Animated social media posts: what motion graphics cost

Key takeaways

Animated social media posts cost more than static ones because motion takes longer to build. As indicative UK figures, a simple animated post taking 2 to 4 hours costs about £150–£400, and a 15 to 30 second motion graphics explainer taking 6 to 12 hours costs about £450–£1,200.

• £150–£400 is the indicative cost of a simple animated post.
• A 15 to 30 second explainer is roughly £450–£1,200.
• Reusable animated templates cut the cost of later posts.
• Animation suits explaining a process, not daily updates.

What counts as an animated social media post?

An animated social media post is a graphic with movement: text that builds line by line, an icon that moves, a chart that grows or a short explainer made from illustrations. It is made in design software rather than filmed, so it needs no camera, people or location.

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• Social media graphic design costs in the UK

How much does a motion graphic cost?

Motion graphics are priced by build time. A simple animated post with moving text and one or two elements takes about 2 to 4 hours, which is £150–£400 at the £75–£100 an hour implied by typical UK retainers. An illustrated explainer of 15 to 30 seconds takes 6 to 12 hours, about £450–£1,200. These are indicative figures, not a GBL price list.

• Animated text or quote post: indicative £150–£250.
• Animated chart or process diagram: indicative £250–£400.
• Illustrated 15 to 30 second explainer: indicative £450–£1,200.
• Voiceover and licensed music: usually extra.

What drives the cost of animation up?

Custom illustration, length, sound and revisions drive the cost. Animating your existing brand shapes is quick. Drawing new characters is slow. Every extra second needs building, and a late change to the script can mean rebuilding scenes that were already finished.

• New illustrations rather than existing brand assets.
• Length beyond 30 seconds.
• Voiceover, sound design and licensed music.
• Script changes after animation has started.

How do animated templates lower the price?

An animated template is a reusable motion layout, such as a tip card or a stat reveal, built once and updated with new words each time. The first one costs the full build time. Later posts built from it take a fraction of that, which makes a monthly animated series affordable.

• Social media video production costs in the UK

When is animation not worth paying for?

Animation is not worth it when your buyers want to see real work and real people. For trades, salons and restaurants, a phone clip of the finished job usually builds more trust than an illustration. Animation earns its cost when you need to explain something invisible, such as a process, a service or a number.

• Short-form video for small businesses without a studio

What does this look like in practice?

A pattern we see with UK B2B and logistics firms: one short animated explainer of how the service works gets reused for months, as a pinned post, an ad and a website clip. Global Bridge Labs (GBL) builds the explainer once, then cuts shorter versions from it so the cost is spread across many uses.

• See client work
• Social Media Marketing for UK businesses

Animation brief checklist

Send these with any request for an animation quote.

• The one message the animation must get across.
• Length and the channels it will run on.
• Brand assets, fonts and colours you already have.
• Whether you need voiceover, music or subtitles.
• Number of revision rounds included.

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Next step

Tell us what you want to explain and where it will run. We will tell you whether animation, a filmed clip or a static post will do the job best.