10 Key Scoping Terms Every Social Media Management Agreement Template Must Have

Are you a social media manager? I'm telling you exactly what crucial terms on scoping you must have in your social media management agreement template to protect your money and energy.

Being hired to manage the social media accounts of your ideal clients is a dream, but if you're anything like me, you want to ensure the scope is clear and you are both on the same page on what you do and do not do. As a lawyer myself who contracts for social media managers like you, I am giving you all the crucial terms regarding scoping that you need in your social media management agreement template.

You will learn about the key scoping provisions you must include in your social media management agreement template, which may not be included in just any simple social media management agreement template.

After learning all about the important provisions you need in your social media management agreement template, your scope will be clear to your clients, and your money and energy will be protected!

This post is all about the key scoping terms every social media management agreement template must have for professional social media managers.

Ultimate Social Media Management Agreement Template

Key scoping terms any social media management agreement template must have

1. Specify the platforms AND handle

A simple social media management agreement template would leave space to specify the social media platform you will manage for the client. Like that, you shall manage the Instagram account of X. 

A comprehensive social media management agreement template will include space for the specific social media handle of the account that you manage.

Who should this matter? Because the client may have or create multiple social media accounts, like an additional account specifically for their podcast show. If you do not specify which handle, the client may (wrongfully) expect that you also handle the client's other accounts that you did not even know about and for the same price.

To avoid such discussions, you must specify in your social media management agreement template which social media account(s) you manage for the client by specifying the exact social media handles of those accounts.

2. Describe the types of content

In your social media management agreement template, you must be specific about the types of content you create. 

Suppose you manage the client's Instagram. Do you create posts, Reels and Stories or only image posts and Reels? And what kind of posts do you create? Are you posting image posts with photos of the client or the client's products or also posts with stock images? Do you post graphic design images without photos?

If you do not specify exactly what types of content you create, the client may expect you to do all of the above, or the client may not like that you posted a post with a stock image.

3. Determine who is responsible for shooting

As a social media manager, your job is to create content, which is a very broad term. Does that include shooting photos and videos for the client? 

• Some social media managers do not shoot any photos or videos for their clients. 

• Others shoot all the photos and videos for their client's social media platforms or have it outsourced. 

• Then, there is a third group where both the social media managers and clients produce photos and videos.

Whatever option you choose, make it explicitly clear in your social media management agreement template.

4. Include (other) services you do NOT provide

Shooting photos or videos may be one of the services you do not provide. But there are more services that the clients might expect from you but are not part of the deal. You must specify all the services you do not provide but that the client may expect to be included in a list of services you do not provide. That list must be included in your social media management agreement template.

Here are some examples of services you may not provide:

• Managing paid social media ads

• Branding services, like brand design and brand strategy

• Managing other accounts than specified (as discussed in the first paragraph)

• Extensive graphic design or video production

• Customer support beyond engaging with customers on the (specified) social media platforms

• Social media (or other forms of) training

5. Include a reasonable response period for DMs and comments

You might not want to commit to a response period at all, but it's good practice to include a response period in your social media management agreement template for DMs and comments on the platforms you manage.

The reason is that certain clients might keep asking when you will respond to comments they see popping up in their notifications. To prevent constantly being bothered by clients to respond to messages and comments, you, therefore, want to set a maximum response time. 

In your social media management agreement template, you should include the following:

• Set a reasonable maximum response time that you can easily adhere to and even longer than the time you would normally take to respond so you have some wiggle room. Your client will only be pleasantly surprised at how fast you respond in practice instead of being annoyed when there is a time you can't respond as quickly.

• Include provisions explicitly stating that if you do not respond to comments/DMs within the maximum response time, you can not be held liable for any damages that your client may suffer as a result or owe the client any form of compensation. In other words, there are no consequences if you do not respond within the time limit set.

6. Include the number and time of your strategy calls

The last thing you want is for your clients to call you daily about whether your strategy is working. Not only would those calls not add any value, but they are complete energy drainers, the energy you could spend on getting real work done.

Therefore, you need to set boundaries in your social media management agreement template.

Your social media management agreement template should include:

• the maximum number of calls/virtual meetings you will have with the client,

• the maximum duration of each call/virtual meeting, and

• on which day(s) such strategy calls/meetings may take place (not during your weekend).

7. Flexible strategy and posting schedule

Any simple social media management agreement template should include a posting schedule and the type of content you post (as discussed in the second paragraph). 

However, you want to make these flexible. The social media landscape is constantly evolving, and you need to remain flexible to adapt your strategy and schedule to these changes.

Therefore, your social media management agreement template should not include rigid clauses, like posting on specific days or outlining the strategy in detail. Even though you want to be as specific as possible on most things, like the number of posts, you'll create and the maximum number of calls, your strategy and posting schedule are the things you want to leave space for change.

8. Set out your client's responsibilities

As a social media manager, you know you need your client to put in the effort too, like providing you with the client's logo, fonts, branding materials, photo and video content, but also all the other content you need to get a good feel for the client's brand, like podcast interviews, blog posts. Maybe you even need to be sent the client's products if you are also responsible for taking pictures.

It's your client's responsibility to provide you with a content library and all the materials you need. This should be an explicit obligation in your social media management agreement template.

If you do not receive all the information and materials you need from your client, then there's not much you can do for the client, and your work will just not result in a great social media presence or engagement for your client while that's not your fault.

Your contract should, therefore, include:

• the specifics of what you know you need from your client,

• a general obligation of your client to provide the information and materials you reasonably require and in a timely manner (so you can create and post your stuff on time), and

• a disclaimer for not meeting your quota of posts or being able to provide your services at all due to the client not (timely) providing you with the information and materials you require.

9. Outline your reporting style

As the social media manager, you understand which statistics and metrics you need to focus on to see how well your strategy is working. So you know exactly what you should report and when.

You don't want your client to ask for (1) metrics that do not matter or that you simply can not provide or (2) weekly or even daily reports when those short-term numbers do not provide any valuable information to determine whether the strategy is working. You simply need more time and data.

Therefore, your social media management agreement template should include:

• exactly what you measure,

• when you will provide reports to your client (at the end of each month?), and

• how you will provide those reports (in PDF-format by email?).

10. Specify the approval procedure

You need to have a clear outline of the approval process in your social media management agreement template. Otherwise, this could become a great hindrance to your work.

You need to set: 

• deadlines on when you will provide your content to the client (for example, on Tuesdays, you provide the posts to the client that you intend to post the following week),

• within how many hours/days the client must approve those posts (within 48 hours or 3 days?), and

• what happens when you do not receive any response from the client, i.e. your client's approval will be presumed and you get to post those posts.

This ensures that you can perform your work without any hindrances from your client (or having to do a bunch of work on Sunday night because your client provided its feedback that late).

Do you want a social media management agreement template free of fluff?

Do you want a social media management agreement template free of fluff? And one that includes all the essential terms you need (as discussed in this blog post)? 

Then, you can rest assured that my social media management agreement template has all the crucial terms you need when contracting with new clients! My social media management agreement template includes all the crucial terms on scoping you need to set with your clients. 

So, if you are still looking for a comprehensive but understandable social media management agreement template free of fluff, you need to get my social media management agreement template on this page of my contract shop!

Are you using a simple social media management agreement template from Google?

Maybe you do not have the budget yet to purchase a social media management agreement template and prefer to use a simple social media management agreement template you found on Google. 

In that case, you can use this blog post as a checklist to ensure your social media management agreement template includes all the key provisions regarding your scope!

This post was all about the key scoping terms every social media management agreement template must have to protect your money and energy.

You can find my social media management agreement template (including all the key terms for your scope) on this page of my contract shop!

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