Managing social media is not a cheap service nor is it a super expensive one. Depending on how much engagement you want to get, how many people you have under your wing, and what kind of results you hope to achieve, then yes, it does cost money!

If you are looking to launch a new business or brand, then spending money to hire someone to help you can be very helpful and necessary. Having a team that helps you spread your message, increases traffic and followers for your site, and raises awareness for your product or service is always a good thing.

There are several ways to manage social media without investing in paid services, but they will likely take more time than paying up front. The best way to save money is to start small and add features as you need them.

This article will talk about some tools you can use to manage your accounts yourself, and also consider whether or not paid management is worth the investment. We’ll cover free platforms first before diving into costs.

3-5 employees

Most social media management companies have at least three people that work full time for them, typically paid around $60-$100K per year.

That’s not very cost effective unless you are trying to run a business with little money. If that is the case then these services can be expensive, but necessary if you want professional level help.

Mostly what people pay for these services is the person who does the posting. They will pick an account you choose and create content for it. They may do it every day or once a week depending on the company.

The second part of the service is the control panel. This gives you easy access to all of your accounts and settings. Some only offer this to premium members which can also add to the expense.

If you need both parts of the service you would most likely spend more since they are separate items.

6-10 employees

Most social media management companies have at least six people working under them, if not more. This includes managers, content creators, account specialists, and marketing professionals.

The number of employees needed to run a successful social media campaign varies depending on the size of your company and the amount of time you want to invest in it.

Most social media management (SMM) firms will offer very competitive prices when you are spending less than $5,000 per month. They may even have staff that work for free!

However, this is only possible because they are paid via hourly wages or through funding from another source like crowdfunding. These types of salaries can add up quickly if you are trying to keep up with constant updates, comments, and conversations.

There are also additional costs such as website hosting, domain names, and legal documents such as non-disclosure agreements. All these things contribute to the overall price tag.

11-20 employees

If you have less than 20 people in your social media management team, then cost per person to manage social accounts can be done more efficiently by either hiring freelancers or having individuals do it themselves.

As we mentioned before, depending on how large your company is, there are many free tools that help you manage all of your social profiles. Most of these offer limited features, but they are enough for most users.

By using these services, you will save money because you won’t need to pay monthly fees for each profile!

However, just like with outsourcing any other department, quality control comes into play. Make sure someone you hire has no negative reviews about them.

21-30 employees

As mentioned before, cost of social media management can vary greatly depending on the size of your business and the level at which you would like to manage accounts. The most expensive option is having an employee that handles all of your social channels themselves, but this is not always the best way to run your social media marketing.

The next highest price tag comes from hiring someone who has limited social experience or who lacks time due to other commitments. For these reasons, they may be paid per hour to help maintain your account. This can add up quickly if you have a large amount of content to create and post!

The lowest priced options are those that use free software such as Facebook’s (or Google’s) tools to manage accounts. While it is great to have easy access to all of your accounts, this may not give you the full feature set needed to maximize growth for your business.

31-40 employees

As mentioned before, social media management is not a position that comes with an average pay grade. The number of people in your company that handle social media for you depends on how much time you have to devote to it and how many accounts you need to manage.

The amount of money per week or per month spent on social media management varies depending on the size of the business and the demands put upon social media managers.

Most companies will spend anywhere from $1,000 to $5,000 per month on their social media team alone! That’s enough to cover around 30 to 40 full time positions at about $4,500 each per person.

And don’t forget about all of the additional costs like software, mobile devices, bandwidth, etc. Add those onto the monthly budget as well!

So what are we talking about then? If you had a manager who was paid a salary equivalent to that of up to five junior level professionals, that would be considered expensive. But if you consider the cost to be similar to one professional levels, it isn’t too bad.

41-50 employees

For social media management, that’s around $16,000 to $20,000 per year per employee. This includes paying someone full time to manage your company's account on all of the major social networks as well as any other accounts or platforms like Flickr, YouTube, etc.

It also covers the cost of creating content for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and whatever else you have an audience for. That content can be sponsored, educational materials, promotional announcements, and more.

51-60 employees

This is the expensive side of social media management. Between salaries, software, and legal fees, this cost can add up quickly. The average price per employee to manage accounts, do ad creative, and create content for these teams is around $15-$20 per hour.

That means an organization with five people paying an average of $75 per person per day is spending just under $4,000 total every month!

For some companies that have very little budget for marketing, this can be quite the expense. If you’re looking to take control of your online image, brand, or company name, social media management may not be the best option unless you are prepared to invest in it.

There are ways to save money by limiting what services you use, but also leaving advertisements and sponsorships up to someone else. Or maybe you could start freelancing and offering your service to other businesses instead.

Either way will help lower the costs of social media management.

61-70 employees

Most social media management companies have at least 70 people working full time to keep your company's presence active on all of the major social networks.

That is a large team! And it costs a pretty substantial amount per month to run that kind of a business.

Most vendors will advertise their monthly price around $1,000 - $2,000 per employee, which can add up quickly if you are an expensive organization.

Other fees like site licensing, tools such as HootSuite or Buffer, and additional services like live chat and help with analytics cost extra. The total cost easily adds up to more than what most employers were paying before social media.