Social Media Consulting

What Is a Social Media Consultant?
A social media consultant is responsible for helping businesses and brands optimize their social media strategy and marketing. They help their clients increase engagement, boost brand awareness and drive traffic to business websites. They specialize in social media strategy and planning. They also advise clients on how to make the right social media choices for lead generation and marketing. Social media consultants can work on a contract or project-to-project basis.

As a social media consultant, you will be expected to enhance a company's brand management and customer engagement. The duties can include:

• Creating social media strategies
• Developing content for social media
• Posting content to social media
• Monitoring social media profiles
• Replying customers messages and comments
• Researching competition
• Recommending improvements and optimization
• Integrating SEO content on a client's social media pages
• Collaborating with influencers
• Researching competition
• Understanding clients target audience
• Staying up to date with trends

What Does a Social Media Consultant Do?

As I already mentioned, a social media consultant is responsible for growing their clients online presence and creating brand awareness across multiple social media platforms. Depending on the client, you might be expected to produce and publish content. Social media consultants create strategies that help brand management and customer engagement. Good social media consultants stay up to date with trends and integrate these to drive traffic to social media profiles or websites. They are able to research and interpret data to better their customers marketing ROI (return on investment).

Pros Of Becoming a Social Media Consultant

• Be you own boss
• Work from home
• Choose clients you prefer
• Choose a niche you enjoy working with

Cons Of Becoming a Social Media Consultant

• Unstable salary
• High expectations
• Competition
• Administrative tasks

The Skills to Become a Successful Social Media Consultant

As a social media consultant, your clients expect you to be an expert in all various social media platforms. Before you acquire your first client, make sure you understand your duties fully. Take time to study and learn everything there is about social media marketing. Cultivate your skills, so both you and your clients have a positive experience. Here’s a list of some of the skills that you need to focus on to build a successful social media consultant business:

• Communication
• Social media skills
• SEO
• Creativity 
• Data analysis
• Project management
• Conversion
• Optimization
• Trends 
• Branding

Pick Your Niche

The social media business has many components and niches. Hence, many social media consultants select a niche to focus on. They provide specialized knowledge and services in one area of social media marketing to their clients. For example, one may choose to specialise in social media content creation if they’re creatively minded. While another may pick digital strategy and marketing due to their skills in planning. Do not try to master all areas in the industry. It can become an overwhelming responsibility. It's essential to your business that you focus on delivering excellent results that will gain you more clients. Here’s a few niches you can consider:

• Social media consulting
• Content strategy
• Marketing
• Graphic design
• Copywriting
• Content creating
• Digital marketing
• Account creation and set-up
• Publishing content
• Researching trends
• Providing coaching 
• Social media management
• Rebranding

Gain Experience

Before you get hired as a social media consultant, gain a certain amount of experience. Make sure you are comfortable and that you are confident in your skills. Starting a social media career is a gradual process that will no come without obstacles. Although, some social media consultant jobs may be available for newbies, some employers may prefer you have a certain level of experience in your niche before hiring you. For example, if you want to become a social media consultant with expertise in marketing, working as a marketer can help you gain valuable experience that will give you an advantage into that consulting position.

Freelance marketplaces like Freelancer, Upwork, and Fiverr give you a great way to gain experience while finding your niche. You can find projects that will help you get started and work on your skills, while building your portfolio.

Networking

A great tool to ensure yourself a successful business with the social media industry is networking. Both online and in person. Build relationships with others that can help you build up a client following. Join groups and forums. Share your expertise and learn from others. Start making real connections as early as you can. Building a client base takes time. Surrounding yourself with professionals in your industry will show to be very beneficial for your career. These connections you build can help increase your client following and provide valuable knowledge from industry professionals. You might also discover job opportunities through network connections. You can even create your own blog to gain attraction to your persona. Here are some benefits of networking:

• Support from like-minded people
• Valuable knowledge
• Learn about the industry
• Stay up to date with trends
• Find job opportunities
• Promote your services
• Brand yourself
• Develop social skills

Build A Portfolio

As soon as you start your social media consulting journey, make sure you have your eye on building a strong portfolio. Doing some free work to get a strong testimonial or review is worth considering. Compile your work in a portfolio. A portfolio helps potential clients learn more about your experience and your personal service. A portfolio builds trust. Your portfolio is what will convince potential clients to hire you ahead of your competitors. Be sure to include case studies and select content that promotes your abilities best. Be creative when it comes to displaying your case studies and asking for testimonials. A unique portfolio will grab a potential clients attention.

Set Your Rate

Depending on your experience and portfolio you can charge clients anywhere between $50 and $100 per hour as a freelance social media consultant. As a social media consultant you can set your own prices or negotiate fair rates with your clients. You can also come up with monthly packages that can be customized to include additional services at an extra cost. To stay within a reasonable price range, consider your years of experience. I would advice you to start low, and then, once you have an established portfolio, you might charge $100 per hour for your services. Also, the amount of money you make depends on how many clients and projects you have. Don’t take on too much work at a time. This will ruin your business. Only take on the amount of jobs and projects you are certain to complete in a manner that’s satisfying to your clients and yourself. Scale your business as you go along. Start with just a few projects and expand your offerings as you gain more experience.

Outsourcing Your Work

Once, you start working for more clients than you can handle by yourself, start outsourcing your work. Don’t try to do it all by yourself. If you’ve made it to this point, just be glad. You have a business. It’s time to think big. It’s time to hire other freelancers to help you take your business to the next level. This way you will get a lot more done and ultimately deliver better results, get better testimonials, and more clients. 

Finding freelancers who you can outsource work to is easy with platforms such as Fiverr and UpWork. Make a good job post and invite freelancers to apply. Establish good connections with remote workers that can help you build your consulting business. This will free up some time for you to familiarize yourself with your client's needs and requirements. Your clients will have a better experience with your service. This will lead to better reviews and testimonials on your portfolio, which eventually will build trust and demonstrate your skills and quality to future clients.

Influencer Agency

What Is An Influencer Agency?

An influencer marketing agency helps a business or brand plan, execute, and manage influencer marketing campaigns.  An influencer marketing agency builds its business around influencers. The agency acts as a bridge between the influencers and brands. With influencers become more and popular, businesses and brands who need to promote their product or service use influencers to create brand awareness. Using a popular influencer to promote a products or brands is one of the best ways to instantly bring traffic to a business or website. This is done by product placement, sponsored content or paid sponsorships. The influencer agency’s role lays in managing this whole process.

An influencer agency is entirely focused on marketing with social media influencers. Creating marketing campaigns and strategies by using popular social media influencers to promote a brand and message to the broader audience. Influencer marketing can be done as an alternative or in some cases be combined with the traditional digital marketing strategies.

What Does An Influencer Agency Do?

An influencer agency can have many roles. It all depends on the clients requirements and which project they take on. Before you embark on your journey to starting your own agency, there are some basic functions of influencer marketing agencies that you should understand:

• Finding the right influencer for the job. It’s the job of the agency to scout and find the relevant influencers for a particular campaign. Make sure you have a good diversity of influencer for different audiences. 

• Content creation. Helping and guiding the influencers marketing campaigns. You are in charge of the whole campaign process. Be aware of the brand’s target audience and the influencers execution. 

• Influencer marketing agencies select a social media platform that best suits the specific brand or service. They also give advice on how to develop a successful marketing strategy to achieve the set goals. This can be by tools such as contents, giveaways or product placements.

• The influencer agency is responsible for all the negotiations between the brand and the influencer. Planning, schedules, goals, salary and contracts all falls on the shoulders of the agency.

• All management of a campaign is expected from the agency. They are expected to supervise the whole campaign and make necessary corrections and change if something goes wrong.

• The influencer agency is in charge of execution of the whole marketing campaign.

• Optimization is another important element of being a successful agency in this industry. Measuring, looking at data, analysing and suggesting how to optimize a campaign and reach a wider audience.

• After completion, the agency has to report on the campaign results obtained. Present the data. The client should be presented documentation on what the agency has spent the budget on and get all the insights regarding the campaign performance.

• ROI (return of investment). To have success in any business, one of the main skills is to increase profits while spending less. The influencer industry is no different. Cultivate a habit of spending the clients money as it was your own. With care and to get the optimal results.

Create A Business Plan

If you’re convinced that this business model is for you, then start with creating a business plan. List everything from scratch and what it will take for your to get to your goals. Heroes a list of some elements that you can include in your business plan:

• Pick a name and niche
• Form a business entity
• Get your EIN and register for taxes
• Open a bank account
• Create a website
• Find influencers
• Find clients

Choose Your Niche

Focusing your services to serve a specific niche in this industry will help you offer quality services and deliver better results than standard social media marketing agencies can. Mastering one niche will help you understand how to target and reach a specific audience. Clients with specific brands or services will pick you as an expert for their brand or product. This will help your business grow exponentially and secure your long-term relationships with your clients. It will make it easier for you to customize your service to your clients unique requirements. You will better present solutions to their challenges and ultimately attract more clients that are active in that specific niche.

The advantages to having a social media marketing company focused on a certain industry are really many. The main reason being that businesses are always looking to collaborate with service providers that know their industry and understand their specific needs. E-commerce businesses don’t have the same needs as the health care industry. Neither do beauty product businesses have the same needs as educational organizations. Lastly, focusing on a niche will make it easier for you to market yourself to potential clients and allow you to focus on a specific target audience when spending money on branding your influencer business. It’s worth noting, that you can always add more niches to your service as you grow your business. That is, if you don’t have enough work to do with your prime niche.

Research The Industry

If you want fast results with your influencer marketing agency, do your research. Research the niche you are targeting and your competition. See what other agencies offer in terms of services and pricing. Notice how they are presenting their services. Look at what they use to define their brand and how they approach their clients. Make sure you not only do your initial research but also always stay on top of anything that could qualify as industry trends. You want to be familiar with any changes or events that may have an effect on your clients’ businesses.

Make sure you understand your role within this industry. Social media marketing agencies generally offer one or numerous of the following services:

• Increase social media presence
• Social media advertising
• SEO
• Website design
• Content marketing
• Content writing
• Video marketing
• PR services
• Community management
• Review and comment management
• Handling influencer marketing campaigns
• Social media planning
• Creating strategies for and running social media campaigns

Finding Influencers

Once you have established your business, you can start making list of influencers that you wish to work with. This can be a difficult process because of the vast amount of platforms and influencers. However, whatever way you go about finding your influencers, here’s a few things you should consider:

• Does the influencer represent your chosen niche?

• Does the influencer engage with their followers?

• Does the influencer have a positive brand name with the niche?

• What type of content does the influencer regularly post?

• What type of content does the influencer share?

• What type of values and opinions does the influencer hold?

• Does the influencer have relevance within your niche?

• Is the influencer angle to reach your clients audience

• Does the influencer have a high engagement score?

Mega Influencers

Mega influencers are influencers with a huge following. They often have numbers of followers that range from 1 million followers and up.

Macro Influencers

These are the influencers with a following that ranges from 100,000 to 1 million followers.

Micro Influencers

These influencers have a very limited following of anything between 5,000 to 20,000 followers.

Nano Influencers

The final type of influencers are nano influencers with a following of less that 1000 followers.

Getting Started

Once you’ve found your preferred influencers, you need to convince them to work with you. You need a good pitch and written agreement that will convince them to collaborate with you. Make sure you offer monetary payment as well as offering your influencers free products in return for shout-outs or brand promotions. Here are a few things you should prepare before you reach out to influencers:

• Send personalized emails

• Be transparent

• Present your goals and target clients

• Treat them as business partners

• Be professional and courteous

Don't expect a reply from all the influencers you contact. In fact most of them will probably not reply your first message. They get tons of emails and dm’s. Which is why spending some time on preparing a powerful first contact message is important. Be consistent. If you don’t get a reply from someone you really want on your boat, don’t give up on then. Send then a second message. Be optimistic. Remember, that this whole influencer marketing industry is very young. It’s a competitive business. However, it’s also a growing and trendy type of business. So, take your time and build your business slowly, but surely. Keep your vision and end goals always on mind. If you really want to engage in this field of work, and you are willing to do the work, there is a spot just for you.

Do Voice Overs

 

A Voice-Over Artist

A voice-over artist is a an actor who uses their voice to create characters, tell stories, communicate vital information, and connect with an audience. They might narrate for commercials, animation, audiobooks, video games or educational content. They do impressions, mimicry, or character voices. They are called voice actors because it takes a bit of acting to make people “buy” your voice. Since voice actors are never seen on-screen, their voice is their only way of connection to their audience. Hence, a great voice actor knows that their power lays in their voice.

A voice actor records in a vocal booth or any where sound proof, depending on the project requirements. They must be able to switch tones and character from gig to gig. You’ve probably hear voice-over artists in cartoons, animation films, video games, commercials, narration, audiobooks and more. Some professional voice-over actors set up a soundproof home studio which they use for recording.

The Pros of Becoming a Voice Artist

Even though the voice-over industry is competitive, there are great benefits to this career choice, if you can become established. Here are some of the benefits of being this business:

• Work from home
• Flexible working hours 
• Your own boss
• Faceless work

The Cons of Becoming a Voice Artist

While voice acting has many benefits, there are some cons. Here are a few of them:

• Competition
• Isolation
• Unstable income
• Hard on the voice

Required Skills to Become a Voice Artist

To start a successful voice-over business, it’s not enough that you can read a script. You need to cultivate and elevate some crucial elements to your persona as you record your projects. Here are some of the elements you should practice and master:

• Natural pauses
• Consistency of your volume
• Articulation
• Voice control 
• Breathing control
• Authenticity
• Acting 
• Confidence

Create A Business Plan

If you are serious about becoming a voice actor, you should create a business plan. Just a simple one pager will suffice. Businesses that have a plan are over 60% more likely to succeed. So take time to think about your hopes and goals. A clear vision of the goal will keep you motivated to succeed.

You can save a lot of time and money by starting your voice-over business the correct way. You want too avoid newbie mistakes so you can have a good first impression of your newly chosen career path. I’ve made list of some of the things you want to consider and put on your to-do list as you head on your voice-acting journey:

• Voice over training
• Practice reading out loud
• Do some demos
• Choose a business name
• Form a company
• Register your company
• Open a business bank account
• Set up accounting
• Create a marketing plan
• Create logo
• Create your website
• Create social media profiles
• Market yourself
• Join voice-over service platforms

The Required Equipment

I will not advice you invest in a lot expensive equipment when you first get started. There’s plenty of room for investing in your business as you grow. The goal is to start of with a budget that is affordable, yet professional enough to get the job done. A home studio is the first step to towards your goals. Here’s a list of the primary things you will need to build your first home studio in a soundproof room:

• Microphone
• Computer
• Recording software
• Mixer

The Home Recording Studio

The most essential element to for you to be able to record high-quality work for your clients, is to build a sound proof home recording studio. Firstly, consider which room would make the most suitable recording space. The room just needs to be large enough for you to comfortably sit in. Voice-artists can get quite creative with which spaces they convert into studios. Everything goes. From garages to toilets, there’s really no limits. As long as you get a sound proof recording, you’ll have a great end result. So, it’s really not about the budget, but rather how creative you can get. Start of by watching some YouTube tips and tricks videos for building home studios. So, keep it simple:

• Your recording space can be in any given room. As long as it is quiet and soundproof so you can record professional quality results.

• Soundproofing doesn’t have to be expensive. You can use blankets to absorb any unwanted reverb unwanted sounds. 

• Recording equipment doesn’t have to be expensive. Start of small and invest as you go along and as your business grows.

Improve Your Vocal Skills

Great voice actors consistently work on their voices. You need to stand out from the competition. Practice. Better yourself. Spend time reading out loud. Every day. Even it’s just for 10 - 15 minutes.  Take any and every opportunity to become confident in your own voice. It’s almost like you get to know your voice. Also, take time to listen to other voice performers. Listen to commercials and audiobooks. Really listen. Learn from them. What are their qualities? What made a company choose that specific voice? Practise your acting. As a voice artist, acting is required. You’ll have be able to get into a new character for each gig. Take a short course in voice acting if necessary. Your investment will be well worth it once you land a good job. Then learn to balance things and choose the right character for the given project. Not all gigs will require a high level of acting. Some gigs may need you to use your own voice in a natural and personal way. Meaning using a voice that’s very close to that of your daily ‘regular’ voice. If you can learn to do give the client what they want and jump between the above spectrums easily, you have the chance of making a career from the voice acting industry.

The Start Budget For A Voice-Over Business

As already mentioned, my advice is to start small and go big as you go along. I would say a low budget to get your freelance voice-artist business started is around $500. Assuming you already have a computer.

• Microphone $149
• Computer $0
• Recording software $199
• Mixer $179

Software Requirements 

As the recording quality of your recordings is incredibly important, make sure you invest in popular software with a good following of happy customers. Read their reviews. Watch YouTube videos where they compare software. Find one that works with your computer. Remember, that your voice over demos and auditions need to present your vocal skills in a professional and well recorded manner. Some of popular recording programs/software include:

• Logic
• GarageBand
• Pro Tools
• Adobe Audition
• Audacity 
• Sound Forge

The Voice Over Industry

The voice over industry has infinite niches that you need to be prepared to deliver your service to. Each new client will have new needs and wants. You will have to accept  their different expectations on what constitutes a good vocal performance and end result. Be patient. Be customer minded. Don’t argue with them. Change things to please them. They know what they want. These clients can be producers, directors, copywriters, ad agency executives, TV network producers, video game developers, and many more. It will help you to be mentally prepared for the different niches you might do projects in. The main types of voiceover niches are as follows:

• Narration
• Audiobooks
• Gaming
• Narration
• Documentaries
• Animation films and series
• Phone Messages
• Commercials
• TV
• Radio
• Movie Trailer
• Training videos
• Explainer videos
• Podcasts

Your Voice-Over Business

Remember that you are in control. Travel at the paste your feel comfortable. You decide what clients you accept. Which projects you get into. Remember, many freelancers earn a good living doing this alone. The first step is building your portfolio and showcasing your voice with well-recorded samples. Make sure to expand your network by joining voice-over platforms such as fiverr.com and upwork.com. For even faster results you can advertise on social media. Join Facebook groups that specialise in voice over work. Connect with people. If you are persistent, you’ll land your first voice over job in no time and will be on your way to being independent and having a self-employed business.