Your number
$12,000
Your rate card
- Day rate$950 per day
- Hourlyfor anything that does not fit a day$125 per hour
- A content month, delivered$5,000 per project
- Monthly retainerplanning, posting, replies, the monthly report$4,000 per month
What to charge for each thing (5)
- One platform only$1,475 per month
- Content calendar only (30 days)$700 per month
- Community management (replies and DMs)$900 per month
- Account audit$550 per audit
- Launch or campaign sprint$2,275 per campaign
US rates for social media managers at your level, adjusted for your market. What you last got wins.
- 3 months on retainer at $4,000planning, posting, replies, the monthly report$12,000
For 3 months on retainer at $4,000, the quote is $12,000.
To take home $85,000 after $9,000 of costs and 30% tax you need to bill $134,286 a year. At 24 billable hours a week for 47 weeks that is $125 an hour, $950 a day. Anything under that is a pay cut you did not agree to.
Social media managers usually day at $400 to $800. You are above it. That is fine when the work is, and it is the reason to say it plainly and show the work.
A content month, delivered runs $1,500 to $5,000 and takes about 40 hours of your time; at your hourly that is $5,000. The number is the higher of the two, because the client is buying the outcome, not the hours.
A retainer is the month, not the hours: planning, posting, replies, the monthly report. It is priced about 20% under the same work bought one at a time, in exchange for the certainty; three months minimum, or it is not a retainer.