I came across a blog post today from a respected speaker in the Social Media Industry (Mack Callier) about costs for social media projects and I thought
it might help some of you with budgeting. The data is kind of a barometer for the industry.
One of the Mack points out and I completely agree with is that you can’t cookie cutter social media. When talking with consultants or marketing firms, if they try to give you prices without asking any questions, then you are better off moving on and finding someone that is really interested in understanding your business and why you want to use social media.
Here are some of the questions we’ll ask you:
- Why do you want to use social media. What are your goals?
- Who is your target market? Do you know where they hang out?
- Do you have the resources to manage your social media efforts in house after it is launched?
- ETC..
A little background on the data.
These figures come from rates shared with me by fellow consultants and agencies that specialize in social media marketing, in addition to my own research, as well as what I charge for similar services. – MC
Here are some of the numbers:
Blog:
Launch a blog from the ground-up, outsource all content creation (including customer interaction, handling responses to comments, etc) — $1,000-$12,000 a month
Most Charge — $3,000-$5,000 a month
Launch a blog from the ground-up, outsource some content creation — $1,000-$8,000 a month
Most Charge — $2,000-$3,500 a month
Restructure an existing blog to improve your efforts — $1,000-$5,000 a month for 3-6 months
Most Charge — $2,000-$4,000 a month for 3-6 months
Ghostwriting blog posts — $50-$500 per
Most Charge — $100-$250 per
Twitter:
Launch a new presence on Twitter and outsource all content creation and customer interaction — $1,000-$7,500 a month
Most Charge — $2,000-$4,000 a month
Launch a new presence on Twitter and then provide ongoing training for company — $1,000-$6,000 a month
Most Charge — $1,000-$3,000 a month
Restructure an existing Twitter presence to improve your efforts — $1,000-$4,000 a month for 3-6 months
Most Charge — $1,000-$2,500 a month
Limited coaching to improve your existing efforts on Twitter — $1,000-$4,000 a month
Most Charge — $1,000-$2,500 a month
Facebook:
Launch a Facebook Page from the ground-up, outsourcing all content creation and customer interactions — $2,000-$9,000 a month
Most Charge — $2,500-$5,000 a month
Launch a Facebook Page from the ground-up, with limited ongoing training — $1,500-$7,500 a month for 3-6 months
Most Charge — $2,000-$4,000 a month
Social Media Strategy:
Comprehensive Social Media Strategy Creation, assuming outsourcing of all content creation through all channels(minimum 2) — $3,000-$20,000 a month
Most Charge — $4,000-$7,000 a month
Comprehensive Social Media Strategy Creation, assuming limited outsourcing of content creation and/or ongoing training — $3,000-$15,000 a month for 4-12 months
Most Charge — $3,000-$6,000 a month
Audit of existing Social Media Strategy Including Recommendations for Improvement — $2,000-$10,000
Most Charge — $2,000-$5,000
Social Media Consulting:
Hourly rates — $50-$500/Hr
Most Charge — $75-$200/Hr
On-Site Training/Workshops (All fees excluding travel expenses)
1-2 Hours — $500-$5,000
Most Charge — $500-$2,000
Half-Day (4 hours) – $1,000-$10,000
Most Charge — $1,000-$4,000
Full-Day (6-8 hours) — $2,000-$50,000
Most Charge — $2,500-$5,000
One thing you need to keep in mind is that when a consulted does a training session or webinar there is a lot of behind the scenes work. I very rough estimate for calculating how much is 2 to 1. So for every hour of presenting there is at least 2 hours of preparation.
Read Mack Collier’s full post here: How much does Social Media cost companies in 2011?
