What is a social media bidding?

Social media bidding is the starting point for strong social media strategies, award-winning campaigns, and enduring collaborations.

But you get out of what you put in it. Write a subpar RFP and the offers you get from digital marketing agencies are very strong.

Do you leave many questions unanswered? Expect to take the time to answer phone calls and generate lengthy responses to emails from interested vendors.

Do not waste your or others’ time. Find out what information you can include in the social media RFP to attract the best companies and offers for your business.

Table of Contents

What is Social Media Bidding?

RFP stands for “Request for Proposal“.

Call for tenders on social networks:

Describes the specific project or need that your business wants to address
Invites agencies, management platforms, or other vendors to submit creative ideas or solutions.

The RFP process allows the company to consider ideas and suppliers before entering into a major collaboration or long-term contract.

What is the difference between RFP, RFQ, and RFI?

Request for Quotation (RFQ) focuses on obtaining quotes for specific services.

A request for information (RFI) can be submitted by a company to understand the capabilities or solutions offered by different vendors.

The RFP should provide context, describe the project and its objectives, and specify the bidder’s requirements.

The art of bidding for social media marketing services is to provide the necessary details when leaving space for creativity. The better your RFP, the better the seller offers.

What should be included in the social media RFP?

Still not sure what to include in your social media RFP? Each RFP is different, but these commonalities make up a strong supplier proposal.

The social media RFP should have the following 10 sections (in this order):

1. Introduction

2. Company profile

3. Social Media Ecosystem

4. Project Objective and Description

5. Challenges

6. Key questions

7. Eligibility of bidders

8. Proposal Guidelines

9. Project Schedule

10. Evaluation of proposals

We have analyzed each section so that you can get a good idea of what to include in it.

1. Introduction

Provide a high-level summary of your RFP on social media. This brief section should contain important details such as your business name, what you are looking for, and your submission deadline.

Here is an example:

The Fake Company, the world’s leading fake business, Inc., is looking for a fake social media awareness campaign. We [so far] accept offers in response to this bogus RFP.

2. Company profile

Share some information about your business. Provide information related to RFP for social media marketing services and try to go beyond standardization. In which your:

Mission Announcement
Basic value
Target customers
Important partner
Competitive landscape

Note that additional information on the NDA request and/or signature will be available if any of the above are required to disclose trade secrets for inclusion in your RFP.

3. Social Media Ecosystem

Let suppliers know how your business uses social media. Tell them which social channels you are most active on or which networks you choose to avoid. Some of the other things you mention in this section may include:

Summary of Active Accounts

Important aspects of your social marketing strategy
Overviews or links to past or current campaigns
Related social analyzes (e.g. audience population, engagement, etc.)
Highlights from your social accounts (e.g. really well-functioning content)

One of the main reasons for providing this information is to avoid repetition. Without this information, you may end up with social media proposals similar to previous concepts, which will ultimately waste everyone’s time. The better a salesperson understands your social media landscape, the more likely he or she is to come up with a successful concept.

4. Project Objective and Description

Explain the purpose of your social media bidding. What are you looking for? What goals do you hope to achieve? Be as specific as possible.

Some examples may include:

Promote new store opening [RENT]
Get new followers on the newly launched social media channel
Develop ideas for an existing product or service
Generate more leads through specific social media channels
Make your company a leader in thinking
Share company values or programs with the target audience
Host a seasonal promotion or social competition
Keep in mind that social media campaigns can have multiple goals. Each objective seller
provides a checkbox for the offer. Consider using primary and secondary target categories so
that it becomes clear what is most important.

5. Challenges

Most businesses are well aware of the unique challenges they face on and off social media. Do not assume that incorporated third parties have the same understanding. Identify obstacles in advance so that you can work together to solve them or work around them.

Challenges may include:

Customer sensitivity (e.g. anything that helps the seller not to hit known pain points)
Legal decisions (such as the confusing denials and exposures that often come in the way of creative ideas)
Regulatory Compliance (Are there any age restrictions or other restrictions associated with the marketing of your product?)
Discrimination (Is it difficult to separate your product or service from your competitors?)
Resource and budget challenges may also be relevant here. Is there enough staff in your
business to support needed customer service and community management? Be honest. The
best offers can provide invaluable solutions.

6. Key questions

It is common to find questions in RFPs on social media used for marketing purposes. They often follow challenges or are subdivided. In some cases, they simply ask: How does your proposal address these challenges?

Including questions is a way for proposals to provide solutions or answers rather than avoiding or avoiding them. If your business is facing significant challenges, these answers will help you evaluate the offers you receive.

7. Eligibility of bidders

Experience, past projects, team size, and other criteria are important factors when evaluating vendors who respond to your social media RFP. You provided information about your business. This is where the bidders explain why their company is uniquely qualified to undertake your project.

Include qualifications that will help your project succeed, evaluate proposals, and are important to your business. For example, even if social media is not related to the tender, your company may prefer B Corps.

Some things to ask:

Vendor team size details
Proof of Social Media Training and Certification (e.g. Hootsuite Social Marketing Education and
Certification Program)
Examples of working with past or current clients
Customer Inquiry
Results of past campaigns
List of employees working on the project – and their titles
Project Management Approach and Strategy
Resources dedicated to the project
Anything about you and the supplier who is important to the project implementation and their work.
If you skip the Bidder Qualification section, you may end up with a bunch of applications that do not have the relevant information to help you make a decision. So include everything you want to see from potential sellers.

8. Proposal Guidelines

This section should cover the basics of proposal submission: when, what, where, and how much. Specify the submission deadline, how the proposals should be formatted and what level of budget breakdown you need.

If your business has brand guides, social media guides, social media style guides, or any other related resources, include links or information where sellers can find them.

Also, be sure to add a touchpoint. Our social media RFP template keeps contact information in the header. Ultimately, as long as you are available to agencies to ask or clarify questions, it does not matter whether you put it first or last.

9. Project Schedule

Each social media RFP must include a proposal and project deadline. In this section, provide a structured offer timeline that sellers can follow. If your project is not tied to a specific date or event, your project date may allow for a little more flexibility.

The social media RFP timeline may include:

RSVP Admission Deadline
Meeting duration with suppliers for a preliminary discussion
Question submission deadline for agencies
Deadline for proposal submission
The final choice
Finalist Presentations‌
Winner Nomination Selection
Contract negotiation period
When notifications are sent to failed bidders
Include a deadline or target date for the project. If major milestones and delivery times already exist, this should also be indicated here.

10. Evaluation of proposals

You and potential sellers need to know in advance how their offers will be evaluated. List the criteria you measure and how each category is weighted or scored.

Be as transparent as possible about the process. If a theme template or dashboard is available, include it here. If the evaluator offers feedback, let the bidders know whether or not to expect to receive it.

Finally, indicate the role of the budget announced in your decision-making process. Will it be disclosed to reviewers after the proposal is scored? How are price and value determined?

Social media RFP template

Need an example of social media bidding? We have prepared a template to make it easier for you. Use this social media bidding template as a starting point and customize it to your needs.