Estimate your social media agency cost in four steps

Key takeaways

You can estimate social media agency cost in four steps: production hours for your posts, community hours, planning and reporting hours, then UK rates. As an illustrative example, 12 posts, 6 hours of replies and 5 hours of planning and reporting comes to about £1,515–£2,210 a month.

• Step 1: count posts and multiply by 1 to 1.5 hours each.
• Step 2: add community hours at about £40–£60 an hour.
• Step 3: add planning and reporting at about £75–£100 an hour.
• Example: 12 posts a month comes to about £1,515–£2,210.

Step 1: How many production hours do your posts need?

Count the posts you want each month and multiply by the production time. A designed post with caption takes about 1 to 1.5 hours, a carousel 2 to 3 hours and an edited short video 1.5 to 4 hours. Multiply by indicative UK production rates of £60–£90 an hour.

• Social media agency pricing in the UK
• Social media content creation costs in the UK

Step 2: How much community time do you need?

Estimate how many comments and messages arrive each week and how fast they need answers. A small local business may need 1 to 2 hours a week. Multiply the monthly hours by indicative UK community management rates of £40–£60 an hour.

• Community management costs in the UK

Step 3: How much planning and reporting is needed?

Add 2 to 4 hours a month for planning the calendar and 2 to 4 hours for a monthly report with analysis. Multiply by a blended rate of £75–£100 an hour, which reflects the senior time involved. Strategy work at the start is a one-off on top.

• Social media reporting costs: what a monthly report is worth

Step 4: What does the worked example come to?

As an illustrative example: 12 designed posts at 1.25 hours is 15 hours, or £900–£1,350. Six hours of community work is £240–£360. Five hours of planning and reporting is £375–£500. The total is about £1,515–£2,210 a month, inside the £950–£2,500 band most UK SMEs pay.

• Production: 15 hours, about £900–£1,350.
• Community: 6 hours, about £240–£360.
• Planning and reporting: 5 hours, about £375–£500.
• Total: about £1,515–£2,210 a month.

What does the estimate leave out?

The estimate leaves out one-off set-up, filming days, paid media budgets and tools if they are charged separately. It also assumes you supply photos and approve on time. Late approvals and many revision rounds add hours, so build in a small margin.

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How do you use the estimate with quotes?

Use the estimate as a sense check. If a quote is far below it, ask what has been left out. If it is far above, ask what extra the agency is including. Either way, ask each agency to show the hours behind its figure.

• How to compare social media agency quotes fairly

What does this look like in practice?

A pattern we see with UK businesses comparing quotes: one quote looks cheap until the hours are worked out and it turns out to include few posts and no replies. Global Bridge Labs (GBL) shows the hours and roles behind each costed plan, so clients can check the numbers themselves.

• See client work
• Social Media Marketing for UK businesses

Cost estimate checklist

Gather these before estimating.

• Posts, carousels and videos per month.
• Comments and messages per week.
• Channels in scope.
• Who supplies photos and footage.
• Paid media budget, if any.

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• Social media agency pricing terms explained

Next step

Send us your monthly volume and channels. We will run the four steps and send you the figure.