A social media manager's cold email should open with a three-line audit of the buyer's own account: when they last posted, how many posts they made in the last 90 days, and one thing that is broken, such as a dead link in the bio. Then it offers a fixed monthly package, not hours. Below are three templates for the buyers who most often hire this service (a local business with a stale feed, an online store that only posts product shots, and a B2B founder who never posts), plus how to write the audit, how to price the package in one line, and what not to promise.
Many social media pitches say "I can grow your following." The buyer has heard it from every freelancer, and followers are not what pays them. These emails start from the opposite end: they show that you looked at the account and found something specific. For more places to find buyers, see how to find clients for social media management.
Choose accounts where you can count the gap
Open the buyer's page and find these numbers in two minutes. They are all public.
| What to check | Where to look | A gap worth writing about |
|---|---|---|
| Date of the last post | Top of the feed | More than 30 days ago while the business is open |
| Posts in the last 90 days | Scroll back and count | Fewer than 8 for a business that opens daily |
| Answers to comments and questions | Comment threads under recent posts | Questions with no reply |
| The link in the bio | Click it | Dead, goes to the home page, or lists no way to book or buy |
| Photos and format | The grid | Only one type: all product shots, all stock images, or all text |
If the feed is active, regular and answered, move on. A buyer with no gap does not need you yet.
The three-line audit
The audit is the part of the email that proves you looked. Three lines, no more:
- What you saw: "Last post was 41 days ago, and 5 posts in the past 90."
- What it costs them, in their own terms: "Two people asked about Saturday hours in the comments and nobody answered."
- What you would change first: "A weekly schedule of three posts, and a booking link in the bio."
Template 1: the local business with a stale feed
Use for: restaurants, salons, studios, clinics, shops with a street address.
Subject: your Instagram since September
Hi Priscilla, I follow a few places on Fenner Street and noticed Kiln & Co's last post was 41 days ago, with 5 posts in the past 90. Two people asked about Saturday hours in the comments on the 12th and nobody replied. I manage Instagram and Facebook for local food businesses: three posts a week, replies to comments within a day, and a monthly one-page report. My package is $600 a month, and I'd start with a two-week trial of the schedule at no charge. Would it be useful if I sent a sample week for Kiln & Co?
Juno Marsh, 555-0166, example.com, PO Box 1904, Tulsa OK 74101. Reply "no thanks" and I will not write again.
The offer is specific, the price is stated and the first step costs the buyer nothing. The $600 works out to about $50 a post for 12 posts, so the buyer can compare it with what they would pay otherwise.
Template 2: the online store with only product shots
Use for: stores that post an item and a price and little else.
Subject: the 14 product posts and no people
Hi Anders, your last fourteen posts are product photos on a white background, and the posts with a person in them earn the most comments on your feed. I make short videos and customer posts for stores like Larchwood Goods: user photos, a how-to-use clip, and a weekly sale post. Here is one I made for a candle shop: [link]. I can take over the calendar for $750 a month with 12 posts and 4 short videos. Do you want me to draft next week's posts so you can see them?
Juno Marsh, 555-0166, example.com, PO Box 1904, Tulsa OK 74101. Reply "no thanks" and I will not write again.
Keep the observation checkable. "The posts with a person in them earn the most comments" is something the buyer can see in 20 seconds by looking at their own feed. If you cannot back it up, write a different observation.
Template 3: the B2B founder who never posts
Use for: founders and owners of service firms whose buyers are other businesses, and whose profile is empty.
Subject: your LinkedIn profile and the Q3 launch
Hi Ravi, you shipped the reporting module in September, and your profile has no post about it. I write and schedule LinkedIn posts for founders of software companies: two a week, in your voice, from a 30-minute call each month. I do not post for you without your approval. Here is a founder's profile I help with: [link]. The price is $900 a month. Should I draft the post for the reporting launch, for you to look at?
Juno Marsh, 555-0166, example.com, PO Box 1904, Tulsa OK 74101. Reply "no thanks" and I will not write again.
"Without your approval" matters to founders who worry about saying something wrong under their name. Keep that promise.
Price the package in one line
Do not quote an hourly rate in a cold email. Name what is included and the monthly price: number of posts, number of videos, response time, and a report. Packages make it easy for the buyer to say yes, and they protect you from hours that expand. If a buyer asks for more, that is a second package. Our page on how to write a quote for a service covers laying out the figure, and the service agreement template covers scope.
What to promise and what not to
- Promise what you control: posts per week, reply time, a report on a fixed date, the account staying active.
- Do not promise: followers, reach, sales or a ranking. You do not control them, and a buyer who was promised one remembers.
- Do not post on their account until they approve the plan, and keep their logins in a shared manager, not a spreadsheet.
The follow-up with a sample
Subject: Re: your Instagram since September
Hi Priscilla, I drafted next week's three posts for Kiln & Co: a Saturday-hours post, a photo of the new menu item and a short reply template for questions. They're in this document: [link]. Use any of them, no charge. If you want me to run it, the package is $600 a month. Juno
Juno Marsh, 555-0166, example.com, PO Box 1904, Tulsa OK 74101. Reply "no thanks" and I will not write again.
Send it four to six days after the first email, with the work attached as a link. Follow up once more a week later, and stop.
CAN-SPAM in four lines
Cold email to a business is commercial email. The FTC's CAN-SPAM guide for businesses says the law "makes no exception for business-to-business email," and requires accurate sender and subject lines, a valid postal address, a clear opt-out and a response to opt-outs within 10 business days. Is cold email legal goes through what that means for you.
Rocketship, which we make, handles the finding and the follow-up. Describe the buyer, for example "owners of restaurants and salons in Tulsa," and it finds the people, reads each business's own website, emails them from your Gmail, follows up and books a call on your calendar. You send the audit and the sample week to the ones that answer. Try the 7-day trial (card required) or see the plans.