As a blogger, I often find it hard to price my services. I
find it easier when it comes to marketing and PR, but harder when it comes to
giving out quotes for social media and blogging. Although it might not seem
like it, the days of working as a full time social media person or blogger are
still relatively quite new. There are as many variables as there are people
looking for work – engagement rates, social media following numbers, conversion
numbers, reach, what topics you write about with authority, what brands you have
worked with – the list is almost never ending.
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| Dinner in Exchange for Work? |
I also find that because so many people see this as a way to
be “livin’ the life,” i.e. working from home, seeming to set your own hours,
looking at it as getting to be your own boss – prices fluctuate all over the
board. Add to the equation, not everyone writes or creates content as their
full time job. Bloggers and people that work as social media community managers
and consultants rarely discuss their pricing with others – perhaps this is to
remain competitive, or maybe it’s to avoid competition and bidding wars
altogether.
Outside of blogging and social media, there are not many
other industries where people would see no problem with asking someone to work
for free, guest blogging, or helping with marketing plan writing or design…I
had a handyman come over today to hang some pictures, install a couple locks
and make a plan to put a fence in my backyard, and it would never occur to me
to say to him, “Thanks for spending two hours here. I’ve got a soda to offer
you, cool?” It would never cross my mind that he wouldn’t expect to be paid, so
why do we, as bloggers and community managers?
I’m not sure I’ve got the right answer to this. I do,
however, have a ton of questions that come to mind when I think about it. I’ll
be asking you these questions during this Monday’s #contentchat (June 22nd,
2pm CST). I’d like to get YOUR thoughts on things like:
1.
Is low self-esteem an inherent trait in
bloggers? Those that work in social media? Why else wouldn’t we feel strong
enough to demand we’re paid what we’re worth?
2.
Is there ever a time it’s ok NOT to be paid?
3.
Is there any truth to the statement, “I am not
yet expecting to be paid while I’m growing my readership” ?
4.
Why do friends think it’s ok to ask us to write
for them for free? My friend is a lawyer, should I ask him to take on whatever
case I might one day have, and represent me for free? Maybe for a free lunch,
in exchange for all the hours he will spend on my case? (not to mention the
cost that he incurred while attending law school, in order to put himself into
a position TO help me)
5.
Does it make you feel good if people ask you to
do blogging or consulting for them, but don’t offer to pay you? Does it make
you feel like a ‘thought leader?’
6.
Is it just too hard to say “NO?”
I feel that as bloggers, and people that are regularly
engaged on social media, we are already sharing a lot of our knowledge or
“secret sauce” items that we’ve learned along the way, and picked up via
experience working in the field. Why, then, do people still want to “go to
lunch and pick your brain?” If they find what you have to offer so valuable,
why would they expect us to simply give away what we do for a living?
On the flipside, how would our paying clients feel, after
finding out we’re doing work for ‘friends’ for free? Wouldn’t that jeopardize
all our other business relationships?
My biggest “problem” is that I love to help people. I love
the moment of discovery when you realize that something you’ve said or shared
gives them their lightbulb moment. So I can, at times, find myself in a
position of sitting at “lunch” with people and freely sharing, only to feel
later on down the road that perhaps I’d been taken advantage of.
I can’t wait to further discuss this with everyone in
#ContentChat Monday! I hope you’ll join me – I’m sure a lot of us have
experienced this very thing, yes?
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