The social media manager's guide to contracts and invoicing (UK)

Social media management is unusual among freelance work in one way that shapes everything else: you speak in the client's name, in public, on a schedule. Every post goes out under their handle, to their audience, as if they'd written it — and it stays there. That trust is the whole job. It's also where the risk lives: publish the wrong thing, or the right thing without sign-off, and it's the client's reputation on the line, not just a private deliverable. And you're doing it on platforms whose rules and results you don't control.

A good agreement's real job is to draw those lines clearly — what's yours to control (the work, the process, the account hygiene) and what isn't (the algorithm, the audience, the last click). This guide covers the terms that matter for social media specifically — the approval process, account access and handover, what you can and can't promise, and how ad spend and retainers should be handled — then how to invoice so you're paid on time.

A quick note first: TrustSolo isn't a law firm or an accountancy, and nothing here is legal advice. Its contract templates are customisable starting points, not solicitor-reviewed documents — and for a high-value or unusual engagement, a professional opinion is worth the money.

Why a written agreement matters for social media managers

Two things go wrong on social engagements, and neither is really about the quality of the content. The first is publishing: something goes out that the client hadn't signed off, or a post they did approve lands badly and the blame drifts back to you. The second is expectation: the client is quietly measuring you on follower growth or a viral moment, when what you actually agreed to deliver was the work — the posts, the community management, the reporting.

A written agreement settles both before they turn into an awkward conversation. It records that content is signed off before it's published, so approval isn't a matter of memory; and it sets out what you're accountable for — the work and the process — as distinct from results the platform ultimately decides. Sent before the first post, it does this calmly, and marks you out as the professional you are.

Nothing goes out without sign-off: the approval process

This is the clause that prevents the most disputes, because nearly all of them start the same way — content published without the client's blessing. The fix is a simple, agreed process.

• Approval before publication. Content is submitted for review and published only once the client has signed it off, unless you've agreed an alternative in writing. That single rule takes most of the risk out of speaking in someone else's name.
• A lead time and an approval window. You submit a set number of days before the publish date; the client approves (or asks for changes) within a set window. Both sides know the rhythm, and neither is left guessing.
• Late approval is not your delay. If sign-off doesn't come in time, the schedule slips accordingly — and that's on the approver, not you. It's fair to note that late approvals can dent a campaign's reach, so the cost of the delay is visible to the person causing it.
• Approved content is the client's call. Once the client has approved a post, you're not on the hook for the consequences of publishing it — and for business clients, making sure approved content complies with advertising rules and the law sits with them, not you.

TrustSolo's social media contract template is built around exactly this — an approval step with a lead time and a client-response window, and the clear position that approved content has been signed off — as a customisable starting point you set per engagement. You can see how it works under contracts.

Their accounts, your access: security and handover

To do the work you're handed the keys to a client's public identity — and that access deserves its own terms, both while you hold it and when you hand it back.

While you're working, a few sensible rules protect everyone: use the credentials only for the agreed work, don't share them, turn on two-factor authentication, flag anything that looks like a breach, and don't change passwords without the client's say-so. Crucially, the client stays the owner and administrator of their own accounts — you're managing them, not taking them over — and you never lock them out of their own presence.

The other half is the exit. Engagements end, and a clean handover is what keeps a parting amicable: complete anything scheduled through your notice period, hand over the content, calendars, drafts and analytics, pass across any paid-for work that hasn't gone live yet, and stop using the accounts on the termination date. Agreeing all this up front means the end of a contract is an orderly transition rather than a scramble — and the client never fears losing their content or their access when you go.

What you can't promise: platform risk and performance

Here's the honest heart of the discipline. You can do excellent work and still watch the numbers move for reasons that have nothing to do with you — an algorithm change overnight, a platform outage, a policy shift, a wave of third-party comments, or simply an audience that behaves differently this month. So the agreement should be plain about what you don't guarantee.

Unless you've expressly agreed a specific target, you don't promise a minimum number of followers, impressions, engagements, leads or sales — because those depend on platform algorithms, audience behaviour, ad budgets, competition and market conditions, none of which are within your control. Nor are you responsible for account suspensions, the platform removing features, or what other people post on the client's page. This isn't a way of dodging accountability; it's an accurate description of a job done on rented land. You're accountable for the work and the process — showing up, posting well, managing the community, reporting honestly — not for outcomes the platform decides.

One practical clause pairs with this: where something urgent blows up — a reputational, legal or regulatory issue around published content — it's sensible to be able to pause scheduled posts while you wait for the client's instructions, rather than keep publishing into a crisis.

Money: retainer, ad spend and tools

Social media work is usually priced as a monthly retainer — a fixed fee for a defined scope each month — because the work is continuous and both sides benefit from continuity. The whole game is in the scope: how many posts, which platforms, how much community management, what reporting. A retainer with vague edges is one that quietly expands until it's unprofitable, so price it against the real hours the work takes and write the scope down. (Shorter or one-off work — a campaign, a launch, a strategy plan handed over for someone else to run — often fits a fixed project fee better; a day rate suits ad-hoc pieces.) For how each model is priced, and a sense of what UK social media managers charge, see what UK social media managers charge — treat the day-rate benchmarks as a rough, indicative reference rather than a precise figure, since the public data here is thin; the free rate calculator then works backwards from the income you need.

Two things are specific to social media and worth being firm about. Keep ad spend separate from your fee: the money a client puts behind paid advertising is theirs, and it should sit apart from what you charge — spent on their own account or reimbursed, and always only on their written approval. Folding ad budget into your fee muddies your margin and makes you look more expensive than you are. And put tools and production — scheduling platforms, analytics, stock, commissioned assets — on their own lines where they're real costs, rather than quietly absorbing them. It's also worth agreeing that revisions are limited per content piece, and that a change of strategy is new scope, not a revision.

Your invoice then follows the same rules as any freelance invoice — a unique number, your details and the client's, a clear description, the amount and a due date. Our guide to how to invoice as a freelancer covers exactly what to include. If a payment runs late and your client is a business, you have the same statutory protections as any freelancer — the right to charge interest of 8% plus the Bank of England base rate, plus a fixed recovery cost; our guide to late-paying clients walks through the whole escalation ladder. For the underlying terms every freelance contract should carry, the six clauses every freelance contract needs is a good companion read.

How TrustSolo helps social media managers

TrustSolo is built to take the admin off your desk. The social media contract template gives you a customisable starting point covering the approval process, platform access and security, the client staying owner of their accounts, ad spend and tools kept separate from your fee, honest performance terms, and a clean handover at the end; the invoicing handles your monthly retainer billing with a payment link attached; and a running estimate of your Income Tax and Class 4 National Insurance keeps your numbers in view as you go. It's there to make the business side quiet and predictable, so your attention stays on the content — with the creative calls left to you.

The view tailored for social media managers lives at TrustSolo for social media managers.

Get the agreement and the invoicing set up once and the business side mostly looks after itself. When you'd like the paperwork to do that, you can start free — no card required.