My client assumed I would cover Black Friday weekend live and never actually asked me

This came up this week while we were talking about November.

The client was running through their Black Friday plans out loud, offers changing across the weekend, Stories going up as things sell out, comments needing fast replies. Then they said, so you will be around that weekend to cover it live, right, as if it was already agreed.

It was not agreed. It was not in the retainer, it was not in any message, and we had never talked about holiday coverage at all. My retainer covers scheduled posts and replies inside weekday hours. Live weekend coverage through a holiday is a different job.

I did not want to sound difficult, so I laid out what I could actually do. Everything that can be planned can be written and scheduled before Thanksgiving. I can set two reply windows a day that weekend to check comments and flag anything urgent. If they want someone watching all day and posting changes live, that needs to be a separate add on with a set rate and one named person on their side who can approve changes fast.

They went quiet for a bit, then said they had honestly just assumed social coverage meant all of it, all the time, especially on the biggest sales weekend.

I get why they assumed it. From the outside it just looks like posts appearing. From my side it is being on call for four days over a holiday with no backup and no agreed end time.

We ended up scheduling most of it in advance, which is what should have happened anyway. The live part is still being decided.

How do you handle holiday coverage? Is it built into your retainer, a paid add on, or a hard no, and when do you bring it up so it does not land like this in late October?

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Comments

iRuleOnlineBusiness•10 days ago•16

You handled it well, and the quiet reaction is normal because they just realized "social coverage" meant something different to each of you. I'd turn it into a written holiday scope so it doesn't repeat. One short page: what's scheduled ahead, the reply windows, the response time for urgent flags, and what live coverage costs as an add on.

For the add on, price it by hours and by day, since a holiday weekend is premium time. Also ask them for a one page "if X happens, do Y" sheet covering sellouts, restocks and shipping questions. That cuts the live approvals a lot, because you can reply from pre-approved wording.

Ryan Stevens here, I run iRuleSocialMedia on Instagram and see this scope gap often. Next time, add a line to the retainer that says holidays and weekends are excluded unless agreed in writing.

aa_y_ush•10 days ago•3

i'd separate scheduled content from live weekend coverage before agreeing to anything. i'd ask them to confirm the hours they want covered, who approves offer changes, and who handles comments outside those hours, then put that scope in writing.

Icy_Statistician1483•10 days ago•2

put it in writing today: what's covered, which hours, and a day rate for live weekend coverage. clients assume when scope is fuzzy. a one-line holiday add-on in every retainer from now on saves you this conversation next year

realivann•10 days ago•2

i'd set a cutoff for last minute promo changes too. otherwise every "quick update" turns into a weekend emergency

castellaniangelo•9 days ago•2

I'd treat it as an add-on, and the real fix is writing that down before the season starts. Live coverage on Black Friday or a holiday weekend means someone on call outside normal hours, so most retainers I've seen cover scheduled posts and normal response times, and anything live or same day on a holiday gets quoted as a day rate or a small holiday package. For this year I'd tell the client plainly what's included, offer the add-on at a price, and maybe throw in one small thing as goodwill so it doesn't feel like a gotcha. Then add a line about holidays and weekends to the contract so next year it isn't a debate.

typesett•10 days ago•2

i say this with love and i hope everyone here that is more inexperienced reads this

OP, it is not your fault for sure. But what makes you GREAT, REFERRED, LOVED, is to get in front of your client and walk them through beforehand. when you master this and everyone profits due to efficiency... you will become a top tier professional

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beny546•10 days ago•1

Ask what triggers the sold-out posts. If it's stock counts, the live work ends when inventory does, so that's the part to price

cortezz-NY•9 days ago•1

The mistake I made for years was treating Black Friday weekend as a one-off. For my restaurant clients, that weekend is really the start of the booking season — holiday parties, NYE reservations, gift cards. The "live coverage" need doesn't end when the weekend does, it just changes shape.

Instead of selling one-off weekend coverage, I now sell a holiday on-call block from late November through the end of the year, bundled as a flat fee for availability plus a per-live-day rate for the days they actually go live.

One workflow tip that saves my sanity: someone from the client's staff is usually on-site anyway. I get them to shoot the raw clips — the room filling up, the pastry case, the bar — and I handle captions, posting, and replies. It keeps the content authentic, cuts my workload in half, and the client loves seeing their own team in the stories.

fxfatherman•8 days ago•1

Since the live part is still undecided, I’d pull their insights from last year’s Black Friday weekend and show them exactly when comments and DMs spiked. For most accounts it’s a few hours, usually the launch morning and the last chance push, not four full days. Then you quote live coverage only for those windows. It’s easier for them to say yes to 6 hours than “the whole weekend,” and you get a real end time instead of being on call until Monday night.

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