How Much Should I Pay Someone to Manage My Social Media Marketing?

Whether you’re planning next year’s marketing budget or developing a small business marketing strategy, a question that inevitably comes up is: how much should I pay someone to manage my social media marketing?

First of all, let’s accurately phrase that question. How much should I spend on social media marketing? It’s a small change in wording with big ramifications on your social media marketing results. If your business is large enough or your sales numbers via social media warrant asking the question, then you’re probably beyond the point of leaving your social media strategy and posts in the hands of an employee or freelancer.

So, let’s assume your business’s size and sales number are at the serious social media marketing point.

If you google “how much should I spend on social media marketing?” or even “how much should I pay someone to manage my social media marketing?” then you’ll see the cost ranging anywhere from $5 to $100,000. So that’s no help, considering $5 is probably a hoax and $100,000 is for the likes of Fortune 500 companies.

READ MORE: Is Working with an Advertising Agency Affordable for Small Businesses?

If you ask an outsourced marketing company, like EAG, for an estimate, you’ll get a more precise number, but only after answering many questions or having it baked into your overall marketing strategy. We say “baked into” because more times than not, a business’s marketing doesn’t survive on social media alone. Rather, social media is one channel that supports your marketing goals, be they sales, recognition, brand loyalty and/or sharing news.

Here are a few questions our marketing strategists ask before nailing down social media management costs.

Which social media platforms are best suited to reach your company’s target audience?

There are several social media platforms (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn to name a few). Based on where your target audiences “hang out,” your company might not require a presence on every single one of them.

Each platform has its rules, requirements and best practices for sharing posts, plus the content and tone of those posts change slightly for each platform. There is no sense in modifying posts for each platform or paying for ads on multiple platforms if your audience is the Facebook versus the LinkedIn crowd.

Narrowing down the list of social media platforms on which you market your business is key to how much you’ll spend on social media management. It takes time and effort to link, tag, hashtag, shoot, scale and fine-tune images, videos and messages, plus respond to feedback, when necessary. Expect to spend a little more if your company’s presence or “profile” needs to be created on multiple platforms.

Is a post worth the extra money to boost, promote or advertise it?

Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook offer paid advertising, meaning you can pay money to ensure your social media post is seen by a carefully selected audience. Advertised posts can result in a higher percentage of conversions, compared to ordinary posts.

If you’re going to make a social media post about a holiday or an office culture event, then it’s probably not worth the extra budget to boost or promote it. However, if you have a new product or service, are hiring or sharing a newsworthy message, putting money behind your post to ensure it shows up on a prospect’s feed is worth considering.

Paying social media channels to advertise your post requires that the post be done right—links working, message on point, image sized correctly, audience carefully selected, copy and image falling under content guidelines. It’s also important to define your goal and analyze your results to determine whether your money was well invested.  Leave room in your budget for graphic design, copywriting and management if you’ll be using paid social media advertising.

Do you have a social media marketing strategy yet?

To be effective and meet your goals, your social media marketing needs a strategy. All the likes and shares in the world won’t earn a dime in revenue without a solid strategy.

In fact, your strategy helps answers the questions above so your social media marketing budget is spent wisely and on the right platforms.

Are you working with an outsourced marketing company that can turn likes into sales?

EAG specializes in establishing and integrating social media in all aspects of your small business marketing strategy. We use our social media knowledge, expertise and tools to post fresh, relevant content that reflects your brand.

Plus, once we get to know your business, we can determine not only how much you should pay someone to manage your social media marketing, but also help ensure that money is spent wisely so likes turn into revenue.