What small businesses actually pay for social media management, what drives the price, and how to tell a fair quote from an expensive one.
The honest answer is “anywhere from nothing to several thousand dollars a month,” which is not much help. So here is how the pricing actually works, what you get at each level, and how to work out what you should be paying.
The four ways to get it done
| Option | Typical monthly cost | What you are really paying for |
|---|---|---|
| Do it yourself | $0 – $50 in tools | Your own evenings |
| Scheduling tool plus guidance | About $100 – $200 | Software, a plan and someone to check your work |
| Freelancer or small agency, done for you | About $300 – $1,500 | Content written, scheduled and reported for you |
| Full-service agency | $1,500 and up | A team, paid ads management, video, strategy |
These are broad ranges, and you will find quotes outside them. The point is that the tiers exist, and that most local businesses belong in the middle two.
What moves the price
How many networks. A post written properly for Facebook is not the same post on LinkedIn. Every network you add is more writing, more formatting and more reporting.
How often you post. Three posts a week and a daily post are different jobs. More is not automatically better; a cadence you can sustain for a year beats a sprint.
Who makes the content. Text-and-photo posts built from pictures you send are the affordable end. Custom graphics, on-site photography and edited video cost more because they take more hours.
Engagement. Replying to comments and messages on your behalf is real work, and it is often priced separately.
Advertising. Managing paid campaigns is usually a separate fee, and the ad budget itself is always extra and paid to the platform.
What a fair quote includes
Whatever you pay, a good provider should be able to tell you, in writing:
- how many posts, on which networks, each month
- whether you approve posts before they go out
- what the monthly report contains
- who owns the accounts and the content (it should be you)
- how you cancel
If a quote cannot answer those five questions, the price does not matter yet.
Watch out for the contract, not just the price
A low monthly rate with a twelve-month contract is not cheap if it is not working by month three. Ask what happens if you want to stop. Month-to-month terms cost the provider some security, which is exactly why they are a good sign: the provider has to keep earning the work.
What we charge
Our plans are on our pricing page: $100 a month for the platform and reporting, $175 with regular strategy check-ins, and $300 for fully managed, done-for-you social media. All of them are month to month.
How to decide
Work backwards from one new customer. If a single new customer is worth $400 to you, a $300 plan needs to bring in one extra customer a month to pay for itself. If a customer is worth $40, you need a different plan, a different cadence, or to do it yourself for now. That is a conversation worth having before you sign anything, and it is the first thing we cover on a free discovery call.