Social Media Management Services: What’s Included and How to Choose

Sooner or later, most business owners look at their Instagram, notice the last post went up three weeks ago, and think: I should pay someone to handle this. That can be a great decision. It can also be an expensive one that produces nice-looking posts and no customers.

This article looks at the business side of that decision. It explains what social media management services usually include and leave out, how they're priced, your options from doing it yourself to hiring an agency, and how to choose and brief a provider so the arrangement works. If you're still working out what the job involves, read our guide to what social media management is first.

What social media management services usually include

Packages vary, but a full service normally covers five areas.

• Strategy: agreeing goals, audience, platforms and the mix of content, usually reviewed every quarter.
• Content creation: writing captions, designing graphics, and editing short videos and carousels from your photos or footage.
• Scheduling and publishing: planning a content calendar and posting on a regular rhythm.
• Community management: replying to comments and DMs within agreed hours and response times.
• Reporting: a monthly report on reach, engagement, follower growth and, ideally, enquiries or sales.

What's often not included

Misunderstandings usually start here. Check whether each of these is included, charged extra or not offered at all:

• Managing paid ads, and in every case the ad spend itself, which you pay to the platform.
• Photo and video shoots. Many services only work with the material you supply.
• Influencer fees and paid collaborations.
• Detailed customer support and sales queries. The provider can reply to general comments, but someone from your business usually needs to handle orders, pricing and complaints.
• Platforms beyond the ones listed in the package.

Your four options

1. Do it yourself with a good tool

This suits owners who have a little time and a clear sense of their brand. A scheduler, a content calendar and one batching session a week take away most of the hard work. It's the cheapest option in money terms, and the real cost is your time.

2. A freelance social media manager

A freelancer suits small businesses that want a dedicated person without paying for an agency's overheads. Good freelancers can be excellent and very personal to work with, but their capacity is limited, and a holiday or illness can put your social media on hold. Check whether they create content or only schedule what you send them.

3. A social media agency

An agency suits businesses that want strategy, design, video and ads under one roof, or need several platforms covered consistently. Agencies have more resources and cover when someone is away, but they cost more, and you may deal with an account manager rather than the person who writes your posts. If you're on the agency side of this, our guide on social media management for agencies covers workflows and tools.

4. A hybrid

This is often the best value. You handle replies and behind-the-scenes content, because you know your customers best, and a freelancer or agency looks after strategy, design and scheduling. Another version: hire help for three months to set up the system, then run it yourself.

How social media management services are priced

You'll usually come across one of three models:

• A monthly retainer for a defined scope, for example a set number of posts per week on two platforms, plus community management and a monthly report.
• Per-platform pricing, where each extra network adds to the monthly fee.
• Content packages, priced per post, Reel or carousel, without ongoing management.

Prices vary a lot depending on the city, the provider's experience and the scope, so compare proposals on what they include rather than the headline figure. Ask what happens if you need extra posts in a busy month such as Diwali or the wedding season, and whether there's a minimum contract period.

How to choose a provider: questions to ask

• Can I see work you've done for businesses like mine, and speak to one of those clients?
• What results did those clients get beyond likes, such as enquiries, bookings or sales?
• Who will create my posts and reply to my customers?
• How will you learn my brand voice and get to know my customers?
• What's the approval process before anything is published?
• How quickly will comments and DMs be answered, and on which days?
• What will the monthly report show, and how will we decide what to change?
• Who owns the content you create, and what happens to it if we stop working together?
• What's the notice period?

Red flags

• Guaranteed follower numbers. Real followers can't be guaranteed, and fast, guaranteed growth usually means bought or fake accounts that damage your reach.
• Asking for your passwords. Good providers request access through each platform's business tools, such as partner access in Meta Business Suite or an admin role on a LinkedIn Page, so you remain the owner and can remove them at any time.
• Accounts set up in their name. Your business pages should always belong to your business.
• Reports that only show vanity metrics. Likes and impressions alone won't tell you whether social media is helping the business.
• Long lock-in contracts before you've seen any of their work.

How to brief a social media manager

A good brief saves weeks of back-and-forth. Include:

• Your one main goal for the next 90 days (more enquiries, bookings, store visits or online sales).
• Who your customers are, in plain language, and what they usually ask before buying.
• Your brand voice: three words that describe it, and three that don't.
• Your platforms, in order of priority.
• Your offers, prices and important dates for the quarter, such as festivals, launches and sales.
• Anything they must never post or promise.
• Who approves posts, and how quickly you'll respond.

Keep ownership of your accounts and your data

Whoever manages your social media, make sure your business stays in control. Keep the owner or main admin role yourself, give providers role-based access, and store your logos, photos and brand guidelines somewhere you control.

It also helps to work in a tool your business owns (see everything Skyfliq includes). In Skyfliq, you can invite a freelancer or agency into your workspace as a team member, so posts are planned on your own calendar. With approvals switched on, nothing is published until you approve it. The unified inbox keeps comments and DMs visible to you as well as to your provider, and Launch Pad's analytics show reach, engagement and clicks for every post. If you part ways, the content, history and connected accounts stay in your workspace. See how scheduling and approvals work, or compare social media management tools.

How to tell if it's working

Give any provider three months, since the first month is mostly spent learning about your business. After that, judge them against the goal you set. Are enquiries, bookings or sales from social media going up? Engagement and follower growth are useful early signs, but if they never turn into business results, it's time to change the approach. Our guide to social media ROI shows how to measure this without a data team.

Making the decision for your business

Social media management services can take a time-consuming job off your hands, as long as the scope is clear, the provider understands your customers and you stay in control of your accounts. Work out what you need, compare proposals on what's included, start with a clear brief and judge the results on business outcomes rather than likes. If you're unsure where to begin, write the 90-day goal and the brief first. They'll make every conversation with a freelancer or agency far more productive, and they'll be just as useful if you decide to do it yourself.