1. Scope, with numbers
Posts per week, platforms by name, what counts as a revision and how many are included, and what is explicitly out of scope, such as paid ads, crisis response and photography days. Vague scope is where resentment is manufactured.
2. Approvals, with the silence clause
Content is sent by [day], approved via the provided link by [deadline], and content receiving no response by the deadline is deemed approved, or held, whichever you both prefer. Pick one and write it down. This single clause ends most approval chasing.
3. Access
The client provides access via each platform's official sharing within onboarding week, maintains professional account status, and reports password or security changes the same day. This clause exists because broken connections are the top cause of failed posts.
4. Payment
Monthly in advance, by a named date, with a late fee and the right to pause work on overdue accounts. Freelancers who bill in arrears become lenders.
5. Content rights
Who owns the finished content, whether you may show it in your portfolio, and what happens to raw files. A common fair position: the client owns delivered content for their use, you retain portfolio rights.
6. The honesty clause
You commit to the work and the reporting; you do not guarantee reach, growth or virality, because platforms change without notice. Clients respect this more than inflated promises, and it protects you the month an algorithm shifts.
7, 8 and 9: tools, notice, exit
Name that professional tools are used and included in the fee. Set notice at 30 days either way. At exit, define the handover: scheduled content either publishes or is exported, account access returns to the client, and final files transfer on final payment. A clean exit clause is the clause clients remember you kindly for.