Published by the Zolyp team ·
Write a one-page brief first
Most mismatches between a business and its social media help start before anyone is hired: the owner wanted more customers, the freelancer quoted for more posts. A one-page brief fixes that, and it lets you compare quotes like for like.
It also forces a useful question early: how much of the work do you want to keep? Some owners want everything handled; others want someone to make the posts while they keep replying to customers themselves, because they know the answers best. Both are fine, but the quote will be very different.
- The goal: what should be different in six months, such as more bookings, more enquiries or a new audience
- Platforms: which ones matter, and which you'd happily drop
- Scope: planning, writing, design, photography or video, scheduling, replies, ads, reporting
- What you'll provide: photos, product news, approvals, access, a named contact
- Approval: who signs off posts and how quickly
- Budget range and start date
- What you've tried before, and what did and didn't work
Freelancer or agency: what changes?
Neither is better in general. They suit different needs, and plenty of small businesses use one, then the other, as they grow. Our separate guide compares hiring with using an AI social media manager.
Whichever you choose, the person or team should understand your type of customer. A freelancer who has run accounts for three local clinics will usually get a fourth clinic right faster than a larger agency that mostly works with online brands, and the reverse is just as true.
| Freelancer | Agency | |
|---|---|---|
| Who does the work | Usually the person you speak to | A team; ask who will actually work on your account |
| Cover for holidays and illness | Agree it in advance | Usually built in, but check |
| Range of skills | Often strong in one or two areas | Wider: design, video, ads, reporting under one roof |
| How you communicate | Directly, often informally | Through an account manager, often with set meetings |
| Best when | Scope is clear and you want one consistent voice | You need several skills or several channels at once |
Where to find good candidates
Start with businesses like yours. Look at local or similar-sized businesses whose social media you admire and ask who runs it. Referrals from people who've actually paid for the work are worth more than any directory.
When you find candidates elsewhere, judge their work, not their own feed. A freelancer's portfolio should show accounts they ran for clients like you, with what changed and over what period. Our marketing agencies and coaches guides show what good client work tends to look like in those trades.
Aim for a shortlist of two or three. Fewer and you have nothing to compare; more and you'll spend more time on calls than the decision is worth. Send each the same brief and ask for a short written proposal, so you're comparing scope and approach rather than whoever was most persuasive on a call.
Questions to ask every candidate
Ask everyone the same questions and write down the answers. Vague answers to specific questions are the most useful signal you'll get.
- Which accounts like mine have you run, and what changed while you ran them?
- Who will do the work day to day, and who covers when they're away?
- What will you need from me each week, and how long will it take me?
- How do approvals work, and what happens if I don't reply in time?
- Who handles comments and messages, and how fast?
- How will you report, how often, and which numbers will you lead with?
- How do you get access to my accounts? (The right answer is through the platforms' business tools, not my password.)
- Who owns the content, designs and raw files you make for me?
- What happens to my accounts and files if we stop working together?
- What's included in the price, and what costs extra?
- Can I speak to a current client?
Red flags to walk away from
The last one matters legally as well as ethically. The US Federal Trade Commission's guidance for influencers is that an endorsement should make it obvious when there's a material connection to the brand, such as payment or free products, with the disclosure placed where it's hard to miss. Other countries have similar rules, and your business can be held responsible for posts made on its behalf.
- Guaranteed follower numbers or guaranteed viral posts
- Offers to buy followers, likes or reviews, or to use engagement groups
- Asking for your passwords instead of being added through business tools
- Setting up ad accounts or business portfolios in their own name for your business
- No examples of client work, only their own account
- Reports that show only likes and follower counts
- A long minimum contract before any trial
- Paid partnerships or influencer posts arranged without clear disclosure
Source: FTC: Disclosures 101 for Social Media Influencers, checked 15 October 2026
Make ownership and access part of the agreement
Your accounts should belong to your business, with outside help added on top. On Facebook and Instagram, the clean way is for your business to own its business portfolio and add the agency as a partner. Meta lets you give a partner full control of an asset or partial access for specific tasks such as creating content, managing ads and responding to messages. Even with full control, a partner can't share your asset with another business; only the organisation that owns it can.
Put this in writing: your business owns the accounts, ad accounts and content; access is through business tools; and on the last day you get the raw files, the passwords for anything that couldn't be shared properly, and a list of everything they set up. Our guide to giving an agency access covers each platform.
Agree the notice period and what happens in it, too. A clean ending is a handover meeting, the files, a final report and access removed on the last day. If that's written down at the start, nobody has to negotiate it when the relationship is ending.
Source: Meta Business Help Centre: Give a partner access to business assets in your business portfolio, checked 15 October 2026
Run a paid trial before a long contract
A trial of one to three months, paid at the normal rate, tells you more than any pitch. Agree the measures at the start so the end isn't a matter of opinion.
- Agree a small scope: one or two platforms and a set number of posts and reports.
- Agree two or three measures tied to your goal, and record where they start.
- Set a weekly 15-minute check-in for the first month.
- Watch the working relationship as well as the numbers: deadlines, questions, how they handle feedback.
- Hold a short review at the halfway point, so problems are raised while there's still time to fix them.
- At the end, compare against the starting numbers and decide: continue, change the scope, or stop.
Another option (disclosed: it's our product)
If what you mainly need is posts made and published every week, software can do some of that work. Zolyp, which we make, plans, writes, designs and publishes to Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Business, X, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, and Threads after you approve each week; it doesn't replace a person for strategy calls, customer conversations or photography. Plans that create the posts start at $29 a month, Lite is $9 a month per brand for scheduling posts you make yourself, team members are unlimited on every plan, and there's a 3-day free trial.
Common questions
What should a social media brief include?
The goal, the platforms that matter, the scope of work, what you'll provide, who approves posts and how quickly, the budget range, the start date, and what you've tried before.
Should I hire a social media freelancer or an agency?
A freelancer suits a clear scope and one consistent voice; an agency suits needing several skills, such as design, video and ads, at once. Ask the same questions of both and compare like for like.
What should I ask a social media agency before hiring?
Which similar accounts they've run and what changed, who does the work, how approvals and replies work, how they report, how they get access, who owns the content and what happens if you part ways.
Should I give an agency my social media passwords?
No, where you can avoid it. Add them through business tools such as a Meta business portfolio, Google Business Profile managers or LinkedIn Page admin roles, so you can remove access later without changing passwords.
How long should a social media trial last?
One to three months at the normal rate is usually enough to judge the working relationship and see early movement on the measures you agreed at the start.
Who should own my business's social media accounts?
Your business. The agency or freelancer should be added with their own access, and ad accounts and business portfolios should be in your business's name.