed for their job). This means that freelancers can save money on things like desks, chairs, computers, and phones just by working remotely!

14. It’s Easy To Work Overtime If Needed

If you have a regular full-time job, working overtime can get tricky because, well, it’s all about time. You don’t have enough of it! You have a life outside of your job—a family, hobbies, friends… So when your boss asks for some extra help this week and wants you to work overtime, it’s not always easy to say yes. When do you start working freelance social media jobs, though? Overtime is almost effortless. Because you don’t have another job taking up most of your time and attention already, fitting in some extra hours here and there is no problem at all.

15. People Are Always On Social Media

Social media as a part of a business’s marketing strategy is here to stay no doubt about it.

But how come? Why did social media become so important in the first place? And how has it stayed that way?

As with all things related to marketing, the answer is “because people are involved.” And people are fickle! We change our minds, we get bored, we decide we love something then hate it, and then love it again.

The same goes for social media we’re always changing our habits and preferences. But one thing has remained constant: we’re always on social media.

People are constantly checking their phones throughout the day. In fact, studies show that 80% of smartphone users check their phones within 15 minutes of waking up and before getting out of bed in the morning. And this habit remains constant throughout the day: at least once an hour, even while working or spending time with friends and family.

This means that if you want to reach consumers, you have to be on social media. And even more than that, you have to be on every platform they use (or at least the ones your audience uses). This can be overwhelming for any business owner or marketer who already has a lot on their plate.

Are you aiming to build a successful career as a freelance social media manager? Discover the path to success by learning how to become a freelance social media manager and make six figures in our detailed guide.

16. You Can Set Your Own Hours

So you want to go freelance. You’ve been thinking of quitting that 9-to-5 and working from home, taking your laptop outside to work in the sunshine, or maybe just making some extra cash on the side. Social media is a promising field for freelancers like you. But how much can you really make?

You have more freedom than most jobs allow. You can set your own hours and work as much (or as little) as you want, and use that freedom to take more vacation time than other people are able to.

17. You Don’t Have To Deal With Unreasonable Clients

When you work for an agency and they have unreasonable clients, they can pass them onto someone else but if it’s just you and them, they have no choice but to take things into their own hands and address the problem head-on.

That means explaining exactly why their request is unreasonable or helping them understand that allowing it would be detrimental to their goals. It also means maintaining healthy boundaries so they understand that when they ask something of you, they’ll get an honest response.

18. You Don’t Have To Do The Boring Stuff

You know what I’m talking about: meetings, administrative tasks, and other busywork that you weren’t hired for and never signed up for when you took the job. When you’re working as a freelancer, you can choose which types of projects you want to take on based on your interests and skillset and skip all the rest!

19. You Don’t Have To Leave Home

There’s nothing worse than waking up early and then having to sit in traffic for hours on your way to work, only to be greeted by a bunch of pushy coworkers and a boss who looks like they’ve already been in the office for three days.

So why do it? When you take on freelance social media jobs, you can sleep in as late as you want, get ready at your leisure, and be at work in under five minutes (because your desk is probably right next to your bed).

20. You’re An Expert On The Subject Matter

When you make a career out of writing about something, you are bound to gain an impressive knowledge of the subject. If a client were to ask you how many pounds there are in a ton of other questions that are specific to the industry, you’d be able to answer without any hesitation.

21. You Don’t Have To Deal With Office Politics

Sure, you’ve got a coworker who always wants to take credit for your ideas, and a manager who seems to think that her “ideas” are better than yours (spoiler alert: they’re not). And maybe you’ve got a crush on the person in the next cubicle over, and you’re just dying for them to realize how great you are but what’s the point of having a crush on someone if you never get to flirt with them? It’s all stress, and it’s all completely unnecessary.

22. You Can Work With Clients Around The World

When you work as an employee for one company, your earning potential is usually limited to what the company will pay you for your time. But when you take on freelance social media clients, those clients aren’t necessarily in your area or even your country.

That means that if the cost of living is lower in a particular place, and rates are based on the local cost of living, you may come out ahead by working with clients in that area.

Final Thoughts

In the end, many freelance social media jobs can be beneficial for both the company and the freelancer. Although no two freelancing jobs will be exactly the same, these jobs can provide a means of income for graphic design students, professionals, enthusiasts, and anyone in between. The opportunities are out there. All of us designers just need to put in the hard work to find them; they’re definitely available to those who look.