Social media management pricing: typical US ranges

Small business social media management is often discussed at $800 to $3,500 per month. In that band, public proposals usually include a content calendar, a set number of posts, caption writing, scheduling, and a basic community pass on comments and messages. The low end of that discussion often assumes one or two networks, graphics made from photos you supply, and a short monthly check in. The higher end usually adds more networks, more posts, more replies, or reporting tied to offers you actually run.

The same monthly band can describe very different weeks. A restaurant posting specials needs this week's menu facts. A salon posting open appointments needs the book. A contractor posting finished work needs photos from the job. Industry pages for restaurants and salons on this site describe the kind of content those businesses can sustain. They do not set the fee. The fee follows the post count, the networks, and whether a person is replying.

What "basic community" means should be written down. A weekday pass on comments is different from covering messages at night, and different again from a promise to reply in minutes. The $800 to $3,500 discussions rarely mean round the clock coverage. If you need that, it is a larger scope, closer to a staffing plan than to a content calendar.

Ad spend and original video cost extra. Ad spend is paid to the platform, on top of management. Boosting a post, running a Meta campaign, or managing that spend is a separate line from publishing organic posts. The Google Ads pricing guide makes the same split for search: media and labor are different bills. A social fee that says ads are included, and names no media budget, has not included the platform's bill.

Original video is production. A phone photo you already took can be cropped and captioned inside a management fee when the scope says so. A shoot, an editor, and a series of short videos are a different purchase. Public discussions price that work by the day or by the deliverable. This guide does not invent a video day rate, because the rate depends on crew, locations, and how many cuts you need. Ask for video as its own line, with a count of films and a count of edits.

Other items commonly outside the monthly band: a separate photoshoot, influencer payments, a second brand or a second location, and paid social listening tools. Community management overnight is outside a typical small business retainer. If a proposal includes any of these inside $800, read the definitions twice. The inclusion is either very narrow or it is not really included.

The movers inside and above the $800 to $3,500 band are practical. How many networks, and how many posts on each. Whether someone replies, and during which hours. Who provides the facts and the photos. A manager cannot invent this week's special, and a retainer that assumes you will send nothing will stall or will publish filler. Design from scratch costs more than editing assets you already have. Reporting costs more when you want a paid social readout than when you want a note about what was posted.

Approvals change the fee too. A monthly batch you review once is smaller than a same day approval loop on every post. Multiple people approving the same caption adds delay, and delay is coordination time. Say who has the last edit. Also say what happens to a post that misses the approval window. Those rules prevent a month of unpublished work and a dispute about whether the fee was earned.

Watch for a fee that claims ads are included and never names a media budget. The platform still bills the spend. Watch for posts that could belong to any business in the category, with no path to your offers, your photos, or your calendar. Generic paragraphs are cheap to produce and hard to defend when a customer compares you with the shop down the street. Watch for accounts created under the agency's email, so you cannot log in, export the audience, or post on the day you part ways.

A guarantee of followers or of viral videos is a flag. Those outcomes are not a scope anyone can promise. "Unlimited posts" is another flag, because unlimited has no definition and turns into a conflict. A fair cheap quote names two networks, eight posts, photos you supply, and one monthly review. That can be an honest use of the low end of the band. An unfair cheap quote uses the same number and promises video, ads, and daily replies.

We quote a monthly fee after we see the accounts, the networks, and whether original video or ads are in scope. The $800 to $3,500 band is the market discussion for small business management. It is not a CodeHunterz package and it is not a guarantee of reach. Ad spend is listed apart from the fee and is paid to the platform. Original video, if you want it, is a production line with a count. Organic posting stays on its own scope so you can cancel or pause one without confusing it with the other.

CodeHunterz prices are confirmed in a written quote. They are not this research and they are not a social rate card. Related pages: social media management, the article on whether a local business should hire a social media manager, and the restaurant and salon social pages. Those pages help you decide if a retainer fits the way you actually sell. The dollar decision is the written monthly scope.