This is a starting point, not legal advice, and a lawyer in your jurisdiction should review anything binding before either party signs it.
A freelance social media contract exists to settle five things before they become arguments: what is delivered, what it costs, who owns the accounts and the work, how fast approvals happen, and how either side gets out. The template below covers all five, inline and ungated.
The template
# Social Media Management Agreement
**Between:** [FREELANCER / AGENCY NAME], [ADDRESS], ("the Contractor")
**And:** [CLIENT NAME], [ADDRESS], ("the Client")
**Effective date:** [DATE]
---
## 1. Services
The Contractor will provide the following each month:
| Service | Quantity | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Posts published | [N] | Across [N] channels: [LIST] |
| Original graphics | [N] | [SPECIFICATION] |
| Short-form video edits | [N] | From Client-supplied footage |
| Caption and copywriting | All posts | |
| Content calendar | 1 | Delivered [N] days before the month starts |
| Community management | [N] hrs/week | [DAYS], replies within [N] hours |
| Monthly report | 1 | Delivered by day [N] of the following month |
| Strategy call | [N] | [N] minutes |
**Channels covered:** [LIST]
**Not included.** Anything not listed above, including [paid media management
and spend, influencer fees, on-site photography or video production, website
work, PR, out-of-hours crisis response]. Additional work is quoted in writing
and agreed before it begins.
---
## 2. Term
Starts [DATE]. Minimum term [N] months. After the minimum term the agreement
continues monthly until terminated under clause 11.
---
## 3. Fees and payment
| Item | Amount | When |
|---|---|---|
| Onboarding / setup | [AMOUNT] | On signature |
| Monthly retainer | [AMOUNT] | In advance, on the [N]th of each month |
| Additional work | [RATE] per hour | On agreed quote |
| Expenses | At cost | Pre-approved in writing over [AMOUNT] |
- Invoices are due within [N] days.
- Late payments accrue [RATE/STATUTORY INTEREST] from the due date.
- If payment is more than [N] days late, the Contractor may pause services after
[N] days written notice. Paused months are not credited.
- Fees are reviewed annually and may increase by [notice period / mechanism].
- [Currency and tax treatment: [VAT/SALES TAX] is [included / added].]
---
## 4. Client responsibilities
The Client will:
- Provide admin access to all relevant accounts within [N] days of signature,
through the Client's own business manager rather than shared personal logins.
- Provide brand assets, product information and any required legal approvals.
- Nominate one approver: [NAME], [EMAIL].
- Approve or reject content within [N] working days of receipt.
**If content is not approved in time,** it is not published and the slot is not
carried forward. Deliverable counts in clause 1 are reduced accordingly, with no
reduction in fee.
---
## 5. Approvals and revisions
- Content is delivered for approval [N] days before the scheduled publish date.
- The Client is entitled to [N] rounds of revisions per item, at no extra cost.
- Further rounds are billed at [RATE] per hour.
- A revision request is a change to content already delivered. A change of brief
after delivery is new work.
- Content approved in writing and then published is deemed accepted.
---
## 6. Account ownership and access
- The Client owns all social media accounts, including any the Contractor sets
up on the Client's behalf.
- The Contractor is granted access as an administrator or editor on the Client's
accounts and will not hold accounts in personal or Contractor-owned entities.
- Within [N] days of termination the Contractor will remove its access and
transfer any account, page or asset it holds to the Client.
- The Contractor will not withhold account access for any reason, including a
payment dispute.
---
## 7. Intellectual property
- On payment in full for the month in which it was created, all content produced
under this agreement transfers to the Client.
- Until payment, the Contractor retains ownership and the licence to publish is
revocable.
- The Contractor retains ownership of its own templates, processes, and any
pre-existing material, and grants the Client a licence to use it in the
delivered content.
- The Client warrants it holds the rights to any material it supplies.
- Stock media licences are held by [PARTY] and paid for by [PARTY].
---
## 8. Portfolio rights
The Contractor may show work produced under this agreement in its portfolio and
case studies [after publication / after [N] months], excluding [anything the
Client marks confidential]. Performance figures may be used [in anonymised form
only / with the Client named], as ticked: [ ] named [ ] anonymised
---
## 9. Confidentiality
Both parties will keep the other's non-public information confidential, during
the agreement and for [N] years afterwards. This does not apply to information
that is already public or independently obtained.
---
## 10. Liability, results and conduct
- The Contractor does not guarantee any specific follower count, engagement
rate, reach or revenue outcome. Targets stated elsewhere are objectives, not
guarantees.
- The Contractor is not liable for changes to platform algorithms, APIs, terms
or availability, or for account suspensions not caused by its own breach.
- The Contractor will comply with platform terms and applicable advertising and
disclosure rules. The Contractor will not purchase followers or engagement.
- Total liability is limited to [the fees paid in the preceding [N] months].
- Neither party is liable for indirect or consequential loss.
---
## 11. Termination
- Either party may terminate after the minimum term with [N] days written
notice.
- Either party may terminate immediately for material breach not remedied within
[N] days of written notice.
- On termination: the Client pays for all work delivered up to the termination
date; the Contractor delivers all work in progress, scheduled content, and
account access within [N] days; both parties return or delete the other's
confidential material.
---
## 12. Non-solicitation
For [N] months after termination, the Client will not directly engage any
subcontractor introduced by the Contractor without written agreement.
[Delete this clause if you do not use subcontractors.]
---
## 13. Independent contractor
The Contractor is an independent contractor, not an employee. The Contractor is
responsible for its own taxes, insurance and equipment, and controls how and
when the work is performed.
---
## 14. General
- **Governing law:** [JURISDICTION]
- **Disputes:** [Negotiation, then mediation, then courts of [JURISDICTION]]
- **Variation:** changes must be in writing and signed by both parties.
- **Entire agreement:** this document replaces prior discussions and proposals.
---
## Signatures
**Contractor**
Name: ______________ Signature: ______________ Date: ________
**Client**
Name: ______________ Signature: ______________ Date: ________How to fill each clause in
Clause 1. Copy it straight from the proposal so the two documents cannot disagree. Every line needs a number. The exclusion list should grow every time a project surprises you.
Clause 4 is the clause freelancers most often leave out and most need. Late approvals are the number one cause of missed deliverables, and without the “not carried forward, no fee reduction” sentence the delay becomes your problem.
Clause 5. Two revision rounds is a common default. The distinction between a revision and a change of brief is worth the extra sentence, because it is the argument you will actually have.
Clause 6 protects the client. A contractor holding the client’s Facebook page in a personal account is a well-known failure mode, and the “will not withhold access during a payment dispute” line is what makes clause 6 mean something. Include it even though it constrains you: clients notice, and it wins work.
Clause 7. Transfer on payment, not on creation. This is your leverage if an invoice goes unpaid.
Clause 8. Settle portfolio rights at signature rather than a year later when you want the case study.
Clause 10. The no-guarantees paragraph is the one that stops a disappointed client claiming you promised growth. Also state that you will not buy followers, which quietly distinguishes you from people who do.
Clause 11. Delivering scheduled content on exit is a real obligation. Make sure you can export it.
What most people get wrong
No approval deadline. A contract that says content is delivered for approval but never says how fast approval must come guarantees a month where everything arrives on the 29th.
Unlimited revisions. “Until the client is happy” is not a scope. Number them.
No cap on liability. Without clause 10’s limit, a small retainer carries unbounded exposure.
Holding accounts on the client’s behalf. It feels like security. It is a lawsuit and a reputation problem, and it is the thing clients ask about most in a second meeting.
Copying a US template into a non-US business. Notice periods, contractor status tests, statutory late-payment interest and consumer rules all differ by jurisdiction. This is precisely what the lawyer review is for.
Signing without the deliverable count. “Manage our social media” is unenforceable in both directions.
Delivering and handing over cleanly
Clauses 4, 5 and 11 all assume you can prove what was sent, when it was approved, and hand over everything scheduled at the end.
That is a tooling question. If drafts go through an approval step rather than a message thread, each item carries a timestamp of when it was sent and when it was signed off, which settles clause 4 disputes without anyone scrolling through chat history. Scheduled posts sitting in one queue also means clause 11’s handover is an export rather than an archaeology project. Agencies running several of these contracts at once usually keep one workspace per client, which is the setup described on our agencies page.
The short version
Fourteen clauses. Count the deliverables. Put an approval deadline on the client and state that missed approvals are not carried forward. Number the revision rounds. Never hold the client’s accounts. Transfer IP on payment. Guarantee nothing about results, cap your liability, and set the notice period. Then have a lawyer read it.