How to start a social media marketing agency

90% of the total population in the United States uses social media. With such high demand, brands are turning to social media for advertising and making their brand identities strong. 

Isn’t that a crazy number? The crazier part is the demand for social media marketing agencies is also rising due to the increase in social media users.

People are literally ditching television advertising and promoting their brands to the relevant social media platforms, as it is more effective and cheaper.

So, if you are innovative and want to start your agency or start a career in social media marketing, then don’t delay, because this is the best time. But before anything else, let’s understand what exactly a social media marketing agency is ?

What is social media marketing agency (SMMA)

A social media marketing agency is a company that provides social media marketing services to businesses, firms and organizations in order to drive up their sales and reach. If put forth simply, social media marketing agencies help companies plan, tacticize, and execute their marketing strategies for successful and fruit-bearing social media campaigns.

Now, do not worry about all the fuss of where to start and what to do, as we have these 10 simple steps on how to start a social media marketing agency, so let’s get started! 

How to Start a Social Media Marketing Agency (SMMA)? 

1. Define your niche and services 

2. Prepare a business plan

3. Know your value proposition 

4. Determine your pricing and packages 

5. Look into all the legalities of this business 

6. Start developing your social media presence 

7. Purchase all the necessary social media tools 

8. Build your team 

9. Launch your business and attract clients 

10. Evaluate and improve

1. Define your niche and services 

Any small social media marketing agency services or large businesses can not afford to be ignorant of the power of social media. But social media is vast; you can only serve some things to the clients. So choosing a niche and listing your services is a better option. 

Because there are thousands of digital marketing firms and social media marketing agencies, you need to focus on specialization to stand out. 

Some of the social media marketing services that you can specialize in are:   

• Social media marketing strategy development: The quote by Benjamin Franklin “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail”, sure makes a lot of sense here, especially when talking about the importance of developing plans and strategizing before entering the market with your marketing campaign headfirst. And this is exactly where the support of a social media marketing agency comes in handy.
• Social media management for clients: While it is extremely imperative to increase reach and grow the possibility of potential customers, it is equally, or perhaps more important to continue to be connected with your loyal customer base. A social media marketing agency’s assistance to start a social media management company for social media management for existing clients is no less than a boon for the same.
• Content creation or curation: Content creation and curation is the very aspect which can jeopardize a campaign single-handedly if not dealt with well enough. It’s not much of a problem to plan the content, the real challenge comes when even after all the planning; the posts, reels, tweets or stories do not generate the kind of impact and response that they should’ve. A social media marketing agency’s experience is what a company needs the most at such a point of time to navigate them through that situation.
• Social media advertising: Advertising on social media is a whole another ball game, for it’s algorithm and the response that generates from it is completely different from other types of advertising formats; like television advertising, paid search advertising, mobile advertising or print advertising. On account of this, a social media marketing agency’s knowledge on social media advertising turns out to be priceless for the company.
• Influencer marketing: Although there are many excellent ways to market a product or service on social media, influencer marketing is one of the most effectives ones, and for good reason. Influencers have a loyal set of followers who have a great deal of faith on them. And so, if influencer marketing is done in a subtle and innovative way, without making it seem too promotional or obvious, can have some amazing results.
• Analyzing analytics and reporting:  Analyzing the analytics and reporting may sometimes seem like going through a child’s report card, although the result can be disappointing sometimes, it makes room to understand areas where there is a scope of improvement, and then work on those very things to have a striking result the next time.

Remember, choosing a niche is a strategic decision that can help you focus only on the expertise you have and stand out in the competition. Continuously assess your niche to ensure it aligns with your goals and the needs of your target audience.  

2. Prepare SMMA business model

Before you start your business, you will need all the social media marketing agency business planning and forecasting to run and grow your business in practical life. Therefore, make sure to create a social media marketing business plan on a prior basis. 

A solid business plan will answer all the below questions: 

• What is the business about?
• What services does your social media agency provide? 
• What is the size and nature of the market? 
• Who are your target customers? 
• What is your competition, and who are your competitors?
• How much funding a business needs? 
• What are the expected revenues, expenses, and profits over the next few years? 
• Where will the funds be used? 

In short, writing a business plan means scrutinizing each aspect of your business and presenting it in an organized format. Sounds like a huge task, right? Worry not, you can simplify your business plan preparation process with the help of a business planning tool.  

3. Know your value proposition

At this point of your business journey, you should know all the value propositions of your business. This will help you understand what makes your social media services unique from the rest of the competition. 

By clearly knowing all the unique value propositions of your business, you can attract and retain clients through various marketing channels. It will help you create a strong brand identity and maintain consistency.  

In short, it helps you target the right audience for your business and let them know what you do best. 

Tip: Continuously monitor the market, evaluate your USPs, and then analyze do they still fit the market situation or not. This will help you stay relevant in the industry with changing trends too.

4. Determine your pricing and packages 

However, the fees you charge for the services will depend on the experience and quality of your work. On average, the pay scale of a social media manager is around $65,000 per annum in the USA. 

Therefore, you need to cover all the salaries and other costs in the pricing before considering the profits from the pricing of your services. Also, consider whether will you provide any bundle of packages or individual services only. A bundle or packages will help you retain clients, and will also show the consistency in your pricing. 

Moreover, you must also determine whether you will base your bill on an hourly rate, a per-project rate, or a standard monthly rate for the services your agency offers.

Is a social media marketing agency profitable?

With the sudden boom in the use of various social media platforms, it’s popularity over the past few years have put social media marketing on the map like no other marketing method before. So, there is certainly no doubt about the fact that a social media marketing agency can be a very profitable proposition if done right, be it large-scale or small-scale. Social media marketing pay should reflect your agency’s unique value, and once you know your USPs, it is time to create a fair pricing structure that is competitive yet profitable.

How much does it cost to start a social media marketing agency?

While the cost of starting a social media marketing agency can depend on a lot of things, most primarily, the scale of business, how much are you willing and capable of investing, and most importantly, what is your end goal; there are a few expenses that cannot be eliminated and have to included in, whether it is small-scale business or large-scale. Let’s understand these in more details through the following points:

1. Office space: The rent for office depends on the number of employees that you’d like to accommodate in the office and how elaborate you’d like it to be, ranging from around $600 to $6000. However, if you hire employees with the work from home setting, these costs can be eliminated significantly.

2. Software and tools: The software tools that you employ and provide to all your employees for day to day dealings can really impact the quality of your work, ranging from $1000 to about $6000. But, if you’re looking at reducing the cost a little here as well, you can use the free versions of those software. They might not have as advanced features but they can be very cost-effective comparatively.

3. Employee salaries: These are one among the highest expenses for a company, but again these also depend on the number of employees, scale of business, and their experience level in the field. It could extend from $20,000 to $150,000.

4. Office equipment: Office equipment could include a lot of things like computers, laptops, screens, printers, papers, scanners and other miscellaneous things. The cost for this could be hard to determine, probably around $10,000. however these costs can be reduced as well, if the company has a work from home culture for employees.

5. Legal and accounting fees: These expenses are a must for almost every kind of business. Although, how elaborate they can be depends on the scale of business and operations. The cost could be anywhere around $700 to $10,000.

6. Marketing and advertising: The marketing and advertising costs can really vary according to the level of marketing that the company employs, and the modes of advertising that it uses; which could range from $2000 to about $15,000 an year.

7. Location: The rent of an office could vary from one location to another, popularly urban and modernized cities would probably have more rent than offices in small cities, and thus this aspect shall be taken into consideration.

8. Miscellaneous expenses: These could contain many small day-to-day or even once-in-a-month or quarter expenses that are not particularly counted or kept an account of, ranging from $100 – $500 an year.

5. Look into all the legalities of this business 

Running any business will need to have licenses and permits as a legal implication. So, the same goes for a social media marketing company. 

Before you obtain any licenses or permits, be sure about the structure of your business. It can be a sole proprietorship, partnership, or an LLC. 

Some of the licenses and permits you need to obtain are:

General business license

Obtain a general business license from the local government or county where your business is located. This requirement will vary state by state. 

EIN (Employer Identification Number) 

If your business has employees or operates as a corporation or partnership, you will need to obtain an EIN from the IRS.

Business registration 

Register your business with the state where you operate. It may involve filing articles of organization or incorporation according to your business structure. 

Permits 

Some states require online-based businesses to obtain specific permits or licenses, especially if they sell products or services online.

After obtaining all the licenses and permits, it is essential to go through various insurance policies to insure your business against any threat. 

Note: All the permits and licenses vary state by state in the USA, so it is necessary to consult a professional or visit your local government office. 

6. Start developing your social media presence 

It is time when you start building your social media presence through various social media platforms and social media accounts. You need to show your strong online presence to the clients so that they can trust you. 

Before that, make a strong social media strategy for your brand and then be consistent about it. This way, you can attract new clients and will also have proven social media strategies.

As people will see your social media posts for business, be sure to post engaging content along with amazing visuals. 

You can even start marketing on various platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and other channels. In fact, PPC (pay-per-click) is also a good option to make a great online presence for your clients and build their trust. 

7. Purchase all the necessary social media tools 

Social media automation, scheduling, and other such manual work can be done with social media marketing tools that make your work easier and more accurate. So, make sure to incorporate them into your business to expand your work. 

Some of the must-have social media tools are:

RecurPost

RecurPost is a great tool that helps you manage your social media accounts more easily. You can schedule posts for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and other social media accounts all in one place.

You can also schedule posts to go out at specific times, and you can set them to repeat at regular intervals. This is handy for keeping a consistent presence on social media without having to manually post every time. 

It is really a go-to tool if you have more clients so that you can avoid human error and be accurate about scheduling tasks. 

Google Analytics 

Google Analytics provides various data about your customers so that you can gain insights from it. 

Whether it is great content but if it doesn’t work for the audience, then there is no meaning to it. So, to know more about what type of content is working, there are tools like Google Analytics. 

Canva 

Canva is a graphic designing tool that can change your visual game. It has a library of premium-quality pictures and designs that can help brands grow stronger. 

Apart from the above, there are various tools, but you need to choose one after analyzing your needs. 

8. Build your team 

Before you go to the potential clients, make sure you have the right team. Choose all your team members wisely, as their experience will help your own business grow. 

To effectively manage all your social media campaigns, you will need a social media team that includes a content writer, graphic designer, copywriter, social media manager, and more. 

By having the right team by your side you can provide quality services, cater to what your clients need, and deliver exceptional results. You can build your brand as a creative and reputable one if you have the right team backing you up. 

As your social media marketing agency grows, building a capable team is crucial for scaling your business. If you’re looking to hire experts who can help you manage client accounts effectively, explore our guide on finding and hiring the right social media manager to ensure your team is equipped for success. [Interview Questions]

9. Launch your business and attract clients 

Strategies for bringing in new clients for a social media marketing agency

1. Targeted outreach: After arranging all the things that it takes to start your social media marketing agency, you are ready for the launch. But before launching, do all the pre-launch activities like starting a countdown on social media platforms or advertising about the same. These activities help you understand what type of clients are inquiring about such services or who are excited about the launch. 

2. Launching new offers and deals: Giving initial offers and discounts to attract new clients and spread the reach, can be a great strategy to introduce new customers to the company. The recent trend of giveaways can also turn out to be pretty useful for increasing reach on social media and marketing the product to several customers by giving it away for free to one.

3. Brand Visibility: Do start marketing your brand to enhance brand visibility, and maintain an aesthetic and attractive social media profile layout to make the potential customers feel drawn to make a purchase. To understand this better and grow your business, take a look at our guide on how to grow your social media agency as well. 

4. Testimonials: Customer review can prove to be valuable for a company when positive. Although the culture of making purchases online is widely prevalent from the past couple of years, most of the customers feel a bit concerned about the quality of the product; going through reviews of other customers is like that boost for them that can convince them to buy or reject the product, which is exactly where testimonials prove their worth.

10. Evaluate and improve 

There is no meaning to working without any goals or regular evaluation. You need to take a pause and evaluate all the business situations and then improve your strategies or change it if necessary. 

You can assess your business performance by analyzing metrics like revenue, client acquisition costs, profitability, lead conversion rate, etc. 

This way, you will also have time to adapt to all the new industry trends and alter your strategies to be updated & remain competitive. 

Necessary Skills to Run a Successful Social Media Marketing Agency 

To start a successful social media marketing agency, you need to have all the basic skills in writing, graphics, and other such skills other than marketing. 

Some of the skills you need to run a successful social media are: 

Creative skills 

Social media is all about new trends, and if you can create a buzz for your clients, then you will be able to retain them and attract new clients. 

You need to be creative to grow your business and stand out from other competitors. 

Writing 

Words are never going out of fashion, right words are not going out of fashion! So, you need to have a basic knowledge of writing to create a strong brand identity. 

This will help in communicating the clear message of your clients to their customers. 

Social media expertise 

Of course! This is basic, you need to know all the social media platforms and their algorithms. You need to know which type of social media platform will work for any particular type of business. 

Graphic Designing 

Basic designing skills can take you a long way. It will help you use graphic tools effortlessly, understand clients’ needs smoothly, and lead your team efficiently. So, even if you do not know how to design, we would suggest you learn basic graphic designing rules. 

Data analysis 

There is data available everywhere, but if you don’t know how to analyze it, then there is no meaning to it. So, learn data analysis to know how Facebook Insights, Instagram Insights, or Google Analytics works. 

Strong communication

As a business owner, your communication skills should be strong for both handling clients and leading a team. Efficient communication will lead you to clear brand messages, ultimately leading to more satisfied clients.  

A social media marketing agency case study

Incident

• Weber Shandwick, founded by Larry Shandwick, was responsible in managing Facebook’s public relations when the Cambridge Analytica privacy scandal took place in 2018. The fallout caused an extensive backlash of Facebook’s data practices, and so was Weber Shandwick, for being connected to Facebook and working for it when the misconduct took place.

Backfire

• The agency’s good reputation and public image was deeply impacted due to the whole scandal, and although it was not directly Weber Shandwick’s fault, the company was blasted for the role that it played in it’s crisis management. The agency’s connection with the scandal also raised fingers on it’s ethical policies and a few others.

Comeback

• Even after all the backlash, Weber Shandwick’s managers maintained a solution-oriented perspective and restructured it’s crisis management strategies, fixing any loopholes that existed, emphasizing transperancy and ethical practices.
• They also concentrated on helping customers with their privacy issues and concerns. And due to them incurring and magnifying more prowess in reference to their crisis management and ethical practices, they won back the trust of their valuable clients and restored their good name and reputation.

Conclusion 

So, that’s it! We hope this will help you in starting your own social media marketing business. But it does not end here, as it is challenging to manage more clients altogether. 

You need to do smart work and need to leverage the right social media tools that can help you work smoothly by avoiding human errors. 

Moreover, we wish you all the very best for your new business. 

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