Social Media RFP: A Template and Guide for the Best Marketing Proposals

06 Jul Social Media RFP: A Template and Guide for the Best Marketing Proposals

By Dara Fontein

Your boss comes to you and says, “Put out a social media RFP,” and your silent response is, ‘What is a social media RFP?’

A company will issue an RFP, or request for proposal, when they need an outside solution to a business problem. So by putting out a social media RFP, your organization is asking digital agencies that specialize in social marketing to bid on a job with proposals.

Whether you need someone to craft you a winning social media strategy, or you want to hire a company to run your social profiles full-time, a social media RFP is like a “Help Wanted” sign in the window.

The following guide and template (find it at the end of the post) outline what you should include in your social media RFP to garner the best proposals.

What to include in your social media RFP

Project purpose and description

You don’t want there to be any confusion surrounding why your organization wants the project done, so present a clear reasoning for this. How does this project fit into your company’s overall brand and objectives?

This is also an area that allows for your candidates to get excited about the project, and align their own purposes and goals to those stated by your business.

Take this time to explain in detail what your company is asking the marketing agency for. What are your end objectives? What goals are you trying to meet? If you need help setting some goals and steering the direction of this area, check our post: Don’t just set social media goals—reach them.

By providing a detailed purpose and description of the work, you equip the bidders with the tools they need to demonstrate how they would tackle the work. You’ll be granted unique takes on the job, many of which you wouldn’t have thought of—which is the beauty of the RFP process.

Proposal guidelines

The most important thing your social media RFP needs to have, is clarity. Ensure that as you are writing it there are no opportunities for your recipient to misinterpret any information. Include proposal guidelines within your RFP so that the marketing agencies know what you are looking for in the document. To give them some background on what they should include, they need to know:

• What you are asking for
• Why you’re asking for this
• How you want the process and end result to look
• When you want it completed by

You must also ensure that you have the due date for proposal submissions clearly stated, so that you and the candidate don’t miss an opportunity simply due to technicalities.

Besides all of the above, you don’t want to leave any elephants in the room. Have a clear portion of your RFP dedicated to cost and fees, so that there are no misunderstandings when it comes time for budget matters and payment. View Full Article >>

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