Freelance Social Media Manager Income and Expense Spreadsheet

A social media manager is usually paid a flat monthly retainer, while ad budgets and scheduling tools run through the same accounts. This sheet separates your fees from money that only passes through to the platforms.

How a social media manager gets paid, and what that means for the sheet

Most social media managers bill a flat monthly retainer for a set number of posts and channels, with an occasional one-off fee for a launch campaign or content day. Retainers tend to land on the same day each month, while campaign fees arrive once. A client who pauses simply stops the monthly line.

Ad budgets are the tricky part. If you pay the platform from your own card and the client repays you, log the platform bill as an Expense and the repayment as its own Income row, with the same client name on both. That way you can see exactly which money was a fee and which only passed through.

One example month, logged

Invented numbers, to show the shape. Each row below is one line on the Transactions tab.

In this example the month ends with $5,100 in, $1,894 out and $3,206 left before you set anything aside for tax.

The P&L tab sorts the same rows by category:

Where a social media manager's purchases go

• Software & subscriptions: Schedulers, analytics dashboards, design apps and music libraries go here. Many managers pay for one plan that serves several clients. Log the whole bill as one row and list the clients it covers in the Description, rather than inventing a split.
• Contractors: Video editors, photographers, copywriters and community moderators you hire go under Contractors. Put the client and the content batch in the Description. A creator paid per post for one campaign works the same way: one row per payment.
• Equipment: Tripods, ring lights, microphones and a phone kept for filming go under Equipment. If one receipt mixes a tripod, a memory card and a charger, keep separate rows when the lines are clear, so older gear is easy to spot later.
• Other expense: Client ad spend you pay up front goes under Other expense with the client name in the Description, since it is neither software nor marketing for your own business. Your own promoted posts are different and belong under Marketing.

Four tracking tips for a social media manager

1. Use one Client / Vendor name per client every time, such as Juniper Coffee Roasters and never Juniper. Retainers repeat every month, and consistent names let you filter all twelve payments on the Transactions tab in seconds.
2. Platforms often bill ad spend in arrears, sometimes at month end. Log the charge the day it hits your card with the client name beside it, so the repayment you invoice later has a clear match.
3. When a retainer client leaves, fill in Date paid on their last invoice and stop adding that line. The P&L tab splits by category, not client, so filter the Transactions tab by client to see how much a month rested on that account.
4. Log a content shoot day as one set of rows: photographer, props and any gear you bought, all sharing the same batch name in the Description. At month end you can compare what the day cost with what you billed for it.

Two formulas worth a cell of their own

These use the kit's Transactions tab (Type in column B, Category in C, Client / Vendor in E, Amount in F). Excel and Google Sheets both support SUMIFS.

• Spend in your biggest category, here Contractors: =SUMIFS(Transactions!F:F,Transactions!B:B,"Expense",Transactions!C:C,"Contractors") returns $920 on the example month.
• Income from one client: =SUMIFS(Transactions!F:F,Transactions!B:B,"Income",Transactions!E:E,"Juniper Coffee Roasters") returns $1,500 on the example month.

Questions

How do I track ad spend I pay for a client?

Log the platform charge as an Expense under Other expense with the client name in the Description. When the client repays you, add an Income row with the same client name. Both rows carry the name, so you can filter and see exactly what passed through.

Should I log a monthly retainer when I invoice or when I get paid?

Log it as Income on the date the money arrives, and record the invoice itself in the Invoices tab. If a client pays late, the Invoices tab flags it as Overdue until you fill in Date paid. Reuse the same Description every month so retainers are easy to find.

The same sheet for other freelancers

• All freelancer spreadsheet guides by profession
• Freelance Consultant Income and Expense Spreadsheet Template
• Freelance Graphic Designer Income and Expense Spreadsheet
• Income and Expense Spreadsheet for Freelance Photographers
• Freelance Translator Spreadsheet for Per-Word Income and Costs
• Freelance UX Designer Income and Expense Spreadsheet
• Freelance Video Editor Spreadsheet for Income and Expenses
• Freelance Virtual Assistant Income and Expense Spreadsheet
• Freelance Voice-Over Artist Income and Expense Spreadsheet
• Income and Expense Spreadsheet for Freelance Web Developers
• Freelance Writer Income and Expense Spreadsheet for Articles
• Online Tutor Income and Expense Spreadsheet for Lesson Payouts

More freelancer finance guides

• Excel or Google Sheets for freelancer finances? What actually differs
• Freelance expense categories for a spreadsheet: a starter list that stays short
• How to build a freelance income and expense tracker in a spreadsheet
• A simple 12-month cash flow forecast for freelancers
• Freelancer profit and loss (P&L) in a spreadsheet: a one-page layout
• Freelancer runway: three spreadsheet formulas for how long your cash lasts
• Freelancer tax set-aside: what goes into the number, and how to track it
• Invoice tracker spreadsheet: formulas for paid, due and overdue
• Budgeting on irregular freelance income: the baseline-pay method
• How to track freelance income by client in a spreadsheet

General information about using spreadsheets, not financial, tax or accounting advice. Example numbers are invented. Categories are for tracking and do not say what is deductible.