How Much Does Social Media Management Cost?
It depends.
You knew that was coming, but in this blog, we’ll look at the various factors influencing the cost of social media management.
WHO AM I AND WHY DO I HAVE THE RIGHT TO TALK ABOUT THIS SUBJECT?
Alex McCann is owner of Altrincham HQ – a social media management and training company based in Manchester that has worked with 1000s of businesses developing their social media strategy.
Over the past 14 years Alex has built up an impressive training client list including the BBC, Manchester City, NHS, Selfridges, Costa Coffee, United Utilities, University Of Manchester, Manchester Arndale and many more
Each month Altrincham HQ spend 200+ hours per month managing marketing campaigns for businesses so witness Social Media changes in real time and action them.
A former journalist, whose blogs have been read by over half a million readers, he has also successfully ran an events company putting on 60 events a year which included a 15,000 capacity arts & music festivals in Manchester.
Alex has 700+ customer reviews and is ranked number 1 for Social Media Marketing in the UK via independent customer reviews on Freeindex.
Altrincham HQ works with businesses across the UK on all aspects of Social Media including LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and blogging for business success.
For more info check out http://www.altrinchamhq.co.uk
BE REALISTIC ABOUT THE COST OF SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGEMENT
Every week I’ll see a Facebook Advert promising Social Media Management for £40 / £100 a month.
It’s 100% a lie!
If you consider that to manage social media effectively, you’re looking at 4 hours per week minimum. Is it realistic to expect social media management for £2.5-6.25 an hour?
HOW EXPERIENCED IS THE SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER?
The level of experience will impact the cost of Social Media Management.
For instance, we’ve worked in Social Media Marketing for nearly 15 years and worked in marketing from journalism to events for 25 years.
Our longest social media management client has been with us for over 12 years.
What you get with us is a safe pair of hands. Qualified, Experienced and a track record of delivering results. It’s risk free.
Naturally with that level of experience you will be paying more for someone 25 years into their career than somebody taking on their very 1st social media management client.
Ensure you know who is actually managing your social media. We had a conversation with a local business owner recently who told us this
“I signed up with a social media company a month ago and the director sold me on her experience, but after signing up based on her knowledge and expertise, I was handed over to a very junior person who uses AI to write awful blogs and she just copies content I have already written in blogs on my website. I have not been able to even use the content.”
Not all social media managers are equal.
Questions To Ask
Who will be managing my social media? Is it you or a junior?
How many years experience do you have specifically in social media management?
Tell me about some social media success stories?
ARE THEY A VIRTUAL ASSISTANT OR A MARKETER?
Polite reminder.
VA’s can’t do everything.
So often I will see VA’s advertising skilled social media marketing services as part of their offering.
Marketing is not an admin role.
Whilst VA’s can post on social media to keep you active, you won’t necessarily get the same in-depth social media strategy or insight as you would from a marketer.
A social media marketer will spend 24/7 in the social media trenches, whereas for a VA social media is one of the many different roles they perform. It’s hard enough keeping up with the changes and updates on social media when you work in it full time, without it being something you dip in and out of as part of many different roles.
Questions To Ask
Are you qualified in marketing?
What percentage of your VA work is social media management?
How do you approach social media strategy?
How do you stay up to date with social media changes when you don’t just offer social media services?
THE NUMBER OF PLATFORMS YOU NEED MANAGING
A lot of social media management companies will have packages based on the number of platforms you’re looking to outsource.
We always recommend businesses concentrate on 2 platforms (and maybe add in 3rd further down the line).
The big 4 platforms are considered Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn.
Other platforms are available such as X (Twitter), Threads, Pinterest, Snap and several more fringe platforms.
YouTube and Blogging aren’t considered social media platforms but often get put into the marketing mix.
More platforms = More Time = Higher Cost.
Questions To Ask
How many social media platforms should we be on?
What social media platforms would you suggest we use?
Why should we be on XYZ?
Is there anything we need to be aware of on XYZ that will impact our success?
THE LEVEL OF CONTENT PRODUCTION REQUIRED
Don’t confuse the two.
A content creator is not a social media manager.
A social media manager is not a content creator.
Some businesses look to save money by doing the content production in house on smart phones and sending it to the social media manager to use / edit / repurpose.
We’ve got clients who do that and it works, but in an ideal world you bring in experts.
We recommend a number of graphic designers / photographers / videographers who can produce the content for you and then we handle the strategic marketing, copywriting, delivery and engagement.
A real-life example of how a content creator is not a social media manager.
We lost a client recently.
A “content creation” agency said they’d throw in social media management in free of charge if they signed up to their content creation package.
This is what their “social media management” delivered
- Consistency in posting dropped down to a quarter of what we were posting
- Social Media Captions were written with ChatGPT
- Facebook reach dropped by 88% – the company owners were young and never used Facebook in their personal life
- Social Media Engagement with other local accounts was non existent
Remember – not all social media managers are the same.
Content Creation is not the same as social media management.
Questions To Ask
Do you consider yourself a content creator or social media manager and why?
How can you throw in social media management for free alongside content creation? What gives?
Which areas of social media are you best at?
What do you need off us to manage our social media?
DO YOU NEED INSTAGRAM REELS / TIKTOKS PRODUCING?
We wouldn’t have included this section 2 years ago.
But producing Instagram reels and TikTok’s take time.
We know business owners often spend 30 mins – 45 mins producing short form video content.
- Filming
- Editing
- Adding in app features
- Copywriting
- Posting
If you’re expecting 30 short videos a month those 15-22 hours work have an additional cost
LEVELS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ENGAGEMENT
Not all social media managers do this, but it’s one of our non-negotiables of social media management.
Not all social media managers include proactive engagement as part of their social media management.
Proactive engagement is actively comment on potential customers posts and being part of the wider community.
You can’t just have a small business social media account where you post and ghost.
Engagement on social media takes time and will impact the cost of social media management.
Ensure when being quoted a price for social media management that the management isn’t just posting and ghosting.
Questions to ask
Is engagement included in your social media management?
What levels of engagement would you consider to be impactful?
Who would be good people for us to engage with?
IN PERSON MEETINGS / SITE VISITS
Do you expect weekly meetings?
Do you expect site visits for content production?
Do you want to micro-manage the social media?
Do you have meetings that could have been emails?
All of these things will have an impact on the cost of social media management.
A lot of our clients are in daily contact via WhatsApp, as they know they’re working with someone Qualified, Experience and a Track Record Of Delivering Results. They trust is to make the right decisions on a daily basis and know that we’ll be in touch whenever we need something.
If you want social media managers to spend half a day in meetings / travelling to meetings that will be reflected in any quote.
Questions To Ask
What is the best way for us to keep in touch?
How can we make it as easy as possible for you to manage our social media?
Will you tell us if we need to do something different / better?
How do we let you know if we want something changing?
ORGANIC SOCIAL MEDIA AND / OR PAID SOCIAL MEDIA
Do you have a budget for paid social media?
Can you expect results from organic social media alone?
Is the company managing your organic social media the same company managing your paid social?
These are the questions you need to consider with social media management.
So many small businesses expect miracles from a social media marketing, when they’ve not invested in content and not invested in paid social media.
A social media manager can only do so much and they’ll admit the limitations of their skill set or expected results.
We’ve got £2000 worth of sales for a client from less than £30 paid advertising spent, but our speciality is organic social media over paid and often recommend partnering with a paid social media agency.
Questions To Ask
Is paid social media your forte?
How much would you recommend we budget for paid social each month?
If you don’t offer paid social media, who would you recommend for that side of the marketing?
OVERHEADS
I have to be honest here.
We’ve never hidden away the fact we have a home office and can work from anywhere we have a device.
That is the reality.
But big agencies have overheads such as the city centre office, the wage bill, the pool table, the staff pizza and drinks every Friday.
City Centre Agencies with large offices will generally charge more simply because they have more overheads.
AND FINALLY, HOW MUCH WOULD IT COST TO HIRE A FULL TIME SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER INHOUSE
These are the salaries quoted by trustworthy sources
£32,570 base salary per year – Indeed
£34,993 per year – Glassdoor
£25,000 Starter. to. £60,000 Experienced – Gov.uk careers guide
Remember as part of this you have to deal with pensions, NI, sick pay, holiday leave, office space and associated costs
And an inhouse social media manager will still recommend working with experts in areas such as Graphic Design, Videography, Photography.
NEED HELP WITH SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING FOR YOUR BUSINESS
Chat to us about Social Media Marketing for YOUR organisation , so we can better understand YOU and what will grow your organisation
We can chat about whether online or Face 2 Face is better for you
We can only find out what is unique to your business by chatting with you
Look at our Social Media Training and Social Media Management services
