Short answer
What determines social media management fees?
What sets the price of a social package is production volume, not "management": how many original images, videos and captions get produced each month, and whether shooting sits with the agency or the client. Two quotes are comparable only at the same production count. If shooting is not in the package, the same fee actually buys planning and posting alone.
Key takeaways
- If a quote says "monthly social media management", there is no scope; the scope is how many pieces of content, of which type, get produced each month.
- Is shooting inside the package or outside it — that single question explains most of the gap between two quotes.
- The ad budget is not part of the agency fee and should not be; the two belong on separate lines.
- Account ownership applies here too: the page and the ad account should sit in the company's business manager, not in an individual's personal account.
- Follower count is not a business result; the report should record engagement, clicks through to the site, and inbound messages.
What is actually in the package?
Six lines that make a quote readable
Image production
- The question to ask
- How many original images a month; stock or shot?
Video
- The question to ask
- How many videos, at what length, editing included?
Copy
- The question to ask
- Who writes headlines and captions, how many revisions?
Shooting
- The question to ask
- Is a shoot day in the package, how many days a year?
Community management
- The question to ask
- Are comments and messages answered, during which hours?
Reporting
- The question to ask
- Which metrics, how often, in what form?
| Line | The question to ask |
|---|---|
| Image production | How many original images a month; stock or shot? |
| Video | How many videos, at what length, editing included? |
| Copy | Who writes headlines and captions, how many revisions? |
| Shooting | Is a shoot day in the package, how many days a year? |
| Community management | Are comments and messages answered, during which hours? |
| Reporting | Which metrics, how often, in what form? |
What should the report show?
Follower count is not a business result; it is a number that can be bought and does not work. Three things belong in the report: how many people the content reached, how many moved through to the site, and how many messages or forms arrived. A report without the third never shows social's contribution to sales — and when that contribution is invisible, the budget is reopened for debate every year.
Frequently asked
Should the ad budget be inside the agency fee?
- No. They belong on separate lines, because one is a fee for work and the other is money paid to a platform. Merged into one figure, how much went to advertising becomes invisible and it stops being clear who benefits from a budget increase. Ad spend should go directly to the platform from the company's own account.
Can we produce the content and the agency just post it?
- Yes, and in some companies it is the most efficient arrangement — particularly where production capacity already exists in-house. What you are buying then is planning, the calendar and community management, and the price should fall accordingly. The one thing to watch is whether production is genuinely sustainable: when the content flow stops in month two, the plan stops working with it.
Sources
- 01How the Google Ads auction works — Google Ads Help, 2026
Queries this page answers
- social media agency pricing
- social media management cost
- social media retainer