Social Media Management Packages Explained: Finding the Right Fit for Your Business

There’s no avoiding it: your business needs to be on social media. Around 92% of businesses now use social media for marketing, and that’s no coincidence. Between organic and paid marketing, social media platforms present huge opportunities to connect with your target audience and drive conversions. You don’t want to miss out.

However, many business leaders don’t have the time and energy to add social media management to their plates. But social media management packages offer a different solution.

Purchasing a social media management package allows you to focus on running your business while marketing experts run your brand’s social profiles for you. These packages aren’t all created equal, so you'll want to understand the different tiers of social media management packages so you can choose the right option for your business.

What Exactly Goes Into Social Media Management Packages? Or Is It all Magic?

When you start looking into social media management packages, you may notice they can vary widely in price. That’s no coincidence. The price variation reflects the differences in what’s included in these packages, as well as other factors.

Some business leaders want a professional team to handle their community management, such as replying to comments. Others want the team to handle everything related to social media. There’s no one-size-fits-all solution—you just have to decide what you’re looking for.

Consider these core pillars of social media packages:

• Strategy: Selecting the platforms you’re going to post on, analyzing your target audience, researching competitors, and deciding on core messaging for your social posts.
• Content Creation: Creating the graphics, images, videos, and captions shared on your brand social media pages.
• Scheduling: Planning posts and setting them up in a queue to ensure consistent presence on social media.
• Engagement: Interacting with users, replying to comments, and answering direct messages.

You might not need them all. Think about the social media tasks you can confidently complete in-house compared to those you would prefer to outsource to experts.

The Three Tiers of Success: Which Level Does Your Shop Actually Need?

Social media marketing packages also break down into tiers based on what the brand is trying to accomplish. Depending on your goals, you may prefer one tier over another.

Tier One: Starter

When you’re just getting started on social media, your primary goal is generally growing your brand presence. You want your target customers to be aware of your business, what you offer, and how you stand out from your competitors.

Posting on social media alone isn’t enough to build brand awareness. You still need a strategy behind your posts and consistent engagement with followers.

When you hire social media management in the starter tier, the professionals will generally work with you to develop this strategy. Consistency is key. Using the same brand logo, tagline, visuals, and voice helps customers recognize your brand across posts (and off social media). The team will make sure your posts include those consistent elements.

The first tier is often the least expensive of the social media management pricing packages.

Tier Two: Growth

If you already have a brand presence on social media, the growth tier of social media management packages may be a better option for your business.

In this service tier, the professionals will focus on engaging your target audience. You may already have some followers—now, you want to keep growing your audience and get some of those followers to take the next step.

Engagement can take many different forms. The management service may include responding to comments on your posts, answering your direct messages, and even commenting on other people’s posts to build connections with other users.

Interacting with users on social media isn’t a one-time thing. It’s a consistent effort that fuels growth for your profiles, and, hopefully, your business. Being able to offload this engagement while still reaping the benefits of it is one of the reasons to hire a social media marketing agency.

Tier Three: Enterprise

The highest tier of social media management packages is the enterprise tier. At this level, you’re working with a team of professionals for full-scale lead generation on social media.

You already have a social media presence and are engaging your audience. Now, you want to create real leads by directing your followers to landing pages to get their contact information. Getting users to make the jump from social media to these landing pages can be tricky.

Your social media management team may use strategies like:

• Optimizing your bio, including a link to a landing page
• Running targeted social media ad campaigns
• Performing social listening to discover relevant conversations from customers
• Integrating strategic links to landing pages within posts

Your content can’t all be sales-focused, though. Experts know how to carefully balance promotional posts focused on lead generation with content that engages users and provides real value.

Executing these kinds of lead-generating strategies involves a lot of moving parts. If you don’t have an in-house team to manage your social media marketing—as is the case for most small businesses—hiring an agency instead of a freelancer is the best approach for enterprise-level lead generation on social media.

Automotive-Specific Packages: Why Your Repair Shop Needs More Than Just Memes

You may see advice that when you’re getting started with social media for local businesses, what’s important is just staying active. Posting alone isn’t enough to help your business, though.

Think about what your target customers want to see and what will make them trust your brand. For example, your audience might enjoy funny memes about cars, but those posts probably won’t convince them to book an appointment at your automotive shop. Focus on creating industry-specific, valuable content that shows customers why they should trust and choose your business.

That’s how you generate real results from social media, and why it may be worth paying hundreds or even thousands of dollars for social media management.

The Price of Popularity: Understanding Common Pricing Models

You will see a huge variety of prices when you start researching social media management packages.

Pricing falls into two categories:

• Hourly rates: You get charged hourly for the time professionals spend running your brand’s social media.
• Flat monthly fees: The professionals charge a flat rate to cover set deliverables, such as X number of posts, responses to comments, and dashboards tracking your social media metrics.

Agencies are more likely to charge flat monthly fees, while freelancers often charge hourly. Depending on what’s included in the package you select, you could pay anywhere from $500 to $5,000 per month in typical social media management fees.

What To Watch Out for When Browsing Different Service Packages

As you’re comparing different social media management packages, you can weed out professionals who may not be the best fit by looking for red flags like:

• Not reporting results with concrete data on comprehensive dashboards
• Not developing a customized strategy for your brand
• Guaranteeing viral results

Your ROI will depend on the professionals you choose. Make sure the work yields meaningful results, like leads or direct sales, to drive ROI. Improved vanity metrics such as likes and followers don’t count for much unless they’re leading to potential sales, too.

How To Choose Your Perfect Marketing Partner Without the Headache

Choosing a marketing partner is a big decision. Start by identifying your budget, and look for teams who offer transparent pricing. Ask contenders how they measure results. They should ensure that you have access to the performance data.

Make sure you actually speak to the people who will work on your account, too. You want to check that they feel like an extension of your team with open communication.

At Optimize Digital Marketing, we offer several marketing pages to ensure you achieve your specific marketing goals. Contact us today to discuss what you want to accomplish through social media and how we can help you get there.