Should You Hire a Social Media Manager, an Agency, or Do It Yourself?

For most small businesses, the choice comes down to time and money. Do it yourself if you have a few hours a month and enjoy it. Hire a freelancer if you want a person to take the work off your plate on a modest budget, and look at an agency if you need several skills at once, such as video and ads.

Most very small businesses don't need a full-time employee for this. If you're weighing that route, our guide to what a social media manager costs has the numbers. Here, we'll focus on how to decide, and how to hire well if you do.

The three options in plain terms

Each one suits a different kind of owner.

Do it yourself suits you if:

• You like showing your work and talking to customers.
• You can protect a small, regular block of time.
• Your budget is tight, or you're still working out what your customers respond to.

A freelancer suits you if:

• You want one person who gets to know your business.
• You can supply photos, or the freelancer can visit you.
• You want help with posts, but not a whole marketing department.

An agency suits you if:

• You need more than one skill, such as video, design and ads.
• You want cover when someone is away, and regular reports.
• Your budget can carry a higher monthly fee.

How much do you pay a social media manager per hour?

There's no official rate for this work, and the public numbers come mostly from companies with something to sell. Treat them as rough guides.

• SoloHourly, which sells software to freelancers, says $25 to $45 an hour for juniors, $50 to $85 for mid-level, and $90 to $150 or more for senior strategists. It doesn't explain how it collected these figures.
• eClincher, a social media software company, says $25 to $50 an hour for entry-level freelancers and $75 to $150 or more for experienced specialists. It doesn't give a source for these numbers.

The two broadly agree, which is some comfort, but neither is a proper survey. You'll also find plenty of freelancers on marketplaces such as Upwork and Fiverr. We couldn't read their rate pages while writing this, so we haven't quoted them. Browsing a few profiles for your own town or trade will tell you more than any average.

How much does a social media freelancer charge?

Many freelancers charge by the month rather than the hour. The same two companies give these ranges:

• eClincher: $300 to $800 a month from beginners for basic services, and $1,500 to $3,000 or more from seasoned professionals running the whole job.
• SoloHourly: $800 to $1,200 a month for a basic package, and $1,500 to $2,500 for a larger one.

For comparison, eClincher says a boutique agency in a smaller market might charge $2,500 a month, and a specialist agency in a major city could start at $7,500 or more. Again, that's one software company's estimate, with no source given.

An hourly rate only means something once you know the hours. Here's a made-up example. A freelancer at $50 an hour who spends 10 hours a month on your account costs $500. At 25 hours, the same person costs $1,250. So ask how many hours or posts you'd get, and ask for a monthly cap.

Is hiring a social media manager worth it?

It's worth it if the work brings in more than it costs, or if it frees your time for something that earns more. Three questions will help you tell.

1. Do your customers find you on social media at all? Ask new customers how they heard about you for a few weeks and write down the answers. If almost nobody mentions social media, it may be because you've hardly posted, or because your customers come another way. Either way, it's useful to know before you spend.

2. What's your time worth? Another made-up example: if social media takes you 8 hours a month, and an hour of your paid work brings in $60, that's $480 of your time. If you'd really use those hours for paying work, a $500 freelancer costs you about the same. If you'd simply work fewer evenings, the gain is real but it's a different kind of gain, and only you can price it.

3. Can you still supply what they need? Hiring doesn't remove you from the work. Someone will still need photos, news about what's coming up, and quick answers to questions. If you can't give that, the posts will likely turn generic.

Give any new arrangement a few months, and agree up front what you'll look at. Our guide to the numbers that matter can help you choose. It should also fit inside a bigger picture, so it's worth having a simple marketing plan first, even a short one.

How to hire without getting burned

If you decide to hire, a small test beats a long contract.

1. Write down the job. List the number of posts, the platforms, who makes the photos, and who replies to comments. This makes quotes comparable.
2. Talk to two or three people. Ask to see work they've done for a business like yours.
3. Check their work against the real business. Look at the actual accounts they've managed, not just screenshots.
4. Pay for a small trial. One month of posts will tell you more than any proposal.
5. Keep approval. Read posts before they go out, at least at first.
6. Keep the accounts in your own name. Give access, not ownership, and agree in writing who keeps the content if you part ways.

Keeping approval is more than a matter of taste. The Federal Trade Commission's guidance for small businesses says the advertiser is responsible for its claims, and must have evidence for them before an ad runs. It's written about advertising, but the habit is a good one for any post that promotes your business. If a post claims you're the fastest or the cheapest in town, make sure that's true.

Be careful of anyone who guarantees followers or sales. Nobody controls what the platforms show people.

If you stay on your own

Doing it yourself is a perfectly good choice, and it gets easier with a routine.

• Post less, but steadily. See how often to post for a realistic pace.
• Plan in one sitting. A simple content calendar saves you from staring at a blank screen each day.
• Schedule ahead. Tools like Buffer and Hootsuite let you schedule posts in advance.

A fourth option: software that does the planning and writing

Some owners don't want to do it all or hire someone, so AI tools are now a real option too. We've written a fair look at what AI can and can't do with your social media.

We make one of these tools, so weigh this accordingly. IndieAM plans a month of marketing, suggests campaign ideas and topics, and writes social posts, video scripts, articles and newsletters in your business's voice. You approve the plan and each post. Approved posts then publish automatically to your connected Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok and YouTube Shorts accounts. Google Business Profile posts, long YouTube videos, email newsletters and website articles are written for you, and you post those by hand. It adds pictures from your photo library, and makes AI pictures where any photo would do, but photos of your real work have to come from you. It doesn't suit you if you want someone to run ads, reply to comments, or come to your shop with a camera. For those, a freelancer or agency is the better fit. Our prices are on the home page.

So which should you choose?

Start with the smallest option that gets the job done:

• Under a few hundred dollars a month, and you have some time: do it yourself, perhaps with a scheduling tool or software.
• A modest monthly budget, and little time: try a freelancer on a one-month trial.
• A bigger budget, and you need video or ads handled: talk to a small agency and a senior freelancer, and compare them.

Whichever you pick, you're not locked in for life. Try it for a few months, check it against what you agreed, and change course if it isn't working.