How to charge and what amount for consultancy of Social Media Marketing services?

[nisarg_sutaria]

We will provide Social Media Marketing services to customers on mainly platform of Facebook, Orkut, Blogger, Scribd and other portals. How to charge for the services mainly per addition of a Friend, per marketing email or some other parameters. Kindly let me know.

[Garrett Moon]

Generally these services are done on an hourly basis. You set and hourly rate and charge for your time. Your rate will depend on your abilities and time in the marketplace. You could also develop flat rates for specific tasks such as sending an email or setting up a Facebook page.

Charging per friend would probably not be a good method for you or the customer.

For ongoing work you could consider a monthly contract.

[Paula]

We offer social media marketing/management to our clients as part of greater services as social media alone doesn't help you show your worth to your clients. If a client comes to us only for social media services, I always ask them what their goal is.

Depending on what you plan to actually do, you could price by project in the case of social media profile customization. Hourly puts in a competition from a lot of freelancers from overseas. Their cost of living is so much lower than the U.S. you will be negotiating on price not value.

Whatever you do, try to differentiate yourself and add measurable value to your clients. They will gladly pay when you can demonstrate that you are helping them build their brand or increase traffic.