When I first started doing freelance social media strategy, a website owner reached out to me about managing his Facebook and Twitter accounts. Since I was just starting out, my hourly rate was pretty low, but he still thought it was too high.
Client: Instead of me paying you per hour, why don’t I pay you per $20 per every hundred new followers you get for me? So, if you get me 500 new Facebook or Twitter followers, I’ll pay you $100.
Me: The best way to grow your followers is to have a strategic and holistic social media plan involving audience analysis and a social media content calendar. There would be quite a bit of upfront work before we could expect to see a spike in followers. Furthermore, the number of followers isn’t really as important as the rate of engagement is.
Client: What do you mean?
Me: Well, I could easily go onto Fiverr.com and pay five bucks to get you a thousand Twitter followers, but they’re just empty profiles. What really matters is if they’re engaging with you via social media, if they’re clicking through to your website to make a purchase, or if they’re favoriting, retweeting, or otherwise sharing your content with their own followers.
Client: Wait a second. Do you mean that I could go that that site and buy a thousand Twitter followers for five bucks?
Me: Yes, but they’re just fake profiles, not potential customers-
Client: (interrupting) Then why would I pay you $xx per hour? You’ve got a real racket going on, and I’m no sucker. I’m just going to use Fiverr.com instead.
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