Most small businesses pay $1,000 to $3,000 a month for ongoing social media management, with solo freelancers starting near $500 and full-service agencies running $5,000 and up. Price tracks scope: number of platforms, posts per month, original photo or video, paid ads, and community management.
At $500 to $1,000 a month you are typically getting scheduling and light content on one or two platforms, often from a freelancer. At $1,000 to $3,000 you get a managed calendar across several platforms, original graphics, written captions, and monthly reporting. Above $3,000 you start seeing original photo and video production, community management, paid social, and real strategy work. Above $10,000 the engagement usually includes campaign work and a named team.
Volume of original creative is the single biggest driver, because shoots cost real hours. After that: number of platforms, posting frequency, whether inbox and community management are included, whether paid ad management is bundled, and how many approval rounds the client expects. Industry matters too, since regulated clients carry compliance overhead that shows up in the rate.
Ad spend is almost always separate from the management fee. So are paid tools, stock licensing, influencer fees, and production costs for anything shot on location. Ask for the all-in monthly number rather than the retainer number, because the gap between the two surprises people.
Ongoing social media is nearly always a monthly retainer, usually with a three-month minimum, because results compound and the first month is largely setup. Hourly billing suits audits and consulting. Project pricing suits launches and campaigns. If an agency quotes hourly for ongoing management, ask what happens in a month where nothing goes wrong.
Normalize on deliverables rather than on price. Ask every agency for posts per month per platform, number of original assets, whether captions and graphics are original or templated, reporting cadence, and response time on the inbox. Two quotes that look $1,500 apart often differ by a factor of three in actual output. Our answer on what a $500 versus $2,000 package should include breaks the tiers down further.
Cloud Campaign is the white-label social media management platform built for marketing agencies. Every plan includes unlimited users and our full suite of time-saving tools, so you only pay more when you take on more clients.
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