How Much Does Social Media Management Cost?

Social media management in Canada can start at a few hundred dollars per month and climb into the thousands. That is a huge range, but there is also a huge difference between scheduling a few supplied posts and managing the majority of a business's social media presence.

For many small businesses, a reasonable starting budget for ongoing social media management is around $500 per month. More involved management can move into $1,000 to $2,000+ per month, while larger strategies involving multiple platforms, frequent video production, community management, advertising and more extensive strategy can cost considerably more.

The more useful question is not only “How much does social media management cost?”

What are you actually handing over for that price?

What are you actually paying for?

It is easy to look at a social media management package with four, eight or twelve posts and calculate a price per post.

I do not think that tells the whole story.

When I first created my own social media management packages, I thought much more in terms of the number of posts I would be creating. After actually managing social media for a business, my perspective changed.

A post is rarely just a post.

Before something appears on Instagram or Facebook, someone may need to decide what should be promoted, plan the content, collect information, find or create photography, design the graphic, edit video, write the caption, research relevant hashtags or keywords, make revisions, schedule the post and eventually look at how it performed.

In my own work, a single post can easily represent around an hour of work once the planning and creation around it are considered. More involved content can take longer.

You are not just paying for posts. You are paying to take social media off your plate.

How much does social media management cost in Canada?

There is no standard Canadian price for social media management. Freelancers, small studios and agencies can all package the service differently.

For a small business, ongoing management may start around $500 per month. Packages around $800 to $1,500+ per month can include more frequent content, planning, reporting and strategy. More extensive management can move into several thousand dollars per month, particularly when original video, paid advertising, community management or multiple independent platform strategies are involved.

That is why two businesses can both say they pay for “social media management” while receiving completely different services.

What affects the cost of social media management?

The number of posts matters, but it is only one part of the workload.

• Posting frequency. Creating four posts per month requires a different amount of work than creating twelve or twenty.
• Content creation. Designing graphics, writing captions, creating carousels and editing video all require production time.
• Photography and on-site content. Travelling to a business to capture original photos or video adds both production and travel time.
• Strategy. Deciding what should be promoted, planning campaigns and adjusting future content based on performance adds another layer to the work.
• Platforms. Publishing the same campaign across compatible platforms is different from creating a separate strategy for each one.
• Revisions and approvals. A simple approval process is very different from several rounds of changes for every post.
• Community management. Monitoring comments, responding to messages and actively engaging with an audience requires ongoing time outside content production.
• Reporting. Looking at what performed well and using that information to influence future content turns reporting into part of the strategy rather than simply a list of numbers.

Does managing more platforms cost more?

Sometimes, but I would not automatically say yes.

If a business is using Facebook and Instagram and essentially the same content is being published to both through Meta Business Suite, the second platform does not necessarily double the work.

But imagine a business wants one strategy for Instagram, another for Facebook and completely different professional content for LinkedIn.

Now there may be separate planning, graphics, captions and scheduling for each platform. That can become two or three times the content production rather quickly.

The number of platforms matters less than how different the work needs to be on each platform.

How much does content creation affect the price?

A lot.

There is a substantial difference between a client sending over a finished photo, caption and promotion to schedule and asking someone to develop the idea from the beginning.

If I am deciding what the post should be about, designing it, writing the caption, coordinating the information and scheduling it, I am providing a much larger service than simply publishing supplied content.

Video can increase that workload even further. A simple social clip and a more involved piece of edited video should not automatically be treated as the same amount of work.

What about on-site photography and content creation?

For businesses where the people, location, products or experience are part of what customers are buying, original content can be extremely useful.

But on-site content creation also requires additional time. There is travel, time spent at the business, capturing the content, organizing it afterward and potentially editing the resulting photos or video.

Because of that, I prefer to treat on-site photography and content creation as an add-on rather than quietly building it into every social media package. Travel costs can also vary depending on the location.

Why revisions can change the workload

Revisions are another part of social media management that can appear small until they happen repeatedly.

One or two changes are usually straightforward. But if every post needs to be emailed, reviewed, revised, sent back, changed again and approved individually, the management process becomes much more involved.

This is why it is useful for a social media package to explain how approvals and revisions work instead of leaving them completely open-ended.

Does posting more mean better social media management?

Not necessarily.

Posting frequently can make sense when a business has enough useful content, promotions and ideas to support that frequency. But increasing the number of posts does not automatically make the strategy better.

Four well-planned posts that actually communicate something useful can be more valuable than filling a calendar simply because a package promises a large number of posts.

Frequency should support the strategy rather than becoming the strategy.

Why can one company charge $200 and another charge $2,000?

This is where comparing social media management solely by price becomes difficult.

A lower-cost package is not automatically bad, and an expensive package is not automatically better. They may simply include completely different amounts of work.

Before comparing prices, compare what is actually included:

• How many posts are being created?
• Who comes up with the content ideas?
• Who writes the captions?
• Are graphics created specifically for the business?
• Is photography included?
• Is video production included?
• Does the provider schedule and publish the content?
• Is strategy included?
• Are analytics reviewed?
• How many revisions are included?
• Is community management included?
• Are paid ads included or charged separately?

Compare the responsibility being handed over, not just the number beside the dollar sign.

How much does VRB charge for social media management?

My social media management packages currently start at $500 CAD per month.

Additional posts, on-site photography and content creation, advanced video production and platforms requiring their own unique content can be quoted separately.

Can you manage social media yourself instead?

Absolutely.

Not every small business needs to hire someone to manage social media.

If you have the time to create content, know what you want to say and can maintain the account consistently, managing it yourself can make complete sense. This is especially true when hiring someone simply is not comfortable within the business's current budget.

Paying for social media management starts to make more sense when it repeatedly gets pushed to the bottom of the list, you want to promote the business more intentionally but do not know where to start, or the time involved is taking you away from other parts of the business.

For a lot of businesses, that is ultimately what they are paying for.

Not an Instagram graphic.

They are paying for someone else to think about what needs to be posted, create it, organize it, publish it and keep the process moving.

So, how much should you spend?

There is no single amount that every small business should spend on social media management.

A business that needs a handful of posts each month has very different requirements from one producing frequent videos, managing several platforms, running promotions and responding to a large online community.

Start with what you actually want someone to take responsibility for. Then compare packages based on whether they cover that work.

The cost of social media management is not just about how many posts appear on your account. It is about how much of the planning, creation, publishing and ongoing management you are handing over to someone else.

Once you know that, the prices become much easier to compare.