Social Media Retainer Sizing

Ten posts a month is 14.5 hours as static graphics and 40.5 as short-form video. The same count, a $1,136.28 retainer or a $3,173.76 one — which is why a post is not a unit of work.

Your floor rate, derived

A price copied from what others charge says nothing about your own costs.

This starts from what your year actually needs: $62,000 of take-home

income, $4,600 of overhead across the items listed, tax on

profit, and the share of your hours that are genuinely billable

(58% here, and the kit explains why not more).

That gives a floor of $78.36 an hour across 1,114 billable hours. Every step is printed so you can substitute your own

numbers — there is a blank worksheet for exactly that.

Ten posts a month is not a scope

It is 14.5 hours as static graphics and 40.5 as short-form video — a $1,136.28 retainer or a $3,173.76 one, for an identical number on the proposal, both at the kit's $78.36 floor rate. 2.8 times the work.

And 8.5 hours a month exist before a single post is made — planning, approvals, community management, reporting. That is $666.10 of work that does not shrink when the post count does, which is why there is a floor below which a client is not worth having.

Every retainer quoted from a post count is a bet on the mix: if the agreed ten posts move from statics to reels, the work grows 2.8 times and the proposal does not change.

Includes hours per deliverable for five formats, three priced tiers built from the mix, a swap table so you can price a format change instantly, and eight scripts for scope creep and retainer rises. Plus a live Excel workbook: change one static to one reel and watch the retainer move.

8 client scripts

Each one carries a line explaining why it is worded that way, because

a script you do not understand is one you will not send. Placeholders are in

[BRACKETS] so nothing goes out in someone else's words.

- Quoting a retainer from a post count

- The client who asks for reels at the static price

- Charging for the content you did not plan to shoot

- Scope creep into community management

- Reporting on a month where the algorithm changed

- Asking for brand assets before you start

- Declining a client who wants daily posting on four platforms

- Raising a retainer that has not moved in two years

What this is not

These numbers are not a market price. They are arithmetic

about you — what your income target requires. They do not tell you what your

market will pay. If the number is far above what your market bears, that is real

information: something has to move, and quietly working below the floor is the

one option that cannot last.

These are scripts, not contracts, and nothing here is legal

or tax advice. No script threatens statutory interest, collections or legal

action — whether any of those is available to you depends on your contract and

jurisdiction. The 25% tax figure is a placeholder; ask your accountant for

yours.

Honest about the format

Printable PDFs plus an editable Excel workbook, not a physical product. One US Letter PDF (12 pages) and one A4 PDF (12 pages), and one .xlsx that opens in Excel, Numbers, LibreOffice and Google Sheets. Files are available immediately after purchase; nothing ships.

Refunds

If this isn't what you expected, email me within 30 days and I'll refund you in full — no need to explain. Because it's an instant download I can't take the files back, so I'd rather you just had your money back.