I truly believe that switching from a Virtual Assistant to a Social Media Manager made me able to scale to 6 figures a year. There’s so much you can do as an SMM that will help you save time, get support, organize, define your niche that will help you make more money. Whether you are currently a SMM and you want to figure out how you can break through to a new plateau or you are a VA that is curious about what it takes to be a SMM, I hope this post will help you!

Scaling a freelance social media management business involves strategically expanding your operations and client base while maintaining quality and efficiency. Here are some steps to help you scale your business:

Define your niche: Determine the specific industries or types of clients you want to serve. Focusing on a niche can help you become an expert in that area and attract targeted clients. I had started in the health and wellness niche and got to work with a lot of coaches, psychologists, chiropractors, dentists and yoga & meditation instructors. They say that “the riches are in the niches”. While I agree that this is true, I did find that I wanted to expand my niche since there were so many friends of mine and client referrals that were in different niches and I didn’t want to turn them down. I had a few real estate agents that wanted to hire me as well so then I was confused about how to define my niche. I think focusing on niching down the platforms that you want to work on is also a good strategy if you don’t want to niche down the industry. For example, we work a lot with Instagram and Facebook. I know a lot of SMMs that focus on Pinterest and Tik Tok. You can also perfect how to do video so you can offer high quality reels and/or youtube management or Tik Tok. Remember that it’s not always up to you to come up with all the content, the clients should also provide you with pictures/videos so that you can create content that is specific for them. So I believe when it comes to niching down for an SMM, it’s best to look at different aspects of niching, maybe not specify the industry, specifying the platforms and type of content style might be the way to go so that you don’t limit yourself and have to say no to potential great clients.

Build a strong portfolio: Showcase your best work and results in a portfolio. Include case studies, metrics, and testimonials to demonstrate your expertise and credibility to potential clients. Don’t overthink this! When I first started 7 years ago I was overwhelmed by the word portfolio. I realized that however I could share my previous work for my clients makes sense, it does not have to be fancy especially when you’re first starting out. I created folders in my google drive with screenshots of content and IG grids and threw them in there and just shared the google drive link with the potential client so that they can look at what I’ve done. Keep in mind that you will want to maintain the privacy of the current clients that you have so it is best practice to ask the client permission to share their social media with other potential clients in your portfolio, it’s best etiquette. Also remember to keep adding to the google drive folder as you go along so that you have an updated folder full of content that you can show. The more you have, the more you are showing your potential clients what you can do and also how popular you are!

Refine your services: Evaluate your service offerings and identify areas where you can provide additional value. This could include content creation, paid advertising, analytics, or community management. Expanding your services can attract more clients and increase revenue. Similar to niching down, refining your services is also something you should be working on when it comes to scaling your business. What do you want to include with your SMM services? Break it down - hint - you can brainstorm on a document everything that you’re good at, as well as everything that you want to learn and everything that you want to offer but maybe are not interested in learning because then you can always hire a subcontractor to do this. I have refined my services a few times. I also added paid advertising when my husband got Meta certified. Community management is a cool one to add to your services because you would be in a client’s Facebook group and comment and encourage the members. Adding engagement is also a good one to add because you can define it as a certain amount of time spent engaging with followers on IG for example and then charge this as an add-on to your SMM package. You can also add it to the packages, whatever fits with your preferences. There are many ways to refine your services. Once you do this, make sure that it’s consistent across all the places where you are advertising them. I suggest you make a list of all the places that you have your packages and offerings (like your website, your linktree, your price list etc) and then once you make a change to change it across all those places so that you are showing consistency in your offers.

Streamline processes: Establish efficient workflows and systems to handle client onboarding, content creation, scheduling, reporting, and communication. Automate repetitive tasks using tools like social media management platforms to save time and improve productivity. This is what I am most passionate about! I truly believe that streamlining your systems and processes is the key to success and scalability. Keeping yourself organized, your files, your computer, your emails, your CRM and Slack channels all streamlined is so important, especially because we are working with so many clients who all have different needs and offerings. When I first started working online, I had no problem finding clients, I had a problem keeping track of everything. I was just writing things down on paper and had a running doc of things to do but it started to get completely crazy and I lost control. My stress levels truly soared. I learned through trial and error how to organize my business from head to toe, revamped my packages, created a plan for each client, started using online organization tools like 17Hats, Trello, Asana, canned responses in gmail and many more. These saved my business. After setting everything up virtually, I was able to just open my computer and check in one place and already knew what I had to do for the day. Planning in advance is the way to go! I still do this to this day and with getting all my systems in order I was able to scale from 2k months to 16k months. If you’re interested in learning how I did this, I created a free 5 day mini-course called How to Scale your Service Based Business. You can register at this link.

Hire a team or outsource: As your business grows, consider hiring virtual assistants or subcontracting freelancers to handle routine tasks or support services. This allows you to focus on high-value activities and take on more clients. I learned all about outsourcing from the beginning of my SMM career and I definitely learned a lot along the way. I had a good network of people in my SMM and VA courses’ Facebook groups that I was able to get help from and pay them an hourly rate to support me by being creating content for my clients. However you want to call it - a VA or a subcontractor, it’s all the same. They are helping you and getting paid to do it. When you hire someone to help you, you are then able to scale and take on more clients. You just have to keep in mind that you have to pay your VA or subcontractor fairly and you can’t overwork them or they will find other clients that respect their time. It is a big ocean of freelancers out there so if you want your team to stay with you, you have to keep them happy. Make sure that you are listening to their needs as well as paying them on time. It’s also important to make sure they actually enjoy what they are doing so ask them often how they are. Make sure that you respect their time boundaries as well. If they don’t work on the weekend don’t spam them with a bunch of tasks to do on the weekend. Even if you tell them they don’t have to check until Monday, it still sucks to see all those messages and emails come in over the weekend. Remember how awful the bad clients were before you dropped them? Don’t be like that to your VAs and subcontractors. If you want to look for some help but you don’t know where to look and you don’t have a group of people you can ask in a FB group - check out Upwork or Fiverr, they have been super helpful for me to find help. If you like the idea of finding someone in a FB group, the best one I have found is Virtual Assistant Savvies.

Develop strategic partnerships: Collaborate with complimentary service providers such as graphic designers, copywriters, or web developers. This enables you to offer comprehensive solutions to clients and tap into their networks for referrals. Having a group of people to collaborate with is a great idea. If you don’t right now you can start by going into Facebook and joining some freelance VA and SMM groups. You can research who is good at what you would like to offer to your clients and ask them if they would like to collaborate with you. You may find someone who is good at pinterest or tik tok who is also looking for clients and you can expand your offerings by having them work for you as a subcontractor or you can send them referrals. If you get into a good relationship with someone with whom you send referrals to, they will hopefully refer people to you as well so it works both ways. Always come from a place of giving and not from a place of competition. Like I said before it is a large ocean out there, there is plenty of work for everyone, you just have to make the right connections and find your space. Collaborations will help you to do this. Don’t be afraid to follow them on social media

Increase your marketing efforts: Invest in marketing strategies to expand your reach and attract new clients. Utilize social media advertising, content marketing, email marketing, and networking. Highlight your expertise through guest blogging, speaking engagements, or hosting webinars. This is super important for your business growth but only if you’re ready! You need to make time to work on your OWN social media as well as for clients. It’s super hard to balance everything when you’re busy but believe me, it’s worth it. For a long time I didn’t have many followers on my business IG and I didn’t have a lot of nice looking content because I was so busy working for others but I found an awesome VA on Upwork and hired her to work on my IG and grow it. If you don’t have the budget to outsource your social media you can fit it in! I do all my own now after I got some more followers and the nice visual grid that I wanted. I make sure I post multiple times a week and put it in my to-do list for the day every day so I don’t forget. Something SUPER important to keep in mind is that if you’re going to get visible, you need a strategy and plan already set up. Your goal is to have the right clients come to you so the more you get yourself out there, that will happen. Before you make yourself super visible, make sure that you have a nice website, a good intake form on your website and your packages all outlined and ready to share with your potential clients. If you feel overwhelmed by what you have to set up, you don’t have to do it all yourself. [I have some profesh-looking templates in my Systems Shop that you can check out.

Implement scalable pricing models: Consider adjusting your pricing structure to accommodate scalability. You can offer tiered packages, retainer-based pricing, or create bundled services that allow for upselling and cross-selling to existing clients. When I started doing this I swear I started attracting hire paying clients. My biggest switch was going from hourly to retainer pricing. I went through every stage of pricing structures. A la carte hourly (don’t do it) to hourly pricing packages without rollover hours (sort of better but still don’t do it) to completely ditching those and going to retainer pricing and I don’t regret it one bit! You can check out my services section on the menu bar here to get ideas of my retainers, but if you want to see how to break everything down into packages for SMM, I recommend checking out my SMM Launchpad Swipe Bundle where I have my real-world SMM packages lined out for you along with a bunch of other no-fluff templates that you need to scale your business.

Leverage technology and tools: Utilize social media management tools, scheduling platforms, analytics software, and project management tools to streamline your operations and enhance productivity. Without getting too pricey, you can definitely add some scheduling tools to your SMM business. When I first started with SMM, I used Buffer which was free at the time. It was cool except it was a little bit limited in it’s capabilities. I then switched to Later but I got super bummed that their free package went down to 5 posts max per month. Who only posts 5x per month? So I ditched that one as well. I tried Hootsuite for clients and found it clunky but I know lots of people swear by it. I have also tried postplanner but it kept crashing on me. I ended up sticking to Facebook (Meta) business manager which honestly works extremely well for IG and FB. You just have to have content management or admin access to your clients’ accounts. However, my newest obsession that I would love to share with my readers here on my blog is that Tailwind has an awesome scheduling platform for Pinterest, IG and FB all in one place. It has a great free version but I quickly upgraded to the Pro version. I don’t normally upgrade so quickly but it was a no brainer as I was super impressed with their ghostwriter functions to help you create captions! Check out their free trial if you’re curious. They also have design templates and email marketing. I’m still discovering all of the features but so far I’m super impressed!

Focus on client satisfaction: Deliver exceptional results, provide excellent customer service, and prioritize client satisfaction. Satisfied clients are more likely to refer you to others, which can help you grow your business organically. This is so crucial to your business. At the heart of my business, the very core of it is A++ customer service. I always strive to deliver the best possible customer service and client experience. I always make everyone feel valued and important, as they are because without clients we would not have food on the table. It’s important to know that you’re doing business with people, not robots. Everyone has feelings, past experiences, triggers and traumas that they carry with them in their invisible backpacks and we have to be very mindful of this. We also have our own, don’t forget! Always treat people they way you want to be treated and please do yourself a favor and ditch the ones who don’t treat you with respect and dignity. There is a difference between being nice and being a doormat with clients, so you have to maintain your boundaries. You will feel it when someone is trying to abuse your time and drain your energy. Don’t be afraid to let them go, they don’t deserve you and you don’t deserve their toxicity. Your business will grow for the better without them and you will feel relieved when you let them go.

Scaling a business is a complex process that requires time, effort, and a strategic approach. It involves expanding the operations, increasing the customer base, systemizing and organizing and ultimately growing the company's revenue and market presence. To successfully scale a freelance social media management business, it is crucial to continuously assess growth strategies, adapt to market trends, and stay updated on the latest social media platforms and practices, keep your systems and processes up to date and constantly adhere to and assess when to hire people before you get overwhelmed. I hope you found this helpful and cannot wait to see you grow your SMM business!

If you wish to work with me 1:1 on systemizing your business so that you can scale, I offer a VIP day so get yourself on the waiting list!

TLC Blog

TLC Social

Hello and welcome to TLC Social! My name is Ellenie and I’ve been a freelance digital marketer since 2016. Now I have a new found my passion for mentoring solopreneurs with service based businesses polish up their systems and organize their business so that they can scale to 6 figures like I did!