A social media marketing strategy without a captivating proposal is far from being perfect. A well-crafted text that presents your capacities and offers is a key to fruitful cooperation with your clients. Whether you are a marketing agency or an advertiser, it is absolutely crucial to understand how to use a proposal for your business.
A proposal is a powerful tool that turns your prospects into clients. It includes the information your clients are the most interested in, namely – how exactly you can solve their problems and help them achieve their objectives. Follow the steps outlined below to learn more, find out how to compose a winning proposal, and make your potential clients gasp in amazed delight.
Before we start: what is a social media proposal?
A proposal is not a social media management contract or a pitch. This document is rather a presentation you send to your potential client to make them “wow” and choose you as a marketing partner. You should send one after a consultation with a prospect (make sure that you understand their needs at this point), but before you sign a contract.
As the title of the document suggests, it is written to propose concrete services to your client. The idea is to list a series of strategies and steps you are going to take to help them reach the desired results. Your task is to explain how social media marketing can benefit one’s business and then prove that you are qualified enough to implement the best practices in life. The proposal shows the results of your research and experience to prove that you are exactly the one they have been looking for.
How to write a social media proposal?
First of all, your proposal should cover the following questions:
- What exactly are you going to do?
- Which customers’ goals do you plan to achieve?
- How will you do that?
- Which strategies and tools are you going to use for concrete objectives?
- Which of your team members is going to be engaged in the process? (optional)
- How does a customer’s business transform after your manipulations?
- How much does each of your services cost?
- How much time do you need to reach particular results?
Now let’s uncover a couple of practical steps on proposal writing.
- Determine business and social media goals
Ask yourself some key questions. What are the goals of my client’s business? What are they working toward, and how can they use social media to achieve their goals? Before you start writing a proposal, make sure to discuss these points and the customer’s vision. With answers to these questions, you will be able to set the right goals.
- Learn about your clients’ audience
Don’t make assumptions about the clients’ audience on your proposal. Collect as much data as possible, and then use it to improve your strategy. You can start from things like social media demographics or social media engagement. Have a look at the statistics, find out what you can bring from it. At this point, it is crucial to involve other marketing channels your customer may already have. This may include mail-outs, SEO, etc. Clients’ reactions and behavioral patterns will give you a full picture.
If you already have a relationship with a client, ask them to share data that they have about their audience. And, if you have access to their social media accounts, use analytics to take core information about it.
- Get to know the competition
Who are your clients’ key competitors? You should mark at least five core competitors and put them in your list to understand who you will benchmark against. With this data, you will have a clear picture of your desired goal. After that, look at the brands they are following.
When you identify competitors, use social media tools to monitor their activity. Don’t forget to create a matrix to map out how competitor social media efforts are positioned in relation to each other. Look carefully – if you will find a gap, you know that you can fill it with your social media strategy. Is there something their marketing campaign is missing? Maybe they offer paid delivery or don’t cover some important services? This means that you must provide them to get a competitive advantage. In your social media strategy, you will have to promote these features to allow clients to make a clear distinction between competitors and your prospect. What is more, see which social media strategies are missing on the competitors’ accounts. Do they post content frequently enough? How useful or entertaining their content is? Check which type of content gets more attention from users to know what to pitch in.
- Conduct a social media audit
Perform an investigation to find out which social media channels your clients are currently using. Which platforms are the most popular and why? Remember that different niches should land on different social media platforms, regarding their main features. For example, there is no better place for visual content than Instagram. Artists, photographers, and clothing shops need an Instagram account for sure. As for Facebook, it is great for long posts, guides, and informational content.
- Develop a content strategy
If you have successfully completed steps 1-4, you can create your content strategy. This is the point where you should work out what type of content will be created or curated, how your content may vary depending on the platform you are working with, and how it should be posted. You should pay attention to design, style, and tone of voice. They should work as one – this is something that makes a brand memorable and appealing. Make sure to distinguish the strongest and brightest features of customers’ brand image and think about how you can make them even greater. In your social media campaign, you should highlight and strengthen them as much as you can.
You should use your clients as a source of information as much as possible – get everything you need because it will depend on how successful your social media proposal will be. Addressing their needs directly and quite literally is the key.
Additional tips for writing a social media proposal
If you know how to write a social media proposal, it’s good, but you can’t do it like a robot with one algorithm. So, we will show you some tips to make your proposal non-standard.
- Address the clients’ needs and objectives
Here you have an opportunity to show clients that you understand their business needs and goals. Keep it simple and be as specific as possible so that you leave a little room for discrepancy and ambiguity. Be ready to discuss questionable points and answer questions.
- Present social media goals and objectives
Here you should have from three to five social media goals and objectives. Each objective should be supported by the platforms, metrics, and end date.
- Outline your tactics
This is the core point in writing a social media proposal. You will launch your social media strategy using all information from your research and social media audits.
Summary
A clear and engaging proposal for your clients is an integral part of your marketing toolkit and a great way to present your company in the best light. In addition, a straightforward and transparent document that lists the conditions of your cooperation, services, deadlines, and costs guarantees that you will have fewer misunderstandings and controversies in the process. The more detailed, interesting, and tempting your proposal is, the higher the chances that your prospect will turn into a client right away.
FAQ
How do you write a social media proposal?
First, talk to your prospect to have a clear picture of his/her needs and expectations. You need to collect as much data as possible to develop a winning strategy on how to achieve those goals. Second, make a plan of action and explain it in your proposal. Don’t forget to provide concrete numbers: deadlines, schedule of your activities, and costs.
What is the media proposal?
A social media marketing proposal is a document you send to your customer after consultation but before you sign the contract. This text aims at convincing your potential client that you are the best agency/person to cooperate with since you have a clear understanding of their needs and know what to do in order to achieve them.
How can I write a proposal?
To compose a winning proposal, you should find out everything about your prospect’s needs and think about the strategies to meet them. Describe your plans in detail, list the prices and deadlines.
Is a proposal a contract?
No, a proposal is not a contract yet. This document is usually written and sent to your prospect before you make a contract. In fact, your proposal should be convincing enough to motivate a prospect to sign a contract and make a deal with you.
