As a social media manager, you are, no doubt, surrounded by content which talks about how much money you can make as a freelancer. And if your goal is to increase your income this year then you'll be wondering what everyone else is doing, so you can do it too.

The bad news is that there is no magic wand to increase your income, but the good news is that there are many ways to make money as a social media manager and with some careful planning you can build your business to bring in 5k, 10k or more every month.

This article will outline five ways to add to your income this month.

The most obvious service to offer as a social media manager is managing client accounts. But, winning a new management client is probably not going to be the quickest method of adding some cash to your bank account so let's uncover 5 other ways you can increase your income.

#1 Sell your skills in group training

You will already have people in your network who are either never going to hire a social media manager or can't afford to.

These people might benefit from your expertise in training or support.

We've often sold one-off masterclasses and workshops as a quick win to top up our bank balance. The right idea and some strategic promotion can also work for you.

When Laura Moore needed to bring some quick cash into her business, she hosted a masterclass titled ‘How to grow your email list with Facebook Ads‘ over Zoom. With very little promotion, she brought over £500 into her business in under 2 hours!

Here's how you can do something similar.

Firstly, pick your topic but don't overcomplicate it, or you'll put people off.  That's why Laura's masterclass worked so well, it focused purely on one thing, and the outcome was clear.

Set your price.
Your price will depend on how much you need to bring into your business.

Work backwards from your income goal to figure out how much to charge. Look at how many spaces you can realistically sell and how much you'd need to charge those people to hit your goal.

Remember, the higher the price, the less you need to sell. An online masterclass can range from £45-200 (or even more depending on how long it lasts, what it covers and who it's for).

Value your time and expertise but remember that the people you're selling to are business owners, and this is a business expense for them.

Need to make a little extra? Offer a VIP option as well with additional extras. If you only sold one VIP, you could still increase your income.

Promote it – way more than feels comfortable.

Send a personal invitation to people you know will benefit from this specific training, tell them how it'll help them and make them feel like it was made for them. 

Promote it on all your platforms and to your email list.  Keep promoting it until you have enough people.

Top up your total by selling the recording
You can make extra money by selling this as pre-recorded training. Of course, you will need a promotional strategy for replay sales – don't expect people to knock on your door asking to buy it!

When we first started, we used Thinkific to sell and host online training and highly recommend it.

But if you think you might do this more regularly and want a platform that will offer you a place to build sales pages, manage payments and host your replays we'd highly recommend Thrivecart for a one-off investment and no ongoing fees.

#2  Offer your audience a paid Audit

This is one of our favourite ways to bring in some quick cash and often leads to more work with the client.

An audit is a great way to make money as a social media manager. They are easy to deliver and offer great value to a business.

Audits are a great way for a client to get a quick win, with expert eyes on their platforms and can lead to more work too.

We even have a template to help you offer audits to your clients, which is available here (or inside The Social Media Managers Toolkit). If a client has multiple platforms then, of course, ensure you charge accordingly.

#3 Share affiliate links.

We are big fans of affiliate marketing. It's a win-win-win situation as you can support someone else's business while helping your audience discover new tools, products or services. You get to top up your income without needing to do the extra work to create or deliver something.

There are so many options out there for affiliate schemes. Focus on finding products or services your network wants or needs when looking for suitable affiliate opportunities. 

Once you have these links, promote them with a marketing strategy just like you would your products or services.

Don't promote affiliate links to other people's audiences without permission. Ensure you are correctly labelling affiliate links following both platform rules and your country's advertising regulations and laws.

#4 make someone an offer they can't refuse

Rather than trying to find a new client, put together a really attractive deal or offer you can send out to your existing ones.

These are your hottest leads, they already love you and have bought from you, so they know the quality of your work.  Make them feel special by exclusively offering this to them.

There’s a good chance that your clients will want to take advantage of this offer, even if they don't need it right now, Because it's a really good deal that you know they need.  Put a deadline on the offer to encourage them to make a quick decision.

For example, you could offer them an option to pre-book (and pre-pay) for an audit or power hour to lock in at your current rates, as they'll be going up soon.

#5 increase your fees

We surveyed more than 300 global freelance social media managers to find out how much they earned, and in many cases, we were shocked by how little people charged for their services.

This means that it's all to play for if you’re currently at the lower end of the scale.

Check out our pricing report to see how your prices fare and whether it’s time to put them up.