What a social media manager costs a small business
Last updated October 17, 2026
What it costs to have someone else run your social media — by the hour, by the month, or on staff — from the people who sell the work, a survey of the people who do it, and US government wage data. Every figure links to its source; all were read on October 3, 2026.
The short answer
- Freelancer by the hour: $14–$35 on Upwork (median $20); managers surveyed in May 2024 averaged $66.96.
- Monthly: about $100–$550 for packaged posting services, mostly photos; $400–$2,100 for a typical freelancer or small agency; $2,500–$5,000 and up for a full-service agency or on-site video.
- On staff: $64,845–$71,256 a year on the big salary sites, before benefits.
- Video is where the price jumps. The cheap plans are mostly static posts; video is usually a higher tier or a separate plan.
Hourly rates
Freelance social media managers on Upwork typically charge $14–$35 an hour, with a median of $20 (Upwork) — asking rates from a worldwide pool. A survey of 100+ agency and freelance social media managers put the average at $66.96 an hour (HeyOrca, May 2024), which is closer to what an experienced US manager charges.
Monthly management, by price
Most small businesses pay by the month. Published prices, cheapest first, with what each one actually includes:
| Who | Price | What it includes |
|---|---|---|
| Feedbird | From $99 a month | 10 designed posts with captions and hashtags, scheduled and posted for you; video is a separate plan from $149 for 5 |
| Send Job Photos (contractors) | $300 a month plus setup from $300 | 12 posts a month on Facebook, Instagram and Google Business, made from your job photos; $500 and $800 tiers add posts |
| Tradesly Social (contractors) | $399–$549 a month | 2 or 5 posts a week on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Google, client-approved, month to month |
| Upwork freelancer | $400–$2,000 a month | Account management for 2 channels by intermediate US-based specialists; each extra channel $200–$1,500 |
| LYFE Marketing | $750–$1,550 a month plus $300 setup | 12–20 posts a month with page monitoring; the $750 plan is image posts, vertical video starts at the $1,350 plan |
| Contractor Media Co (contractors) | $2,500–$3,500 a month | 1–2 on-site photo and video shoots a month, about 4 posts a week |
| WebFX (agency) | From $3,000 a month | Post creation, custom graphics and branding (post count not stated) |
| Clutch (agency average) | $5,107 a month on average | Average monthly cost of social media agency projects reviewed on Clutch |
Swipe the table sideways to see every column.
For a middle point: the same survey priced a defined job — LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook for one client: 3 approved posts a platform each week, 5–10 hours of community management and reporting — at an average retainer of $2,107.14 a month.
Video is where it gets expensive
Read the inclusions column again with video in mind. The packages under $600 are built from designed graphics or your job photos. Where video appears, it is a step up: one service sells it as a separate plan, another starts it at its middle tier, and the contractor service that films on site starts at $2,500 a month. That is because short video is the slow part of the job — someone has to edit it, clip by clip.
Hiring someone on staff
The big salary sites put a US social media manager at $64,845–$71,256 a year: ZipRecruiter $64,845, Indeed $65,584 and Glassdoor $71,256. Those figures update continuously; these are the ones shown on October 3, 2026.
The government has no “social media manager” occupation. The two closest it tracks, as proxies: public relations specialists, a median $74,750 (BLS), and market research analysts and marketing specialists, $78,760 (BLS), both for May 2025. Across private industry, benefits make up about 30% of what employers spend on pay (BLS), so a $71,256 hire costs closer to $101,800 a year (our estimate).
What a manager does that software does not
- Talks to people. Replying to comments and messages — community management — is in most retainers above, and no posting tool does it for you.
- Plans. Strategy, campaigns and a content calendar built around your business.
- Runs ads. Some of the agencies above manage paid posts too; the ad spend is extra.
If what you mostly need is the posts themselves — a steady stream of good videos of your work, on every network — that part can be automated.
Where Postango fits
Postango does the video half of the job: you upload raw clips of your work, and it edits them, writes the caption and hashtags, and posts to the accounts you connect on the schedule you set: video to eight networks, and photo posts to Bluesky, where a video goes as its cover picture with a link to watch it on YouTube. Starter is $99 a month for 12 videos. Pro is $199 a month for 30 videos. Workshop is $499 a month for 60 videos. A video is one finished video delivered for your review. It does not reply to your comments or plan your campaigns; pair it with a few minutes a day of your own, or with a manager who no longer has to edit. See the plans, or what hiring a video editor costs.
Free trial: 2 videos in total, each a small 72-pixel preview, so you can judge the edit; it's too small to post. Trial videos are never posted to your social media accounts, and extra clips are made on paid plans. No card needed. One trial per email address. After that, plans start at $99 a month. Plans · Fair-use policy
Sources
All read on October 3, 2026.
- Upwork: social media manager cost
- HeyOrca social media pricing report (2024)
- Feedbird pricing
- Send Job Photos
- Tradesly Social
- LYFE Marketing pricing
- Contractor Media Co
- WebFX social media pricing
- Clutch: social media marketing pricing
- ZipRecruiter: social media manager salary
- Indeed: social media manager salaries
- Glassdoor: social media manager salary
- BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook: public relations specialists
- BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook: market research analysts and marketing specialists
- BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, June 2026