How much to charge for social media management in 2022
Are you charging enough for social media management?
Social media management costs can vary a lot depending on the size of your business, the scope of your work, and the level of experience you bring to the table. As a general rule of thumb, you can expect to charge anywhere from $500 to $5,000 per month for social media management services.
If you’re just starting out as a freelance social media manager, you may have to settle for charging on the lower end of the spectrum. But if you have a successful social media marketing background, you may afford to charge according to your experience.
Determine how much to charge:
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• assess your social media skills and experience
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• look at the scope of content creation work involved
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• come up with a range that you feel is fair
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• consider the size of the business (each company has a different marketing budget) and adjust your rates accordingly.
Keep in mind that pricing packages are not set in stone. You may need to adjust your rates as you gain more experience or as the social media marketing landscape changes. However, by following these guidelines, you should be able to come up with a fair price that will help you attract clients and grow your business.
How to price your social media management services:
No matter which pricing strategy you choose, make sure you’re clear about what services are included in your price. The last thing you want is a client who feels cheated because they thought their social media marketing campaign would include graphic design services, but you didn’t include that in your price.
1. Hourly / Monthly
Hourly charges are best suited for freelancers who are just starting out. You decide how much time and hours you will spend working for your clients each week. This is convenient for small business clients because you can break your hours down into blocks and charge per block. For example, you could charge $100 per hour or $25 per 15 minutes. A beginner usually gets around $25-$30/hour and slowly increases prices based on experience.
A monthly package is another efficient and cost-effective social media marketing solution, suitable when working with bigger companies. Once you have more social media management experience, you can move towards monthly pricing model to ensure you generate recurring revenue from your social media management services.
2. Packages
Your pricing strategy can be established as sets of packages offering various social media services. Offer a price range to target both prospects who are on tight budgets and larger companies with more generous budgets.
For example, you can 3 different pricing tiers based on how many posts per month you’ll publish, how many pages you’ll be monitoring, and if you offer ad management.
3. Project based
This choice is best for long-term social media projects with a set scope like developing an online marketing campaign to promote a certain product or brand. The agency commits to completing a project and will apply a flat fee for it.
In this case, you’ll need to estimate how many hours the project will take and present your social media management client with a final price. Carefully take into account how many hours & resources will be required.
4. Retainer
If your social media marketing services are continuous, then a retainer model might be best for you. In this case, the client pays you in advance for the established number of hours or posts that will be performed on an ongoing basis.
Some examples of deliverables that could be requested by the client include daily social media posts, monthly reporting, community management, and maintaining a monthly editorial calendar that the client can check and approve.
5. Hybrid
The hybrid model is a combination of two or more of the models listed here. It’s up to you to decide what will work best for your business and your clients.
1. Price per hour
What it means: once you determine your hourly rate, the client pays for every hour spent on that specific project. The marketing hourly rate can vary from project to project.
When to use: long-term projects that require extensive research. It is usually a safe choice if you are just starting out and don’t have a lot of experience in the business.
2. Price per activity
or task
What it means: you’ll charge for a specific activity or task.
When to use: granular services that your agency has the expertise to deliver.
3. Fixed price
What it means: the agency commits to completing a project and will apply a flat fee for it.
When to use: the fixed price model works best for clients who have a specific allocated budget. Carefully take into account how many hours & resources will be required.
4. Retainer-based
price
What it means: the client pays in advance for the established work that will be performed on an ongoing basis.
When to use: this pricing model is suited for social media management services. Here are some examples of deliverables that could be requested by the client in exchange for a monthly fee: daily social media posts, monthly reporting, community management, and maintaining a monthly editorial calendar that the client can check and approve.
5. Performance
(percentage) based price
What it means: the agency pricing is based on the performance of its products or services.
When to use: when there’s an alignment between the client's goals and the agency's capacity to deliver the desired results. It can be an excellent way to build trust and grow a long-term professional relationship.
It is based on some assumptions such as:
The higher the quality of the work you deliver, the higher the rate you should be able to charge to your customers
The higher your costs are, the higher your rates should be for a good margin
The need to have competitive rates, compared to competitor agencies
How the social media management
pricing calculator works
This pricing calculator uses data from 3 sources. This is how it determines an optimum interval for the rates you could be charging for your social media services. It takes into account your costs, the quality of the work you provide, value perceived, and competition.
Fill out the form and find out how much you should charge. You’ll also receive a free e-book that covers the following pricing-related subjects:
Tips & tricks
Agency fee structure
Types of pricing models & strategies
How to increase your profit margin
What to consider when deciding on pricing
How to negotiate with customers
How to present your financial proposal
How to justify the prices in front of your clients
Start calculating your social media management pricing
Find out how to price your agency services correctly. No complicated formulas. No boring spreadsheets.
Learn how to price
Decide your pricing model
Done any research on pricing models?
Then you know it gets confusing fast. Very fast. We decided to keep it simple.
Here are three common social media management pricing strategies.
- Cost-based social media pricing
- Value-based social media pricing
- Competition-based social media pricing
It’s simple: in order to make profits, you must sell far more than you spend
Not research-heavy, it simply requires adding your desired profit margin over your expenses
Doesn’t take demand or competition into consideration
You can end up losing clients if they find the price too high, or losing money if the profit margin is too low
Ask for a higher price if you provide a solution to a problem your clients have, are aware of, and understand the value of your services
your services’ perceived value can increase through campaigns, awards, or brand awareness initiatives
Research-heavy strategy requiring analysis of the market and factors influencing the perceived value of your marketing agency services.
Providing high levels of value every single day can become a challenge
Competitors’ prices are used as a benchmark, so this pricing strategy is easy to implement
Prices are dynamic, so you can keep up with the competition by adjusting your pricing periodically
Lack of control over experimenting with pricing
Being a low-cost agency doesn’t always align with the goals of the company
Cost-based social media pricing
It’s simple: in order to make profits, you must sell far more than you spend
Not research-heavy, it simply requires adding your desired profit margin over your expenses
Doesn’t take demand or competition into consideration
You can end up losing clients if they find the price too high, or losing money if the profit margin is too low
Value-based social media pricing
Competitors’ prices are used as a benchmark, so this pricing strategy is easy to implement
Prices are dynamic, so you can keep up with the competition by adjusting your pricing periodically
Lack of control over experimenting with pricing
Being a low-cost agency doesn’t always align with the goals of the company
Competition-based social media pricing
Ask for a higher price if you provide a solution to a problem your clients have, are aware of, and understand the value of your services
Your services’ perceived value can increase through campaigns, awards, or brand awareness initiatives
Research-heavy strategy requiring analysis of the market and factors influencing the perceived value of your marketing agency services.
Providing high levels of value every single day can become a challenge
Optimize your costs
How to increase your profit margin: reduce the agency cost and save 30% of your teams’ time
Reducing agency costs is all about efficiency and automation. No need to compromise the quality of your services. Focus on improving processes and saving time for your employees and clients
Create content 6X faster
Conserve your click-nergy by doing everything in one place. Create and preview your posts in context, right where they belong.
Plan in the sleekest calendar view out there
Visualize your week or month at a glance. Drag-and-drop till perfection. Showcase your work to your clients in the best possible light.
Get approval with no hassle
Invite your teammates and clients in one place. Never miss feedback again. Get okayed in a single click. Make it seamless for your clients to sign off.
“We’re saving 30 hours a month”
I love that I can track the changes on the posts and easily switch between the versions. As an agency, we’re saving up to 30 hours a month.
How to increase your profit margin: grow your prices and impress your clients.
Grow your margins by increasing your services’ price. But first: you need to wow your prospects. All it takes is transparency, clarity and smooth collaboration
Your clients love it cuz…
You love it cuz…
Preview posts exactly
like the live version
Your clients love it cuz…
They don’t have to imagine what it’ll look like, or worry about last-minute surprises.
You love it cuz…
You don’t have to sleep with one eye open the night after posts go live.
So easy, anyone can
figure it out
Your clients love it cuz…
They feel super tech-savvy. And they can actually enjoy it.
You love it cuz…
You spend less time hand-holding and more time creating posts about Important Stuff like Hollywood’s matcha craze.
Feedback in context
Your clients love it cuz…
No confusion — for you or them — about which comments go with what part of the post.
You love it cuz…
Yeah, so…no confusion — for you or them — about which comments go with what part of the post
At-a-glance calendar view
Your clients love it cuz…
They know exactly what to expect and when to expect it.
You love it cuz…
You’re not afraid to scale when your work is this ridiculously organized.
One-click approvals
Your clients love it cuz…
Um, one click.
You love it cuz…
You don’t have to nag, and your work keeps on flowing. It’s a freaking miracle.
Mega-efficiency
Your clients love it cuz…
They feel great about working with you. They’re seeing better results, quicker.
You love it cuz…
You never knew you could stretch a 40-hour work week this far (and still have time for your floating yoga class).
“We’re saving half a day per client”
We’re saving at least half a day per client. Previously we would have spent a good two hours scheduling, probably another two hours of back and forth on different comments. Now it happens much more smoothly. You make the money back with the new processes that allow you to scale.”
Manage potential clients
Negotiation checklist
Whether you’re a skilled or rookie negotiator, it’s a good idea to follow a general checklist to better understand the other party and prepare yourself for the deal (some of these points are covered in more detail in the report):
Tips & Tricks
You don’t have to (and can’t) make everyone happy.
Stay consistent and have integrity.
Embrace rejection as an opportunity. Some things are just not meant to happen. There are thousands of reasons a prospective client might reject your advertising services (for example). Take it as an opportunity to refine your technique and, if necessary, take a fresh look at your digital marketing pricing packages.
Underpromise and overdeliver. When expectations are set low, and your services are outstanding, the client will be blown away by the experience.
More conversation, less presentation. Powerpoint presentations are great for setting the stage, but less when it comes to actually convincing your services are the right fit for the prospect.
Don’t be afraid to walk away. Quality is always better than quantity.
Always follow up. Sometimes, even if you offer the best services in the world and the meeting goes smoothly, the opportunity still might slip through your fingers. Follow up and reconnect with your clients until you get the ball rolling.
Understand the customer’s pain points. The quicker you do that, the greater your chances to negotiate a reasonable price for your social media services.
Practice empathy. The key is to forget about money and put yourself in the customer’s shoes — you are there to help them solve a problem, not sell.
Don’t fear awkwardness. Resist the impulse to say something just to fill up the void. Let the prospect process the information.
Embrace rejection as an opportunity. Some things are just not meant to happen. There are thousands of reasons a prospective client might reject your advertising services (for example). Take it as an opportunity to refine your technique and, if necessary, take a fresh look at your digital marketing pricing packages.
Always follow up. Sometimes, even if you offer the best services in the world and the meeting goes smoothly, the opportunity still might slip through your fingers. Follow up and reconnect with your clients until you get the ball rolling.
Underpromise and overdeliver. When expectations are set low, and your services are outstanding, the client will be blown away by the experience.
Understand the customer’s pain points. The quicker you do that, the greater your chances to negotiate a reasonable price for your social media services.
More conversation, less presentation. Powerpoint presentations are great for setting the stage, but less when it comes to actually convincing your services are the right fit for the prospect.
Practice empathy. The key is to forget about money and put yourself in the customer’s shoes — you are there to help them solve a problem, not sell.
Don’t be afraid to walk away. Quality is always better than quantity.
Don’t fear awkwardness. Resist the impulse to say something just to fill up the void. Let the prospect process the information.
Start calculating your pricing
Find out how to price your agency services correctly. No complicated formulas. No boring spreadsheets.