Social Media Manager VA.

Also posted as

Social media VA, content coordinator, community manager, digital marketing assistant

Core loop

Plan → create → approve → schedule → moderate → report

Biggest trap

Scope. One fee, four accounts, unlimited everything

Four different jobs

Management, strategy, content production, community management

Easiest way in

A real small business you post for, with permission and a written scope

Progress is saved in this browser only. Nothing is sent anywhere.

1. 01

   Four jobs in one job title

   You can tell a client exactly which of the four social jobs you are doing, and price them separately.Time splitRatesRed/green flags22 min

   • Social media management is publishing and keeping the accounts alive. Strategy is deciding what the accounts are for. Content production is making the assets. Community management is handling people. They are four different jobs with four different rates.
   • A post is not a campaign. A campaign has a start, an end, a goal, and a way to tell whether it worked.
   • Every client's real goal is one of four: awareness, engagement, leads, or sales. Ask which one, in those words. If they say all four, ask which one they would keep.
   • Followers are not a business goal. A bakery with 900 local followers who order beats one with 40,000 followers in another country.
   • Write a one-page brief before you touch an account: goal, audience, pillars, platforms, posting cadence, tone, what is off limits.
   • Getting this straight in week one is the entire difference between a client you keep for two years and one you resent by month three.

   Worked example — The same request, priced four ways

   MANAGEMENT — Schedule 12 approved posts a month, publish, basic QA. Lowest rate.

   COMMUNITY — Reply to comments and DMs within a defined window, escalate complaints, keep a response log. Priced per week, not per post.

   PRODUCTION — Design 12 graphics and edit 4 reels from client-supplied footage. Priced per asset.

   STRATEGY — Decide the pillars, the calendar, the platform mix, the measurement. Priced as a one-off project, then a monthly retainer.

   When a client asks for '12 posts a month', ask which of these four they mean. Most of them have never thought about it and will respect you for asking.

   Where the hours go

   Where a full social retainer's hours actually go

   20 hrs/week managing two platforms for one small brand. The posting itself is almost nothing.

   • Making assets: design and video edit38%

     The real job. Video editing eats hours faster than anything else.

   • Community: comments, DMs, replies22%

     Never batched into one block — it's scattered across the day, which is what makes it draining.

   • Planning, ideation, writing captions16%

     Do it monthly in one sitting. Daily ideation is how people burn out.

   • Approvals and revisions10%

     Uncapped revisions is the #1 way this job becomes unprofitable.

   • Reporting and client comms8%

     Small slice, disproportionate effect on whether you keep the client.

   • Actually scheduling and posting6%

     The thing the job is named after takes about an hour a week.

   Posting is 6% of the work. If a client is paying you a posting rate for all six slices, you're subsidising them by about 90%.

   What this pays

   What each of the four social jobs pays

   The reason social media pay looks so random is that four different jobs share one title. Price them separately and you stop being underpaid for the hard one.

   Swipe the table sideways →

   Experience	Hourly (USD)	Monthly (USD)	What changes it
   Scheduler / poster	$3–5	$500–850	You post what someone else made. Lowest ceiling in the whole VA market.
   Community manager	$5–8	$850–1,300	Comments, DMs, tone. Paid for reliability and judgment under pressure.
   Content creator (design + video)	$7–14	$1,200–2,200	You make the assets. Short-form video editing is the highest-demand skill here.
   Strategist / social manager	$10–18	$1,700–2,900	You own the calendar, the pillars and the numbers. You can defend a bad month.
   Head of social / paid + organic	$16–28	$2,700–4,500	You tie content to revenue and manage ad spend. Rare and well paid.

   This table has 4 columns and scrolls horizontally on small screens.

   Same skill, different client

   • Verse's job board (median)$4.00

     Across live social listings. Most of those posts want a scheduler and call it a manager.

   • US client, direct$8–18

     Especially agencies and personal brands. They pay for output volume, not hours.

   • Per-deliverable (no hourly)$25–80 per short-form video

     Where experienced editors actually make money. Price the asset, not the afternoon.

   • Retainer, full social$600–2,000/mo

     12–20 posts + community + reporting. Always cap the revision rounds.

   Sources: Verse's live board (n=2,081), OnlineJobs.ph Facebook-marketing expectations ($3.10–12.20+), 2026 agency cards quoting $6–11/hr for social management.

   Red flag / green flag

   Spot the difference

   Same situation, two ways it can go.

   The job post says

   Red flag

   "Social Media Manager needed. Post 3x daily on IG, FB, TikTok, X, LinkedIn and Pinterest. Create all graphics and videos. Respond to all comments. Grow us to 100k followers in 6 months. $350/month."

   Six platforms × 3 posts = 90 posts a week, plus design, plus video, plus community, for under $2/hr. The follower target is also a promise no honest person can make.

   Green flag

   "Social manager for our skincare brand. IG + TikTok only, 12 posts/month, we supply raw footage. You edit, caption, schedule and handle comments 2x daily. $900/mo, 20 hrs/wk. Success = engagement rate and DM enquiries, not follower count."

   Two platforms, a countable deliverable, they supply the raw material, and success is defined by something the work can actually influence.

   A client asks you to guarantee growth

   Red flag

   "Sure, we can definitely hit 10k followers in three months with the right strategy!"

   Reach is algorithmic and out of your hands. You've just made a promise you'll be measured against, and the only way to hit it is buying followers, which wrecks the account.

   Green flag

   "I can't promise follower counts — that's the algorithm's decision, not mine. What I'll commit to is 12 posts a month, every comment answered within 4 hours, and a monthly report on saves, shares and profile-to-DM conversion. Those are the numbers that actually predict sales. If they're flat after 90 days, the strategy's wrong and I'll say so."

   Refuses the unpromisable, replaces it with real committed deliverables, and names the metrics that correlate with money instead of ego.

   Do this

   Take Halo-Halo House. Write the one-page brief: goal, audience, three or four pillars, platform mix, cadence, tone, off-limits list.

   Hand in: A one-page brand brief plus a four-line note on which of the four jobs your offer covers.≈ 40 min

   Check before you call it done

   • The goal is one of the four, chosen, not all of them
   • The audience is described specifically enough to exclude people
   • There are three or four pillars, not seven
   • The off-limits list has at least three items
   • Your offer note says clearly what you are not doing

   Mark module done
2. 02

   Content pillars and a calendar that survives

   You can build a month of content in one sitting instead of panicking daily.Workflow2 templates30 min

   • Pillars are recurring subject categories. Three or four, each with a repeatable format. For a dessert shop: the product, the people who make it, the customers, and the behind-the-scenes.
   • Recurring formats are how you stop starting from zero. 'Flavour Friday', a Monday customer photo, a Wednesday behind-the-counter reel. The audience learns the rhythm and so do you.
   • Batch everything. One planning session, one writing session, one design session, one scheduling session. Doing a full post start to finish every day costs about three times the hours.
   • Build the asset request list at the same time as the calendar, and send it with a hard deadline. Missing photos is the number one reason calendars collapse.
   • Leave 20% of the calendar empty on purpose. Something will happen, an event, a sold-out day, a trend, and if the month is packed you have nowhere to put it.
   • Seasonal hooks in the Philippines are their own advantage: fiestas, ber-months, payday cycles on the 15th and 30th, back-to-school, rainy season. Local calendars beat generic global ones.

   Worked example — Halo-Halo House, one week from the calendar

   MON — Pillar: Customers. Format: reposted customer photo + short caption. Asset needed: 2 tagged photos from the weekend.

   TUE — Pillar: Product. Format: single image, price + one-line hook. Asset: ube overload flat lay (client to shoot Sunday).

   WED — Pillar: Behind the scenes. Format: 20s reel, shaved ice close-up, trending audio. Asset: 3 clips, filmed Tuesday.

   THU — no post. Buffer day.

   FRI — Pillar: Product. Format: carousel, 'how we build a halo-halo', 6 slides. Assets: 6 stills.

   SAT — Pillar: People. Format: story sequence, 4 frames, staff pick of the week. Asset: 1 short clip.

   SUN — no post. Buffer day.

   ASSET DEADLINE — everything above due from client by Thursday 5pm the week prior. Late assets push the post, not the deadline.

   Five posts, two buffer days, and a deadline the client agreed to in writing. That last line is what stops Sunday-night emergencies.

   Workflow

   The monthly batch day

   One day, once a month. Replaces panicking every morning about what to post.

   1. 1

      Pull last month's numbers first

      Which 3 posts did best, which 3 died. Do more of the first thing. This takes 15 minutes and shapes everything after it.

   2. 2

      Check the calendar for anything real

      Product drops, holidays, local events, client milestones. Real events beat invented content every time.

   3. 3

      Fill the pillar grid

      Assign each slot in the month to a pillar. If one pillar is doing all the work, you have one pillar, not four.

   4. 4

      Write all captions in one sitting

      Writing 12 captions in a row takes about as long as writing 4 on separate days. Context switching is the tax.

   5. 5

      Design all assets in one sitting

      Open Canva once. Duplicate a template 12 times. Never build a post from a blank canvas.

   6. 6

      Load everything into the scheduler as drafts

      Then send one approval link. One approval round for the month, not twelve.

   Where this breaks: Leaving 3–4 slots empty for 'timely content' and then never filling them. Plan 80% and mark the reactive slots explicitly, with a rule for what goes there.

   Copy-paste

   Steal these

   Swap the bracketed bits and send.

   Content pillar sheet

   Build this in week one with the client. It ends the 'what should we post?' conversation permanently.

   Copy template to clipboard

   [BRAND] CONTENT PILLARS
   
   Pillar 1 — TEACH (40% of posts)
   What: [the thing your audience doesn't know that you do]
   Example formats: how-to carousel, myth vs fact, "3 mistakes" reel
   Goal: saves and shares
   Sample: "Why your coffee tastes bitter (it's not the beans)"
   
   Pillar 2 — PROVE (25%)
   What: results, reviews, before/after, customer stories
   Example formats: testimonial graphic, UGC repost, case study reel
   Goal: trust, DM enquiries
   Sample: "Marissa switched to weekly delivery — here's her setup"
   
   Pillar 3 — HUMAN (20%)
   What: the people, the process, the mess behind the product
   Example formats: BTS reel, founder talking head, day-in-the-life
   Goal: comments, follows
   Sample: "5am at the roastery"
   
   Pillar 4 — SELL (15%)
   What: the actual offer, plainly
   Example formats: product carousel, offer graphic, launch reel
   Goal: link clicks, sales
   Sample: "New: 1kg bags, 20% cheaper per cup"
   
   RULES
   • Never two SELL posts in a row
   • Every SELL post follows at least two value posts
   • If a pillar hasn't been posted in 3 weeks, it's not a real pillar — cut it
   • Reactive slots: [n] per month, filled only with [trending audio / news in our niche / replies to comments]

   Monthly content calendar row

   One row per post in a Sheet or Notion table. Every column earns its place.

   Copy template to clipboard

   Date	Time	Platform	Pillar	Format	Hook (first line)	Caption	Asset link	CTA	Status	Posted	Reach	Saves	Comments
   Mar 4	6pm	IG Reel	Teach	Reel 22s	"You're storing your beans wrong"	[text]	[Canva/Drive]	Save this	Approved	✅	4,210	189	23
   Mar 6	12pm	IG + FB	Prove	Carousel	"Marissa's morning, 6 months in"	[text]	[link]	DM us	Draft	—	—	—	—

   WHY EACH COLUMN
   • Hook gets its own column because it's 80% of performance. Review hooks separately from captions.
   • Status: Draft → Review → Approved → Scheduled. Never post anything not marked Approved.
   • The last three columns are filled AFTER posting. This is your evidence at reporting time and your input for next month's batch day.

   Do this

   Build a full month for Halo-Halo House. Four pillars, recurring formats, an asset request list with deadlines, and 20% left empty.

   Hand in: A month calendar in Sheets or Notion plus an asset request list the client could action today.≈ 70 min

   Check before you call it done

   • Every entry names its pillar and format
   • Every entry lists the exact assets needed and who provides them
   • There is a single hard asset deadline stated once, clearly
   • At least 20% of slots are deliberately empty
   • At least two entries use a Philippine-specific seasonal hook

   Mark module done
3. 03

   Writing captions and adapting across platforms

   You can turn one idea into five platform-native posts without copy-pasting the same caption everywhere.Red/green flags2 templates32 min

   • The first line is the whole job. On every platform the rest is hidden behind 'more', so if line one does not earn attention nothing else you wrote matters.
   • Three hooks that reliably work: a specific number, a mild contradiction, or a question the audience has actually asked. 'We shave 400 kilos of ice a week' beats 'Happy Monday everyone!'.
   • Platform tone genuinely differs. Instagram is visual-first with a short caption, Facebook tolerates longer and more community-ish, LinkedIn wants a lesson or a result, TikTok wants the hook spoken in the first two seconds.
   • One clear call to action per post. 'Comment your favourite', 'link in bio', 'order by Friday'. Two CTAs is the same as none.
   • Accessibility is not optional and it also boosts reach: alt text on images, burned-in captions on video, and no walls of decorative emoji between every word, because screen readers read every one out loud.
   • Never make claims the client cannot back. No 'best in Bacolod', no health claims, no fake scarcity. You are the one who typed it.

   Worked example — One idea, five platforms

   Before

   Every platform gets: 'Try our new Ube Overload Halo-Halo! 🍧😍 Available now! Visit us today! #halohalo #dessert #bacolod #foodie #yummy #sarap #summer #icecream #philippines #foodporn'

   After

   IG — 'Nine layers. One of them is a whole slice of leche flan.' Then two lines on the ube, then: Save this for your next merienda run. (5 hashtags, in the first comment)

   FB — Longer, warmer, community framing: the story of the lola who tested the recipe, plus the address and opening hours because FB is where people actually look those up.

   TIKTOK — Spoken hook at 0:00: 'This is nine layers deep.' Then the build shot by shot, 22 seconds, captions burned in, price on the last frame.

   IG STORIES — Four frames: teaser, poll (ube vs mango), the build, then a 'we're open til 9' frame with a location sticker.

   LINKEDIN — Skip it. A dessert shop has no reason to be there, and saying so is better advice than filling the slot.

   That last line matters. Telling a client which platform to drop is more valuable than being agreeable and posting into a void.

   Red flag / green flag

   Spot the difference

   Same situation, two ways it can go.

   Adapting one idea across platforms

   Red flag

   Writing one caption and pasting it identically to Instagram, LinkedIn, X and TikTok — hashtags and all.

   Each platform rewards a different shape. The LinkedIn crowd finds 30 hashtags spammy, X truncates you, and TikTok wants the hook in the first two words. Copy-paste posting is the clearest signal that nobody is really running the account.

   Green flag

   One idea, four shapes: TikTok gets a 2-word spoken hook and on-screen text; IG gets a carousel with the payoff on slide 2; LinkedIn gets a first-person story with the lesson at the end and no hashtags; X gets the single sharpest sentence with no link in the first post.

   Same message, native delivery. This is the difference between 'we're on five platforms' and 'we're good on five platforms', and it's what justifies a manager's rate over a scheduler's.

   Writing the first line of a caption

   Red flag

   "We are so excited to announce that our team has been working hard on something special that we can't wait to share with all of you! 🎉✨ Keep reading to find out more..."

   Twenty-eight words before any information. The preview cuts off at roughly the first line, so this post's entire visible content is 'we are excited'. Nobody taps 'more' for that.

   Green flag

   "1kg bags. 20% cheaper per cup. Here's the maths."

   Specific, front-loaded, and creates a small open loop. The reader knows exactly what they're getting and has a reason to keep going. Write the first line last, and write five versions of it.

   Copy-paste

   Steal these

   Swap the bracketed bits and send.

   Caption formula (works on every platform)

   Five parts. Adjust length per platform, keep the order.

   Copy template to clipboard

   1. HOOK — one line, under 10 words
      Make it specific or make it a question they'd actually ask.
      Test: would this stop YOUR scroll? If it starts with "We're excited", rewrite it.
   
   2. TENSION — 1–2 lines
      Why the reader should care. The problem, the mistake, the cost of not knowing.
   
   3. PAYOFF — the substance
      The actual answer, story or information. Short paragraphs. Line breaks after every 1–2 sentences.
   
   4. CTA — one, never two
      "Save this for your next grocery run." / "DM us the word BEANS." / "Which one's you?"
      A post asking for a follow AND a save AND a comment gets none of them.
   
   5. TAGS — platform-appropriate
      IG: 3–5 relevant, in the caption. TikTok: 3–4 broad. LinkedIn: 0–3 or none. X: 0–1.
      Nobody has found 30 hashtags to work since about 2019.
   
   PLATFORM LENGTHS
   TikTok: under 150 chars, hook in the first 2 seconds of the VIDEO not the caption
   Instagram: 125 chars before the cut — everything essential goes before it
   LinkedIn: 210 chars before "see more". Story format. First person.
   Facebook: 80 chars performs best. Yes, really.
   X: one sentence. Links kill reach — put them in a reply.

   One idea, five posts

   The repurposing worksheet. Fill this in once per idea and you have a week of content.

   Copy template to clipboard

   CORE IDEA: [one sentence — e.g. "most people store coffee beans in the fridge and it ruins them"]
   
   TIKTOK / IG REEL (20–30s)
   Spoken hook (first 2s): "[3–5 words]"
   On-screen text: "[different from the spoken hook — read AND heard]"
   Beats: [problem] → [why it happens] → [what to do instead] → [CTA]
   Audio: [trending / original / voiceover]
   
   IG CAROUSEL (5–7 slides)
   Slide 1: the hook, big text, high contrast
   Slide 2: the payoff — don't make them swipe 6 times for the answer
   Slides 3–6: detail, one point per slide
   Slide 7: CTA + save prompt
   
   STATIC GRAPHIC / FB
   One stat or one sentence. Brand colours. Readable at thumbnail size.
   
   LINKEDIN
   First person: "I used to tell customers to refrigerate beans. I was wrong, and here's what changed my mind."
   Story → lesson → soft question at the end.
   
   X / THREADS
   The single sharpest sentence in the whole idea. No link, no hashtag, no emoji.
   
   STORIES / REPURPOSE LATER
   Poll: "Fridge or counter?" → reply to results next day → screenshot the best DM reply as its own post

   Do this

   Take one Halo-Halo House product and write the Instagram caption, the Facebook post, a 20-second TikTok script, and a four-frame story sequence.

   Hand in: A one-page adaptation doc with all four, plus a one-line reason for each platform choice.≈ 50 min

   Check before you call it done

   • Every first line works on its own with the rest hidden
   • Each version is genuinely different, not the same text reformatted
   • One CTA per post, and they are not all identical
   • Alt text written for every image
   • No unsupported superlative or health claim anywhere

   Mark module done
4. 04

   Canva and short-form video, fast

   You can produce a week of on-brand assets in about ninety minutes.WorkflowTools38 min

   • Build a brand kit first: two fonts, five colours with hex codes, logo files, and a photo treatment. Everything after that is fill-in-the-blank.
   • Five templates carry most brands: single-image announcement, quote or testimonial, carousel cover, carousel inner slide, and reel cover. Build them once, reuse forever.
   • Text on an image should be readable at thumbnail size. If you cannot read it on your phone from arm's length, it is too small, and most people will see it smaller than that.
   • Video: hook in the first two seconds, subtitles always because most people watch muted, vertical 9:16, and under 30 seconds until you have a reason to go longer.
   • Only use music from the platform's own library or a properly licensed source. A copyright strike on a client's account is a genuinely serious mistake and it is hard to undo.
   • Never use photos you found on Google. Client-supplied, properly licensed stock, or you shot it. Stolen product photos are a real legal problem, not a technicality.
   • Keep a clean file naming system: brand_pillar_date_version. Six months in, you will need to find something, and 'Untitled design (14)' will not help.

   Worked example — The 90-minute batch

   0:00–0:10 — Pull the week's assets from Drive into one folder. If something is missing, message the client now, not at minute 80.

   0:10–0:35 — Fill five Canva templates with this week's copy. No new designs, only templates.

   0:35–1:05 — Cut two reels in CapCut from the same footage. Auto-captions, then fix the words it got wrong, especially Filipino words.

   1:05–1:20 — Write all captions in one doc, all at once. Voice stays consistent when you write them together.

   1:20–1:30 — QA pass and load into the scheduler as drafts for approval.

   A week of content in ninety minutes is how a social VA makes a decent hourly rate on a fixed monthly fee. Doing it post-by-post is how you make ₱90 an hour.

   Workflow

   A week of assets in ninety minutes

   After batch day, once the captions are approved.

   1. 1

      Build the template set ONCE

      Five templates: carousel cover, carousel inner, quote card, stat card, reel cover. Locked brand colours and fonts. You never make these again.

   2. 2

      Duplicate, don't create

      Every post starts as a copy of a template. If you're choosing a font, you're already losing. The consistency is a feature, not laziness.

   3. 3

      Batch all text first, all images second

      Fill every template with copy in one pass, then do one image pass. Switching between writing and visual work is what makes this slow.

   4. 4

      Video: cut to the beat, caption everything

      Auto-caption in CapCut, then read them — auto-captions mangle brand and Filipino words constantly. 85% of people watch on mute.

   5. 5

      Check at thumbnail size

      Shrink every asset to 20%. If the hook isn't readable, the text is too small. This one check fixes most amateur-looking design.

   6. 6

      Export with a naming convention

      [date]-[platform]-[pillar]-[v1].png. Future you, hunting for an asset a client wants reused, will be grateful.

   Where this breaks: Perfecting one post for 45 minutes. Social content has a 48-hour lifespan. Done and posted beats perfect and late, every single time.

   Tool comparison

   Design and video tools

   Learn one design tool and one video tool properly. Six half-known tools is worth less than two you're fast in, and speed is literally what you're selling.

   Swipe the table sideways →

   Tool	Best for	Learning curve	Cost	Verdict
   CanvaLearn first	Everything static, plus quick video. Brand kits and client sharing.	Easy — a weekend to get fast	Free tier, $10/mo Pro	Non-negotiable. Learn Brand Kit, Magic Resize and templates — not the fancy effects. Speed comes from never starting blank.
   CapCutLearn first	Short-form vertical video, auto-captions, trending templates.	Easy — a weekend	Free (Pro $8/mo)	The default for TikTok/Reels editing worldwide. Auto-captions alone will save you hours a week. Learn this second.
   Figma	Precise design work and anything a developer will use.	Medium — a week	Free tier is generous	Overkill for most social work, but knowing it lets you take higher-paying design-adjacent jobs. Learn after the first two.
   Adobe Express	Clients already locked into Adobe.	Easy	Free tier, $10/mo	Only if a client insists. Canva does the same job with better templates and a bigger community.
   Descript	Editing talking-head video by editing the transcript text.	Easy — genuinely fun	Free tier, $19/mo	Underrated. If a client does podcasts or long-form video, this turns a 2-hour edit into 20 minutes. Strong differentiator.
   Premiere / After Effects	High-end video with real motion graphics.	Hard — months	$23–60/mo	Don't. Not for social VA work. CapCut plus good taste beats bad Premiere every time, and it's ten times faster.

   This table has 5 columns and scrolls horizontally on small screens.

   Do this

   Build the Halo-Halo House brand kit and five templates, then produce one carousel and one 20-second captioned video.

   Hand in: A Canva brand kit link, five templates, one 6-slide carousel, one captioned vertical video.≈ 90 min

   Check before you call it done

   • Brand kit has two fonts and five hex codes written down
   • All five templates use only those fonts and colours
   • Video has burned-in captions and is 9:16
   • Every file follows one naming convention
   • You can state where every image and every audio track came from

   Mark module done
5. 05

   Approvals, scheduling, and the QA check

   You can run an approval workflow that protects you when something goes wrong.Workflow2 templates24 min

   • Five states, no ambiguity: draft, in review, approved, scheduled, published. If a client asks 'did that go out', the board should answer without you looking.
   • One approver. Not 'the team'. When three people give notes you get contradictions and you are the one who absorbs the delay.
   • Set a revision limit in the scope, usually two rounds. Round three onward is billable. This is normal in every creative industry and clients accept it when it is written down in advance.
   • Approval deadline: assets and sign-off by a fixed day, or the post slips a week. Say it once, kindly, then actually do it. The first time you enforce it is the last time it is a problem.
   • The pre-publish QA check, every time: link works, tags correct, date and time right, price correct, spelling, crop on all sizes, and does the caption match the image.
   • Know what boosted means before a client asks. A boost is paid distribution of an existing post and it comes out of an ad budget, not your fee. Paid ads management is a separate service.

   Worked example — The seven-point QA check, applied

   Before

   Post goes live: 'Ube Overload, ₱180, available til Sunday!' with a link to the old menu PDF and the photo cropped so the flan is cut off.

   After

   LINK — opens, goes to the current menu, not a 404 or a stale PDF (pass)

   TAGS — @halohalohouse tagged, location sticker set to the Bacolod branch (pass)

   TIMING — scheduled 11:30am, before the lunch decision, not 9pm (pass)

   PRICE — confirmed ₱195 with the client on 2 Aug, caption corrected (pass)

   SPELLING — read out loud once (pass)

   CROP — checked in feed, grid and story sizes. Flan visible in all three (pass)

   MATCH — caption says nine layers, image shows nine layers (pass)

   Five minutes. It prevents the apology post, the deleted post, and the awkward message where a client asks why the price was wrong.

   Workflow

   Approval flow that protects you

   Every post, without exception, including the ones the client 'already saw'.

   1. 1

      Batch the month into one approval link

      Not 12 separate messages. A single view where they can comment per post.

   2. 2

      Set a deadline with a stated default

      "Please review by Thursday. Anything unmarked on Friday morning, I'll treat as approved and schedule." Without a default, you wait forever.

   3. 3

      Cap revisions in writing

      Two rounds included. Round three is billed. Say this at contract time, not the first time it happens.

   4. 4

      Get approval in a place with a timestamp

      Comment, email, or a checkbox in the sheet. Never a verbal yes on a call. When something goes wrong, the timestamp is your whole defence.

   5. 5

      Run the QA check before scheduling

      The pre-flight list. Every post, every time, even the boring ones.

   6. 6

      Screenshot the scheduled queue

      Proof the work was done and queued, in case a platform silently fails to publish. It happens more than you'd think.

   Where this breaks: "They said it was fine on the call." If it isn't written down, it didn't happen, and you'll be the one who posted the wrong price.

   Copy-paste

   Steal these

   Swap the bracketed bits and send.

   Pre-flight QA checklist

   Run before anything goes into the scheduler. Every item on this list exists because someone got burned by it.

   Copy template to clipboard

   POST: [date] [platform]
   
   FACTS
   [ ] Every price, date, discount and deadline checked against the source
   [ ] Product name spelled exactly as the brand spells it
   [ ] Any @mention is the RIGHT account (check the profile, not the handle)
   [ ] Link works, goes to the right page, and isn't a staging URL
   [ ] Nothing claimed that the client can't back up (health, income, "best", "#1")
   
   CRAFT
   [ ] Hook visible before the "more" cut
   [ ] Spelling and grammar — read it out loud
   [ ] Captions on video, and CHECKED (auto-captions mangle names constantly)
   [ ] Readable at thumbnail size
   [ ] Correct aspect ratio: 9:16 vertical, 4:5 feed, 1:1 grid
   [ ] Alt text written — accessibility, and it helps discovery
   
   RIGHTS + SAFETY
   [ ] Music is licensed or from the platform's own library (commercial accounts get muted for trending audio)
   [ ] Every person in frame has consented, especially customers and children
   [ ] UGC has explicit permission, screenshotted, and credit in the caption
   [ ] No customer faces, order numbers, addresses or DMs visible in screenshots
   
   CONTEXT — the one everyone skips
   [ ] Check the news. Do not post a jokey reel during a typhoon, a disaster or a national tragedy.
   [ ] Nothing scheduled for a date that has since become sensitive
   [ ] Anything auto-scheduled during a live crisis gets PAUSED
   
   APPROVAL
   [ ] Written approval exists, with a timestamp
   [ ] Scheduled for the right timezone (check twice — this is the classic error)

   Approval request message

   Send with every batch. The deadline and the default are the two load-bearing sentences.

   Copy template to clipboard

   Hi [name] — [month]'s content is ready to review.
   
   [Link to the calendar/board]
   
   [n] posts across [platforms]. Each one has the caption, the asset and the scheduled date.
   
   How to review:
   • Approve: tick the Status column, or just reply "all good"
   • Change something: comment on that specific post — please be specific, "make it pop" gives me nothing to work with
   • Two rounds of revisions are included, as per our agreement
   
   Deadline: [day]. Anything not commented on by [day] morning I'll take as approved and schedule, so we don't lose the posting slots.
   
   One thing I need from you: [the photo / the price confirmation / the founder quote].

   Do this

   Set up an approval board in Trello or Notion with the five states, then run your module 4 assets through it and QA every one.

   Hand in: A screenshot of the board plus a completed seven-point QA sheet for four posts.≈ 40 min

   Check before you call it done

   • Board has exactly five states and every card sits in one
   • One named approver and one approval deadline are written on the board
   • The revision limit is stated somewhere visible
   • Every QA row is ticked individually, not in bulk
   • You caught at least one real error

   Mark module done
6. 06

   Community management and the bad day

   You can handle comments and DMs at speed, and you know exactly when to stop typing and escalate.WorkflowRed/green flags2 templates30 min

   • Sort every incoming message into five types: question, compliment, complaint, spam, and crisis. Each has a different route and only one of them goes to the client immediately.
   • Build a response bank of 15 to 20 approved replies for the routine stuff. Adapt each one slightly so it does not read like a bot, but never start from a blank box at 2am.
   • Never argue in public. Acknowledge, apologise if warranted, move it to DM, resolve it there. One line, then take it private.
   • Escalate immediately for anything involving illness, injury, allergies, legal threats, accusations of discrimination, staff conduct, or a journalist. You do not reply to those, ever, no matter how obviously wrong the person is.
   • Speed matters more than polish for complaints. A fast 'we've seen this and we're on it' beats a perfect reply four hours later.
   • Log everything. Date, platform, type, what you did. When a client asks why a customer was angry in March, the log is the reason you still have the account.
   • Agree a response window in the scope. 'Weekdays 9am to 6pm PH, next business day on weekends' is a real service. 'Always' is not a service, it is an unpaid on-call rota.

   Worked example — Crisis drill: 'I got sick after eating here'

   Before

   'That's impossible po, our kitchen is very clean and we've never had a complaint. Are you sure it was us? 😊'

   After

   PUBLIC (within 15 minutes): 'I'm really sorry to hear this. Sending you a DM now so we can get the details and look into it properly.'

   DM: ask date, time, order, symptoms. No apology that admits fault, no denial, no arguing. Just collect facts.

   ESCALATE: message the owner immediately with a screenshot. This is a health complaint and the VA does not handle it.

   LOG: date, platform, handle, what was said, what you sent, who you escalated to, at what time.

   DO NOT: delete the comment, hide the comment, or reply again until the owner says what to say.

   Deleting it is the instinct and it is the worst option. Screenshots outlive deleted comments, and 'they deleted my comment' becomes the actual story.

   Workflow

   Comment and DM triage

   Twice a day, timeboxed. Not continuously — that way lies madness.

   1. 1

      Sort into five buckets before replying to anything

      Buying signal / genuine question / praise / complaint / abuse-and-spam. Speed of sorting beats speed of replying.

   2. 2

      Buying signals first, always

      "How much?", "do you deliver to...?", "is this available?" These are money. Reply within the hour and route to whoever closes.

   3. 3

      Answer questions with the answer, not a deflection

      "DM us for pricing" makes people leave. Post the price. The people who won't DM are the majority.

   4. 4

      Acknowledge praise briefly and specifically

      Not a heart emoji on all forty. Two sentences on the good ones — those people become repeat customers and UGC.

   5. 5

      Complaints: acknowledge, take it private, follow up in public

      Never argue in a thread. "That's not the experience we want you to have — DM'd you." Then actually fix it and reply once more publicly when it's resolved.

   6. 6

      Hide, don't delete; block, don't engage

      Hiding is invisible to the poster and defuses things. Deleting gets screenshotted. Never reply to abuse — ever.

   Where this breaks: Replying to a complaint while annoyed. Write it, don't send it, wait ten minutes. The internet keeps screenshots forever and the client's brand is not yours to risk.

   Red flag / green flag

   Spot the difference

   Same situation, two ways it can go.

   A public complaint on a post

   Red flag

   "That's actually not true, our shipping policy is clearly stated on the website. You agreed to the terms at checkout. 🙄"

   Correct and catastrophic. You've won an argument with a customer in front of every future customer. The eye-roll emoji alone could end the client relationship.

   Green flag

   "Hi Anna — three weeks is way longer than it should be and I'm sorry. I've sent you a DM to get your order number so we can sort it today." [Then, once resolved:] "Update for anyone following — Anna's order landed this morning and we've fixed the courier issue that caused it."

   Named her, acknowledged the actual problem, moved it private, and closed the loop publicly. Onlookers now think the brand handles problems well, which is worth more than being right.

   You genuinely don't know the answer to a customer's question

   Red flag

   Guessing. "I think it's about 3–5 days?"

   A wrong answer in writing from the brand account is worse than no answer. You've just created a promise the business has to keep or apologise for.

   Green flag

   "Good question — I want to give you the right answer rather than a guess. Checking with the team and I'll come back to you today." Then set a reminder and actually come back.

   Buys time without losing trust. The follow-through is the part that matters, so put it in your tracker immediately.

   Copy-paste

   Steal these

   Swap the bracketed bits and send.

   Escalation rules — agree these in week one

   The single most important document in community management. It's what stops a bad day becoming a fired-VA day.

   Copy template to clipboard

   [BRAND] — WHEN I STOP TYPING AND CALL YOU
   
   I HANDLE ALONE (no need to ask)
   • Pricing, stock, hours, delivery areas, how the product works
   • Praise and general chat
   • Repeat FAQs — using the saved replies below
   • Obvious spam and bots (hide + block, no reply)
   
   I DRAFT, YOU APPROVE (within [n] hrs)
   • Any complaint about a specific order
   • Anything where we'd offer a refund or a freebie
   • Collaboration and partnership enquiries
   • Press or media questions
   • Anything a competitor is mentioned in
   
   I STOP AND CALL YOU IMMEDIATELY — no reply at all until we've spoken
   • Legal threats or the word "lawyer"
   • Allegations about safety, health, or someone getting hurt
   • Racism, harassment, or abuse toward staff
   • Anything that's being shared/quoted fast (a pile-on)
   • Accusations of scamming or fraud
   • Anything involving a minor
   • A hacked or impersonated account
   
   CONTACT DURING A CRISIS
   1. [Name] — [phone] — call, don't message
   2. If no answer in 30 min: [Name] — [phone]
   3. If neither: I pause all scheduled posts and reply to nothing. Silence is safer than a wrong answer.
   
   MY HOURS
   Comments checked [time] and [time], Mon–Fri.
   Outside those hours nobody is watching. If you need 24/7 cover, that's a different scope and a different price.

   Saved replies library

   Build 10–15 of these in week one. Community management gets 5× faster and stays on-brand.

   Copy template to clipboard

   PRICE ASK
   "Hi [name]! [Product] is ₱[price] for [size]. Delivery within [area] is ₱[x], free over ₱[y]. Want me to send the link?"
   
   DO YOU DELIVER TO ___
   "We deliver to [areas] — [area] included! [n] days, ₱[x]. Anywhere else it's [courier], [n] days. Where are you based?"
   
   IS IT AVAILABLE
   "Yes, in stock right now 🙌 [link]. Only [n] left of [variant] though, just so you know."
   
   CAN I GET A DISCOUNT
   "We don't do individual discounts, but [the honest alternative — bundle, first-order code, newsletter offer]. That's the best price we do."
   
   COLLAB REQUEST
   "Thanks for thinking of us! We look at collabs monthly — send your rates and recent work to [email] and the team will come back to you."
   
   WHERE'S MY ORDER
   "Sorry for the wait! Can you DM me your order number and I'll chase it right now?"
   [Then escalate per the rules above.]
   
   COMPLAINT — FIRST PUBLIC REPLY
   "Hi [name] — that's not how this should have gone and I'm sorry. I've DM'd you so we can sort it out properly."
   
   TONE RULES
   • Use their name
   • Never more than 2 emojis, never a 🙄 or a 😂 at a customer
   • No corporate voice — write like a person who works there
   • Never say "unfortunately" — say what you CAN do instead

   Do this

   Write a 15-reply response bank for Halo-Halo House, then an escalation matrix, then run yourself through three crisis scenarios you invent.

   Hand in: A response bank, an escalation matrix, and three written crisis responses with escalation steps.≈ 55 min

   Check before you call it done

   • Every reply in the bank sounds like a person, not a template
   • The matrix names who to escalate to and how fast for each type
   • None of your crisis responses admit fault or deny fault
   • Every crisis response moves the conversation to DM in one line
   • You wrote down the response window you would put in the contract

   Mark module done
7. 07

   Analytics without vanity metrics

   You can report on what a business actually cares about and defend a month where the numbers dipped.Time splitRed/green flags1 template28 min

   • Reach is unique accounts that saw it. Impressions is total views including repeats. Mixing them up in a client report is an instant credibility loss.
   • Saves and shares are the strongest signals on Instagram. A post with 40 likes and 30 saves is doing far more work than one with 300 likes and 2 saves.
   • Compare to the previous period and to the same period last year. One month in isolation tells you almost nothing, especially for a seasonal business.
   • Follower growth is not a business outcome. If the client wants sales, report link clicks, profile visits, DM enquiries, and anything you can trace to an order.
   • Report the losses too. 'Reels underperformed this month, I think because we posted three of them at 9pm on weekdays. Testing 11:30am next month.' That sentence buys you more trust than any green arrow.
   • Exactly three recommendations. More than three and nobody does any of them.

   Worked example — Two versions of the same month

   Before

   'Great month! Reach 12,400 (up!), 87 new followers, engagement is strong. Keep it up! 🎉'

   After

   REACH — 12,400, up 18% vs July, but 61% of it came from one reel. Take that out and the baseline is flat.

   SAVES — 214, up from 96. The carousels are doing the work; the single-image posts are not.

   PROFILE → LINK — 340 profile visits, 41 link clicks (12%). Last month 9%.

   ENQUIRIES — 23 DM enquiries about catering, up from 8. This is the number that matters for the goal we set.

   DIDN'T WORK — Weekday 9pm posts. Consistently the lowest reach. Stopping those.

   NEXT — 1) Two carousels a week instead of one. 2) Move all posting to 11:00–12:00. 3) Add a catering highlight to the profile, since that is where enquiries are coming from.

   The second one reads like someone running a business, not someone hoping not to get fired. It also makes a rate increase much easier to ask for later.

   Where the hours go

   Which metrics actually predict a sale

   Rough weighting of how much attention to give each metric when you report. Not a data split — a priority split.

   • DMs and enquiries generated30%

     The closest thing to revenue you can see from inside the app.

   • Saves and shares25%

     Intent signals. Someone saving a post is planning something.

   • Profile visits and link clicks20%

     They left the feed to look you up. That's real interest.

   • Comments (real ones, not emoji)12%

     Questions in comments are buying signals hiding in plain sight.

   • Reach and impressions8%

     Context only. Useful to explain a spike, useless as a goal.

   • Follower count and likes5%

     Report it because clients ask. Never optimise for it.

   If you can teach a client to care about saves and DMs instead of followers, you've changed how they judge you — from something you can't control to something you can.

   Red flag / green flag

   Spot the difference

   Same situation, two ways it can go.

   The metric you lead the report with

   Red flag

   "We gained 1,200 followers this month! 🎉 Our reach was 84,000 and we got 3,400 likes."

   All three are vanity metrics. Followers can be bought or come from a fluke viral post of the wrong audience. Reach counts people who scrolled past. None of it tells the owner whether they made money.

   Green flag

   "Profile visits → DM enquiries: 47 this month, up from 31. Saves per post averaged 89, which is the strongest predictor we have of someone buying later. Followers went up 1,200 but honestly most came from one reel that reached the wrong audience — I'd ignore that number."

   Leads with the metric closest to money, explains why saves matter, and openly discounts the flattering number. Volunteering that the good number is meaningless is exactly what buys you credibility for the bad months.

   Copy-paste

   Steal this

   Swap the bracketed bits and send.

   Monthly social report

   One page, in the email body. Same shape every month so trends are obvious at a glance.

   Copy template to clipboard

   [BRAND] social — [month]
   
   WHAT MATTERS
   DM enquiries: [n] ([+/-n] vs last month)
   Saves (avg per post): [n] ([+/-n])
   Profile visits: [n] ([+/-n])
   Link clicks: [n] ([+/-n])
   
   CONTEXT
   Posts published: [n] of [n] planned
   Reach: [n] | Followers: [n] ([+/-n])
   
   TOP 3 POSTS
   1. [post] — [n] saves, [n] DMs. Why it worked: [one real reason, not "great engagement"]
   2. [post] — [why]
   3. [post] — [why]
   
   WHAT FLOPPED
   [post] — [n] reach. My read: [honest reason. "The hook was too clever — nobody knew what it was about in the first two seconds."]
   
   WHAT I'M CHANGING NEXT MONTH
   1. [Specific, based on the above]
   2. [Specific]
   
   WHAT I NEED FROM YOU
   [One thing.]
   
   Note on followers: [if the number is misleading, say so here before they draw the wrong conclusion.]

   Do this

   Use any real account you have access to, even your own, and write a full monthly report with the six sections above.

   Hand in: A one-page report with a period comparison, a 'didn't work' section, and exactly three recommendations.≈ 50 min

   Check before you call it done

   • Reach and impressions are used correctly and not interchangeably
   • There is a comparison period, stated
   • At least one metric ties to a business outcome, not just an app metric
   • The 'didn't work' section is honest and specific
   • Exactly three recommendations, each doable next month

   Mark module done
8. 08

   Capstone: four weeks of Halo-Halo House

   A complete portfolio showing a real workflow, plus the scope sheet that keeps the job survivable.Rates2 templates120 min

   • Show decisions, not follower counts. Nobody hiring cares that your fake brand got 12 likes. They care that you can explain why you chose a carousel over a reel.
   • Include the scope sheet in the portfolio, visibly. It signals to good clients that you are professional, and it quietly filters out the ones who wanted five jobs for one price.
   • Publish somewhere real if you can, with permission: a friend's shop, a barangay group, a church, your own side business. A month of real posting teaches you things no simulation can.
   • Write a 200-word case study for the front: the situation, what you did, what happened, what you would change. That is the whole thing hiring managers read.

   Worked example — The scope sheet that goes in the portfolio

   INCLUDED — 2 accounts (IG, FB). 12 feed posts + 8 stories/month. 4 short videos from client footage. Community management weekdays 9am–6pm PH. Monthly report.

   APPROVALS — One approver. Assets due Thursday 5pm the week before. Two revision rounds included.

   NOT INCLUDED — Photography and videography. Paid ads and ad budget management. Influencer outreach. Customer support beyond social. TikTok. Weekend coverage. Event-day live posting.

   EXTRAS — Emergency post outside the calendar: flat fee. Extra revision round: flat fee. Additional account: monthly add-on.

   REVIEW — Scope reviewed at month 3. If actual hours exceed the agreed hours by more than 20%, we renegotiate.

   The 'not included' list is longer than the 'included' list on purpose. That is not being difficult. That is the difference between a job that pays and a job that eats your weekends.

   What this pays

   Pricing the Halo-Halo House scope in the real world

   What you just built, priced as an offer. Notice how much of the price is determined by revisions and platform count, not by hours.

   Swipe the table sideways →

   Experience	Hourly (USD)	Monthly (USD)	What changes it
   Content only — 12 posts/mo	$9–13 effective	$450–800	You design and caption. Client posts and handles comments.
   Content + scheduling — 1 platform	$9–14	$600–1,000	The most common starter package. Easiest to deliver profitably.
   Content + scheduling + community — 2 platforms	$10–15	$900–1,600	Community is what makes this jump. Cap your response hours or it eats you.
   Full social — 2 platforms + strategy + reporting	$12–18	$1,400–2,400	You own the numbers. Requires a 3-month minimum to show anything.
   Add-ons	—	$25–80 per extra reel · +40% per extra platform · $150 rush month	Price add-ons separately from day one. This is where your margin lives.

   This table has 4 columns and scrolls horizontally on small screens.

   Rule of thumb: every extra platform is +40%, not +100% — the idea is reused, the adaptation is the work. Every extra revision round beyond two is billed.

   Copy-paste

   Steal these

   Swap the bracketed bits and send.

   Social media scope sheet

   Attach to every proposal. The 'not included' section is the most valuable part of this document.

   Copy template to clipboard

   [BRAND] — social media scope
   Effective [date]. Reviewed every 3 months.
   
   DELIVERABLES PER MONTH
   • [n] feed posts ([n] carousels, [n] statics)
   • [n] short-form videos (up to [n] seconds, from footage you supply)
   • [n] story frames
   • Captions, hashtags and scheduling for all of the above
   • Community management: comments and DMs checked [time] and [time], Mon–Fri
   • One monthly report + a 30-min review call
   
   PLATFORMS
   [Instagram] and [TikTok]. Cross-posting to [Facebook] included.
   Adding a platform: +[40]% of the monthly fee.
   
   WHAT I NEED FROM YOU
   • Raw footage and product photos by the [n]th of the prior month
   • Approvals within [n] working days of receiving the batch
   • One named person who gives final approval — not a committee
   • Access to the accounts (I'll never ask for your password — use [Meta Business Suite / a manager invite])
   
   NOT INCLUDED (quoted separately, happily)
   • Paid ads: setup, management or spend
   • Photography or on-site filming
   • Influencer outreach and negotiation
   • Website, email marketing, print
   • Replying to comments outside my stated hours
   • Crisis comms outside working hours
   • More than 2 revision rounds per batch
   
   REVISIONS
   Two rounds per monthly batch. Round 3+ is $[x] per post.
   "Make it pop" isn't a revision — I'll come back and ask what specifically to change.
   
   TURNAROUND
   Batch delivered by the [n]th. Approved posts scheduled within 2 working days.
   Urgent unplanned post: $[x], 24 hrs' notice minimum.
   
   PAYMENT
   $[x]/month, invoiced on the [n]th, [n]-day terms, via [method].
   3-month initial term, then rolling with 30 days' notice either side.
   
   IF WE PART WAYS
   You keep everything — all assets, the calendar, the templates, exported and handed over within 5 working days.

   Portfolio case study — the four-week story

   How to present the capstone. Practice work, honestly labelled, told as a story with numbers.

   Copy template to clipboard

   HALO-HALO HOUSE — four weeks of social
   (Practice scenario, not a paid client. Which means I can show you all of it.)
   
   THE BRIEF
   A dessert shop posting twice a week with no plan: mostly product photos, captions written in a rush, no idea what worked.
   
   WHAT I BUILT
   • Four content pillars, weighted 40/25/20/15 [link]
   • A 4-week calendar: 16 posts, every one assigned a pillar and a hook [link]
   • A template set in Canva — 5 templates, brand-locked [link]
   • 16 captions with hooks written separately and tested [link]
   • Escalation rules and 12 saved replies for community management [link]
   • A QA checklist run on every post [link]
   • The scope sheet that keeps the job profitable [link]
   
   WHAT I'D WATCH
   Saves per post and DM enquiries. Not followers.
   
   THE THINKING (this is the actual portfolio)
   The hardest call was cutting from four platforms to two. The brief implied everything, everywhere. Two platforms done natively will beat four done by copy-paste, and I'd rather have that argument in week one than in month three.
   
   3-minute walkthrough: [Loom link]

   Do this

   Assemble everything from modules 1–7 into one portfolio folder with a 200-word case study on the front page and the scope sheet visible.

   Hand in: A shareable folder or Notion page with the brief, calendar, brand kit, templates, content, response bank, report and scope sheet.≈ 120 min

   Check before you call it done

   • The case study is under 200 words and says what you would change
   • Every asset is labelled as work for a fictional brand
   • The scope sheet is in the portfolio, not hidden in a contract
   • Each major decision has a one-line reason next to it
   • You tested the share link in a private window

   Mark module done

Six situations that come up in real work. Pick an answer for each, then check. Nothing is recorded.

1. 01A client asks for '12 posts a month' at a flat fee. What is the first question?

   AWhat's your budget?BAm I creating the content or scheduling content you supply, and does this include comments and DMs?CWhich platforms?DDo you have a Canva account?

2. 02A customer comments publicly that they got sick after eating at the client's shop.

   AReply explaining the kitchen is clean and there have been no other complaintsBDelete the comment and DM them privatelyCOne short public reply, move to DM, escalate to the owner immediately, log everythingDIgnore it and hope it gets buried

3. 03Post A: 300 likes, 2 saves, 1 share. Post B: 40 likes, 30 saves, 12 shares. Which performed better?

   APost A, more engagement overallBPost BCThey are equivalentDDepends on follower count

4. 04The client sends the week's photos on Friday afternoon for a Monday post, again.

   AWork the weekend, it is only one weekendBPost without the photosCPublish what you can, tell them the Monday post moves to Wednesday, and restate the Thursday 5pm deadline in writingDComplain about it in the monthly report

5. 05Which belongs in a monthly report for a client whose goal is catering enquiries?

   AFollower growth and total likesBDM enquiries, link clicks, and which content drove themCReach onlyDA screenshot of the best-performing post

6. 06A client wants to use a trending song on a reel. What do you check?

   ANothing, trending sounds are fineBThat it is in the platform's own commercial audio library, since business accounts have a restricted catalogueCThat the song is popular enoughDThat the artist is not too famous

Walk away when you see these

Not every one of these is a scam. Some are just clients who will cost you more than they pay you, which ends the same way.

• 'Social media is easy, it's just posting'

  This client will never accept a rate increase and will question every hour you bill.

• No assets, no approvals, but daily deadlines

  You will be blamed for a bottleneck you do not control. Get the asset deadline in writing first.

• Expects replies at any hour

  Community management needs a defined window. Otherwise you are on call for free, permanently.

• Photography and video treated as free extras

  These are the most expensive parts of the work. Price them per asset or exclude them explicitly.

• Wants a whole brand strategy for a 12-post fee

  Strategy is a separate project. Bundling it in is how the hourly rate quietly collapses.

• Scope grew from 2 accounts to 4 with no fee change

  Renegotiate at the change, not at your breaking point.

• Asks you to guarantee viral growth or sales

  You do not control the product, the price, the offer or the funnel. Never promise an outcome you cannot influence.

• Wants you to buy followers or run engagement pods

  Fake audiences wreck reach and the client will blame you when the numbers stop working.