You might like making the occasional post but struggle to keep up with everything around it: choosing topics, writing captions, editing clips and remembering to publish. When it starts taking over your spare time, “I need help with Instagram” can mean several different things.
Before choosing between doing it yourself, using a membership or hiring a manager, let’s separate those jobs. Knowing which part you’d like to hand over makes it much easier to judge what kind of help would be useful.
“I can handle ______, but I need help with ______.”
It’s a small question, but it gives your comparison a starting point. You might be comfortable filming and need editing help, or enjoy Canva and want someone to prepare the ideas.
Three ways to manage social media as a solo esthetician
Make your content yourself
With DIY, you choose the topics, make the posts, write captions and publish. This can fit well if you enjoy the work and have regular time for it.
For example: if you already record treatment clips and like explaining them, a simple plan and a few reusable layouts might give you enough structure.
Use a content membership
A membership gives you material to work from. Depending on the service, that can include designs, captions and a plan, so you spend less of your content time deciding where to begin.
For example: you’re happy making edits in Canva, but choosing topics and drafting captions slows you down. SCC provides templates, captions, a calendar and optional Reel ideas for that part of the process.
You could adapt a seasonal template when clients ask about packing skincare, or use a skin-texture post to talk about expectations. You choose the subject that fits your clients, then bring your own service details and explanation to it.
Hire a social media manager
With a social media manager, you pay for the tasks you agree they’ll handle. That might include planning, editing, publishing or reporting. Filming and answering messages may sit outside the service, so those are useful questions to ask early.
For example: you have plenty of footage but never find time to edit and publish it. Ask for a proposal that specifically covers those jobs and explains what you’ll need to provide.
Which social media jobs will you still need to do?
As you compare the options, work through the jobs below. If something matters to you and isn’t mentioned, ask who will do it. That’s easier to settle before you start working together.
Making the content
Who chooses topics, takes photos, records clips, edits designs and writes captions?
Running the account
Who publishes, answers enquiries, checks the results and decides what to change?
A proposal should turn broad service names, such as “strategy” and “content support”, into specific tasks and deliverables for your business.
Even when someone else does the production, they’ll need accurate service details, availability and permission to use client images from you. Think about how you’ll share and check that information.
Which option fits your time as a solo esthetician?
- DIY: you have the time and want to do the work.
- Membership: you want a starting point and can personalise and publish it.
- Manager: you want agreed tasks handled for you and have the budget for that service.
Look at the cost alongside the work covered and the time you’d still need to put in. Ask what you’ll receive, when it will arrive and how you’ll review it before it goes out.
If designs are the main thing you need, our pack versus membership comparison will help you narrow that choice. If you want someone to run the account, look for that service explicitly; a content library still leaves the publishing with you.
You can combine these approaches as your business changes. For now, choose around the task that’s taking time away from work you need or want to do yourself.
