Social Media Management - How Much Do You Charge or Paying?

Just wondering if there's anyone out there that manages other businesses social media posts, or if you hire someone/agency to do it?

What are the charges like, how often, etc? If someone could shed some light, that would be great.

Comments

  • +2

    Varies. And what it's worth depends. Like is your social media a sales channel, is it responsible for 40% of the revenue your business brings in? Or is your social media just used to post some extra information and you expect all customers to call or drop in? What kind of business do you own? Are customers DMing your social media daily and do you wish you could just forget about it and have someone manage it all, and filter all the important questions to you directly?

    • I'm a graphic designer and I've been asked by a number of my clients to manage their socials. Majority of them are just local businesses, maybe a couple of them e-commerce stores. They just need to have some online presence and show they're not out of touch, and hopefully increase sales. They know they need to but don't have the time/energy/skills to do it.

      I haven't been able to come up with a proper pricing structure for no. of posts/videos per week/month on no of. platforms etc. so wanted to get some real world insight.

      • +1

        The proper price is what they are willing to pay. Though I'd be careful not to promise things you can't deliver. Making cool photos and video is one thing, but getting people to look at and interact with them is an entirely different skill. I follow one business that posts incredibly cool things every few days for years and almost all of them have zero or a single like, no comments. Apparently the company they pay for social media is boosting posts but you wouldn't know it, they don't seem to have any actual fans despite the business producing some genuinely cool photos and videos on the regular. But hey at last a human answers DMs.

        • Would be keen to look at their content if you can PM?

          I agree with what you're saying. There's hardly any engagement on IG and FB.

          I've been running a company's marketing 2 days a week from their office since August last year which includes daily posts (they have around 1000 products), weekly mailchimp emails, Youtube shorts and just started TikTok. I've also been running paid FB campaigns (not boosts) and in my time there, their business has increased by around 15%. Since my role there covers a variety of tasks including graphic design and product photography, we agreed on an hourly rate.

          With other clients though, as it will be based on no. of posts/videos, coming up with a fair figure for both parties is a little trickier.

      • +1

        Always base it around your time. How much time will it take to create a number of posts/videos per week/month of the content they need? What do they need? What's it cost to have some kind of support software (the stuff that lets you just schedule posts across multiple platforms so you can just spend a couple of hours making content and have it all scheduled).

        Otherwise basic webdev stuff, setup the page, tell them how to use it, charge them for support whenever they want it in the future.

        Last thing you want to do is charge $100 a month and wind up answering 50 messages a day about what their opening hours are. So it comes down to what you're actually offering here.

        • Good points. Appreciate it.

  • Zero

  • DIY, you pay yourself.

    • But then you have nobody to scapegoat if you end up staring down the barrel of a cancellation because you used gamer words and forgot you were logged into the corporate Twitter account. (For example.)

  • We do this for a couple of our web clients at the MSP I work for but there's way too many factors to bring up in a post. Specially because you have an outlined any of their expectations.

    However, I can confirm our highest paying client that's got social media management and social ad management retargeting is paying us about $33,000 a year not including the budget for ad campaigns and retargeting.

  • -1

    Imagine having your own business and not knowing how much to charge your clients!

    Why not do some research by calling up some similar businesses to get an indication of their pricing? Or look it up online.

    • +4

      That's exactly what I'm doing. OzBargain forum is is my first stop :)

    • As others have said it really comes down to client expectations, generally social media management is just designing and adding banners and graphics and working on Ad campaigns. The day to day stuff is left to the client to manage as its their business at the end of the day. Also things like answering questions such as office hours can all be automated.
      Automate as much as possible.
      Social Media works for some businesses better then others so it comes down to requirements.
      I've got a web design agency but most of our clients manage their own social media. As they give them a simple interface to upload stuff. Its not that hard for most people.

  • Was with a NFP previously that was stupidly paying $1000 a month for social management including GA spend etc. And the job this mob were doing was rubbish. Literally a 5 year old could have done better.

    I told them theyd halve their fees and double their performance or Id kick em. Of course, they did. There's a lot of charlatans in SM who manage to scam Boomers out of good money simply by convincing them it's all too hard. When, in fact, managing channels is incredibly easy for the average business and honestly, they dont need permanent SM consultancy.

    In terms of your question, $500 a month got us FB boosting, ad creation, SEO management and meetings as needed.

    For $1000, I'd have expected a person, dedicated at least a day a week, loading content created by them, not us.

    • $1000 a month is nothing for Facebook, that won't get you much for that budget you would be better off doing everything yourself. As the agency will allocate about $100 for Facebook ads seriously its bugger all.
      You need to read your contract with the agency if you have one.
      This is why its not an area I worry about too much as Facebook are a pain in the arse to deal with in general.
      It doesn't work for business to business at all.
      Better off advertising else where unless you have a consumer or fashion brand.
      For B2B Linkedin if you have the money to spend is the way to go.

      • It was excluding ad spend, just the physical 'hey, would you like an ad?'

        $1000 a month for zero content creation and zero spend is a rip.

        • Defeats the purpose of hiring a social media management firm if they aren't spending money on ads or creating content as that is essentially what your buying.
          I'd also be asking for monthly reports as well.

          • @[Deactivated]: This was my complaint. When i got there, monthly reports looked like something from a high school student. And no information on longitudinal cost benefits especially focused on GA click conversion costs etc.

            A monthly report should be professional and contain the information a board wants to see. It's a part of SM management that is often lacking - theyll be good at understanding the fads, but not content creation or the business side of it.

            Really, SM management should be a team, unless the one individual really is confident in all aspects.

            • @Benoffie: If you want email [email protected] with some details of what your trying to do with your website and social media and I'll get our team to take a look and have a look myself and get back to you.
              Have you got a scope of work?
              It sounds like your after CRO Conversion Rate optimization which is quite a specialist area that not a lot of people know how to do well, or at all.
              Certainly happy to assist you further.
              Because we are an ISP as well as a web design agency we've even got tools that can track every phone call into your CRM system.
              You don't just want to be tracking likes or clicks. Those are pointless.
              As you mention they are a non profit i've worked extensively with non profits as a key industry for the last 15 years or so.
              Certainly happy to look at the current setup.

  • +1

    My daughter has a social media marketing business. www.bigmouthcreative.com.au
    She has various tiers of service, but she starts at around 1000 per month. She also works on an hourly rate, and will work with clients to come up with a program. I do some business consulting, and marketing is a specialty.
    What people dont realise is that the entire world has changed when it comes to marketing. Newspapers are dead. Tv is too fragmented. Radio is no longer what it was due to streaming. Banner adverts are useless.Unless you are major corporation or a government body, national campaigns are not worthwhile.
    So what do you do? Social media and direct mail.
    If you serve an area, do a mail compaign to that area. EG a mechanic will draw in most business within a certain radius where people live or work. Target it.
    A web page is still essential, but no use just having an information page. Can customers make bookings, buy products etc? SEO is not as important. People will search for example "mechanics blacktown" to find something close. Being first if they search "good mechanic" won't result in sales if they are in another state or area.
    So that leaves social media. It has taken over and is now the best way to reach customers. But first, you need to work out which socials to use, and what you want.You need to know your demographics, and those you want to reach. You need to know what they use. This changes fast, so you need industry knowledge. You need to know who your competition is, and what they are doing. You dont want to post too often and annoy people, or too less and be irrelevant. Do you want brand awareness or a call to action? Both are different and need different approaches. How will you measure results? Can you measure? Engagement is important, but it doesnt always mean sales.
    Imagine that you had a restaurant. You dont know if its worth opening on Valentines day. So you create a set menu, and promote it, all prepaid. You can open on the night and you already have payments up front, and you know aht stock you need and staff. Thats a success. Maybe you want to lift your Monday nights, so you do a promotion. This can all be measured and will be cheaper than any radio or newspaper adverts as well as being more effective. Say you change the menu, and want people to know. Easy. But you also need content creation. Professional photos and videos that work on all devices. Fresh words. A common feel for your promotions, web page and store.Just having a facebook page and putting up some posts does not work.
    Years ago I had a computer store (26 years ago). I spent about 2500 per month on Radio, newspaper and yellow pages adverts. It worked and paid for itself many times over. I think that for an average small business, you should be spending 800 to 1000 per week now. If you couldnt afford 1000 per month then you really need to to,because you are getting left behind. Your competition will eat you. There are businesses that are having proper two way engagenments with customers, and who are making good money from proper social media engagement. And not one of them that I have seen is doing it themselves. There are leagl implications when you post something, and you are responsible for what others reply with. If something goes wrong, like there are rats found in the kitchen, you need fast and capable PR, from someone who knows the business and can act immediatley. And you want proper contacts so that you dont get caught up owing money for super and taxes because the person you used is deemed to be an employee, regardless of your arrangement. Who is responsible if something wrong is posted? Are they covered by insurance? Who owns the copyright for images and texts? Will they screw up your socials and lock you out if there is an argument? Its a new world, and a new industry, and univesities are offering specialist courses to manage it.

  • +1

    Social media doesn't work for every business it really depends on the type of business and the audience your wanting to serve.
    Oddly enough restaurants are one of the businesses that Facebook and Instagram do work for as you can post pictures of the food etc but the pics need to be done well.
    Generally people seam to be annoyed with ads on Facebook just as a general role its basically showing more ads then actual content in more recent times so people get sick of it and go else where.

  • +2

    Most shops cost $900 a month or more to rent now a days so advertising budgets won't be anywhere near $1000 a week.
    Its not the 80s anymore.
    The best idea now a days is to find a niche that you know will by your product or service.
    Then advertise to them using the medium they use be it online or offline.

  • +3

    Also I disagree SEO for websites is still important, particularly to get new sites ranking in the likes of Google.
    But the trick is to get the local SEO right, so good content that gets people to click on your URL and a Google Maps listing with opening hours is essential.
    But it needs to be localised unless you are a massive corporate that can afford to spend a few thousand on Google Adwords a month.

    • do you have any recommendations on a good but budget friendly SEO agency or freelancer?

      I am having trouble with SEO and need someone to do it for me for my shopify store, i just started and 1000 per month from an SEO rep in Strathfield, sydney is steep for me.

      • Certainly email [email protected] and I'll take a look.
        I can provide a free audit as a starting point.
        No obligation to continue either though.
        But certainly happy to take a look and see if we can assist you.

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