Social media management is a unique animal that requires a blend of writing skills, the ability to both accelerate and diffuse situations, having a legal mindset and a variety of other traits that create a cohesive and effective campaign/implementation. But what does it cost to hire someone or a company to manage everything?

First and foremost, you have to ask yourself (or your team) what you’re actually trying to accomplish – are you shooting for the stars or trying to make incremental progress? And those goals in particular will determine who you should consider.

For example, if you’re a restaurant with one or a few locations paying a local that knows the area will usually work – like a social media influencer/manager in the food space. We usually see social media managers like that charge anywhere from $500/month for basic posts on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, etc. up to a few thousand per month if they’re tasked with managing all of the accounts around the clock and generating new content.

On the flip side, when large companies think about social media management that usually implies they’re looking to hire a social media management agency where a team is focused on making their marketing efforts successful. With that comes much higher costs and what you pay for an agency can be anywhere from $5,000/month to $100,000 or more depending on the goals. Some of the projects we’ve guided in the past fall into the middle of that range, though they were for Fortune 500s and other large companies with a lot at stake and also a lot to gain.

In a nutshell, it’s difficult to determine what you should pay for someone (or a company) to manage your social media marketing efforts, which is why we sit down with clients and brainstorm before coming up with any strategies or costs. And that’s something you should look for… Anyone who tosses out a price without understanding the big picture is an immediate red flag.