A social media proposal has one job: make the client able to say yes without a second call. That means the scope is countable, the price is on the page, and the exclusions are written down before anyone argues about them.
The template below is the whole document, inline and ungated. Copy it, paste it, replace the placeholders.
The template
# Social Media Proposal
**Prepared for:** [CLIENT NAME], [CLIENT CONTACT]
**Prepared by:** [YOUR COMPANY], [YOUR NAME]
**Date:** [DATE]
**Valid until:** [DATE + 30 DAYS]
---
## 1. What you told us
- [PROBLEM IN THE CLIENT'S OWN WORDS]
- [PROBLEM]
- [PROBLEM]
**The outcome you said you want:** [OUTCOME, quoted from the call]
---
## 2. Where you are now
| Platform | Followers | Posts / month | Engagement rate | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| [PLATFORM] | [N] | [N] | [X.X%] | [OBSERVATION] |
| [PLATFORM] | [N] | [N] | [X.X%] | [OBSERVATION] |
**Three things we noticed:**
1. [OBSERVATION]
2. [OBSERVATION]
3. [OBSERVATION]
---
## 3. What we propose
[Three to five sentences. The approach, not the tactics. Why this and not
something else.]
---
## 4. Deliverables
| Deliverable | Quantity per month | Included |
|---|---|---|
| Strategy document | 1 (first month), reviewed quarterly | Yes |
| Content calendar | 1 per month, delivered [N] days ahead | Yes |
| Posts published | [N] across [N] channels | Yes |
| Original graphics | [N] | Yes |
| Short-form video edits | [N] (from client-supplied footage) | Yes |
| Caption writing | All posts | Yes |
| Community management | [N] hours/week, [DAYS], [RESPONSE TIME] | Yes |
| Monthly report | 1, delivered by day [N] | Yes |
| Strategy call | [N] per month, [N] minutes | Yes |
| Paid social management | | No, see 5 |
**Channels covered:** [LIST]
---
## 5. Not included
- [Paid media spend and management]
- [Influencer fees and contracts]
- [Original video shooting and on-site production]
- [Website or landing page work]
- [Crisis communications outside business hours]
- [Anything not listed in section 4]
Additional work is quoted separately at [RATE] per hour.
---
## 6. Investment
| Package | Channels | Posts / month | Community mgmt | Reporting | Monthly |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| [TIER 1 NAME] | [N] | [N] | [N hrs/wk] | Monthly | [PRICE] |
| [TIER 2 NAME] | [N] | [N] | [N hrs/wk] | Monthly + call | [PRICE] |
| [TIER 3 NAME] | [N] | [N] | [N hrs/wk] | Monthly + weekly check-in | [PRICE] |
**One-off setup:** [PRICE] (covers [WHAT])
**Recommended package:** [TIER], because [REASON]
**Payment terms:** [X%] on signature, then monthly in advance on the [N]th.
Invoices due [N] days. Late payment: [TERMS].
**Minimum term:** [N] months, then rolling with [N] days notice.
---
## 6b. Tool and platform costs
| Item | Who pays | Estimated monthly |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduling tool | [Us / You] | [AMOUNT] |
| Stock imagery | [Us / You] | [AMOUNT] |
| Design software | [Us / You] | [AMOUNT] |
| Paid media budget | You | [AMOUNT, if any] |
---
## 7. Timeline
| Week | What happens | We need from you |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | Contract signed, kickoff call | Signature, [ACCESS ITEMS] |
| 1 | Audit and account access | Admin access to all accounts |
| 2 | Strategy delivered | Feedback within [N] days |
| 3 | First content batch drafted | Brand assets, product info |
| 4 | Approval and first posts live | Approval within [N] working days |
| 5+ | Steady state: [CADENCE] | [ONGOING INPUTS] |
---
## 8. How we will work together
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Approval process | Drafts sent [N] days ahead; [N] working days to approve |
| Rounds of revisions | [N] per post; further rounds billed at [RATE] |
| Unapproved content | Held, not published; the slot is not carried over |
| Point of contact | [ONE NAME each side] |
| Response time (us) | [HOURS] on working days |
| Meetings | [CADENCE, LENGTH] |
| Account ownership | Client owns all accounts and content |
| Access | We use [CLIENT'S] business manager; no personal logins |
---
## 9. What success looks like
| Metric | Baseline (today) | Target at 3 months | Target at 6 months |
|---|---|---|---|
| [METRIC] | [N] | [N] | [N] |
| [METRIC] | [N] | [N] | [N] |
We do not guarantee follower or revenue figures. These are targets we will
report against honestly, including when we miss them.
---
## 10. About us
[Three sentences. One relevant result with a number. One named reference the
client can call.]
---
## 11. Next step
Reply to this email with "approved" and we will send the contract by [DATE].
First posts go live on [DATE].How to fill each section in
Section 1 must quote the client. Paste their actual words from the discovery call. Proposals get forwarded to people who were not on that call, and their words carry more weight than your paraphrase.
Section 2 needs real numbers. Pull them yourself before writing. A proposal with the client’s current engagement rate in it reads as work already done. A quick audit gives you everything section 2 needs.
Section 4 is a counting exercise. Every line has a number and a unit. “Regular posting” is not a deliverable. “16 posts per month across 3 channels” is.
Section 5 is the section that pays for itself. Every argument you have had about scope goes here permanently. It gets longer with every project, and that is correct.
Section 6. Three tiers, with the recommended one named. Clients pick the middle option more often than any other, so build the middle one to be the deal you actually want.
Section 6b prevents the most common billing surprise. Say who pays for the scheduling tool up front.
Section 7’s second column is doing real work. Every delay in these projects comes from missing access or slow approvals. Putting the client’s obligations in the timeline table makes a late project a shared fact rather than an accusation.
Section 8. Number the revision rounds. The “unapproved content is held, and the slot is not carried over” line is the one that stops a month of approvals arriving on the 28th.
Section 9. Never guarantee outcomes you do not control. The disclaimer paragraph is short on purpose.
What most people get wrong
Pricing by hours. Hourly pricing punishes you for getting faster and invites arguments about timesheets. Price the deliverable list.
Sending a proposal without current numbers. It signals you have not looked at the account.
Leaving exclusions verbal. “We assumed video was included” is the single most expensive sentence in agency work. Section 5 exists for it.
One price, take it or leave it. A single number is a yes/no question. Three tiers is a which-one question, which is a much better conversation.
No expiry date. Proposals get resurrected six months later at last year’s price. The valid-until line prevents it.
Promising results. Guaranteed follower growth is either luck or bought followers. Targets with honest reporting are more persuasive to serious clients anyway.
Burying the next step. Section 11 should be one sentence and one action.
Delivering what you scoped
Section 4 turns into a monthly production run, and the two lines that most often slip are the calendar delivered N days ahead and the approval turnaround in section 8. Both are workflow problems rather than effort problems.
Practically: draft the month in one batch, keep the client’s channels in their own workspace, and route drafts through an actual approval step rather than a WhatsApp thread. BulkPublish’s approvals hold a post until a named reviewer signs off, which gives you a timestamped record of when each draft was sent and approved. That record is what you point at when a client says the calendar was late. Our agencies page covers the multi-client setup, and the monthly report template is the section-4 reporting deliverable ready to use.
The short version
Eleven sections. Quote the client’s words. Show their current numbers. Count every deliverable. Write the exclusions down. Three price tiers with the middle one recommended. Put the client’s obligations in the timeline. Number the revision rounds. Give the proposal an expiry date. Never guarantee results.