5 Things You Need to Communicate With Your Clients as a Social Media Manager (templates included)
Effective communication is the backbone of any successful relationship between you, a social media manager, and your clients. Clear communication and boundaries make sure that both parties are aligned on goals, processes, and expectations, which can avoid potential conflicts and misunderstandings.
As a social media manager, you are not only tasked with managing and growing your client’s online presence but also with maintaining an open, clear, and productive dialogue. Here are five essential communication points you should establish from the very beginning when working with a new client.
Quick note: feel free to use the communication templates below in your discovery calls, in your proposal, or in an email. We do recommend that you include this language in your contracts as well. But this is not legal advice, and you should consult with a lawyer to ensure you are properly protected in your contracts.
Using Templates to Create Content
Being transparent with your clients about the content creation process is crucial! It is especially important to talk with them about how you use templates versus custom designs for every post. This sets the right expectations and helps manage the client’s budget and expectations when working with you. Here is how you can communicate this to a client in the onboarding process:
"We use high-quality templates that we purchase and customize to create content and manage clients accounts. If you don't want us to use templates and prefer content designed from scratch, we can add a professional designer to this quote, which would be roughly about $1,000-2,000 extra per month".
Why it's important: Using templates allows for a streamlined and cost-effective content creation process, which is ideal for meeting clients at their budget for content creation, while also valuing your time. By being upfront about this process, you can help clients understand the value and rationale behind each approach, ensuring they make informed decisions about which packages and potential upgrades to chose when booking a service with you.
Payment Terms for Your Services
Discussing and agreeing on payment terms upfront prevents financial disputes and ensures that you are compensated timely for your services. This is arguably the biggest area for disagreement and potential issues in the relationship with your clients. It might be a bit of an uncomfortable conversation, but it is important to set these terms upfront before starting your working relationship. Here is a quick, professional, and easy to understand template to communicate payment expectations:
“Payments should be made monthly in advance and are due on the 1st day of every month. If payment hasn’t been received by the 5th of the month, a 10% fee will be added. After the 10th of the month, service will be paused.”
Why it's important: Setting clear payment terms helps manage cash flow for your business and reduces the administrative burden of chasing late payments. This clarity establishes a professional tone and communicates the importance of respecting contractual agreements, fostering a healthy, professional relationship so you can focus on delivering your services.
Team Roles and Responsibilities
When you first start working as a social media manager, you are more than likely doing all of the work for your clients. But as your client roster grows, and your business scales, you may invest in adding to your team with contractors or employees. And while you might love the idea of expansion of your team, your client's might feel a bit uneasy. So it’s vital that clients understand who is in charge of their projects and how responsibilities may be delegated within your team.
“I will be responsible for this project and account. But I may add other professionals to my team as needed to cover vacations or leaves and/or continue to add value to you, such as VAs, designers, social media managers or others at my own discretion at no additional cost.”
Why it's important: Transparency about team roles and responsibilities reassures clients that their project is in capable hands. Knowing that there’s a robust team supporting their account can enhance their confidence in your services and mitigate any concerns about dependability or capacity.
Increase in Scope of Work
Sometimes a client might ask you to do a task that was NOT initially a part of their package or what they are currently paying for. When you clearly define project boundaries you can prevent "scope creep," which can lead to unaccounted work and strain professional relationships. Before you even start working with a client, make sure you tell them your policies about adding on additional work. Here is how you can approach it:
“Whenever there’s a change of scope requested, we will send you a new proposal before moving forward. If there isn’t any change in scope, we increase our price yearly by 5% to of set inflation and acquire new tech tools to keep offering you the best possibly quality of service.”
Why it's important: Discussing scope creep openly helps manage expectations and ensures that clients understand your pricing structure and the need for occasional adjustments. This is also an opportunity to highlight your commitment to quality and innovation in providing your services.
Working Hours and Overtime
This is the MOST important aspect to communicate with your clients so you aren't working yourself into a cycle of burnout when managing social media for other. By defining your working hours and any overtime charges it is crucial to set boundaries and manage client expectations regarding your availability. Again, another sticky conversation to have, but you can approach it this way:
“Our office hours are Monday - Friday 9am to 5pm, with the exception of holidays. Any work requested to be performed upon availability and outside these hours will be charged hourly at x/hour.”
Why it's important: Clients may assume you are available at all times, especially in today’s connected world, and the nature of the working environment (digitally and online). By setting clear boundaries around your availability, you ensure that urgent tasks are handled efficiently and fairly, while protecting your well being, your workload, and your business. Make sure you stick to these boundaries with your clients - this is the one they tend to overstep the most!
Setting your Social Media Business Up for Success
Effective communication is essential for any social media manager aiming to build a lasting and productive relationship with their clients. By establishing clear guidelines on content creation, payment, team roles, project scope, and work hours, you set the stage for a transparent and successful partnership.
Use these templates and strategies to communicate effectively with your clients, ensuring both parties are aligned and satisfied. Remember, clear communication not only simplifies your operations but also enhances client satisfaction and retention.
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Manu Muraro is the founder of Your Social Team, an Instagram training membership and template shop that help social media managers and Instagram-savvy small business owners to grow engagement and sales using Instagram and content marketing, without the overwhelm. Born and raised in Brazil, Manu moved to the U.S. in 2000 right out of college to work for Cartoon Network, where she made an award winning career in creative and strategy. In 2021, Manu started Your Template Club, a Canva template subscription service to help social media professionals and Canva-savvy business owners to create content that performs on Instagram, add more Instagram features into their strategy, such as Instagram Lives and Reels, and save time.