Social Media Marketing Pricing Guide 2025

 Social media is an essential part of a modern marketing strategy, and understanding the pricing of social media agencies is key to getting the most out of your campaigns. Our guide to social media agency pricing will provide you with all the information you need to make an informed decision.

Key Findings: How Much Does Social Media Marketing Cost?

• Average Social Media Marketing Project Costs: Most social media marketing projects reviewed on Clutch are less than $10,000. 
• Hourly Social Media Marketing Rates: The average cost of hiring a social media marketing agency on Clutch is $25–$49/hour.
• The Cost Based on Different Social Media Marketing Channels and Services:
  
  • Facebook Advertising: $25–$49/hour
  • Influencer Marketing: $25–$49/hour
    
  • Instagram Advertising: $25–$49/hour
    
  • LinkedIn Advertising: $25–$49/hour
  • Pinterest Advertising: $25–$49/hour
  • Reddit Advertising: $25–$49/hour
  • Snapchat Advertising: $25–$49/hour
  • TikTok Advertising: $25–$49/hour
  • Twitter Advertising: $25–$49/hour

Social media has become a pinnacle for businesses of all sizes—playing a necessary part in crafting a holistic marketing strategy. Developing the right social media strategy that resonates with your business goals and target audience generally requires extensive knowledge of the industry and knowledge of changing social media algorithms and regulations. With a solid understanding of online best practices, a reputable social media agency can increase brand awareness, online reach, positive customer sentiment and more.

This social media marketing pricing guide will give your business insight into how much it costs to hire a social media marketing agency and the costs associated with key social media services.

As shown in the chart above, social media marketing services on Clutch can be a few thousand dollars. All of this depends on the types of social media services your company is looking to invest in and the scope of delivery.

Average Social Media Marketing Project Cost

• As per data gathered by Clutch, the average cost for a project with a social media marketing agency is $61,148.53.
• Usually, the timeline for social media marketing projects, based on reviews on Clutch, is 12 months. 
  
• The average monthly cost of social media marketing projects is $5,107.28.
  

How Much Does It Cost to Hire a Social Media Marketing Agency in 2025?

According to data gathered by Clutch, the usual cost of hiring a social media marketing agency is around $25–$49/hour. However, prices may vary depending on several factors including project scope and content requirements.

Clutch assures the integrity and accuracy of the pricing information presented. The data was compiled through the verified ratings and testimonials provided by previous social media marketing clients.

So Many Choices for Social Media Platforms

With the popularity of social media channels, businesses of all sizes and within different industries rely on social media to attract new customers, promote their services, foster customer relationships and generate more business.

When it comes to social media, businesses have various choices regarding social media channels like LinkedIn, TikTok, and more. Each social media channel needs a different level of support, focuses on niche elements, and ranges in cost. The cost of social media marketing will also depend on how many platforms you want to appear on. A social media presence across social platforms is a huge benefit to content strategy, but will come with a bigger price tag.

With so many different options and price points, it can be hard for business leaders and marketing teams to select the right social media channel and determine how much they need to spend. This is where a successful, skilled social media marketing agency can have the greatest impact.

Types of Social Media Marketing Channels & Hourly Rates

There are a number of social media channels out there, and typically, social media marketing agencies provide resources for almost all of them. But if your company wants to be more selective, it is important to break down your options by platform.

This table dives into the different pricing models for each social media marketing platform as well as what you can expect to spend when working with a social media marketing agency.

Note: Price ranges above are in U.S. dollars

*Each platform offers different products and typically charges based on impressions (CPMs) or sometimes cost per click (CPC).

Social media management costs will, of course, vary between social media management agencies. However, having average cost information in-house will keep your team ready to add social outsourcing to your digital marketing budget.

Agency Fees Are Separate From Social Media Ad Spend

This pricing structure is common in digital marketing outsourcing arrangements: money spent on social media marketing campaigns is separate from fees given to the agency for their work.

Agency fees are separate from ad spend on these platforms and vary. Hiring an ad agency makes sense for companies that are spending a lot on their advertising efforts because of the economies of scale concept — this is when ad costs decline while output expands.

Particularly because social advertising agencies can increase conversion rates and help their clients manage their ad spend, agencies can make ad spending more efficient. Often companies find that they earn more from their ad campaign than they spend on ad agency fees. Make sure to ask prospective ad agencies how they charge, sliding scale or a flat fee.

The goal of your business and the scope of the social media strategy determines how much you will likely spend.

Once you know your goal – likely to generate leads, optimize online presence, or increase brand awareness– you can start to think about which social media channels will work best, your target audience and then begin crafting your all-in budget. After that, it’s time to start your search for a social media marketing agency that mirrors all of your needs.

What Services Do Social Media Marketing Companies Offer?

• Optimization or creation of social media profiles: Social media marketing companies can facilitate creating and maintaining social media profiles to ensure they appeal to target customers.
• Building a content calendar: Social media marketing companies can build out a content calendar for all social media accounts that can be followed throughout the year when it comes to posting, types of content, and more.
• Social media management & planning: Social media management services include posting, crafting social media strategy, launching campaigns, and engaging with communities. The key differential here is the ongoing management involved - often replying to customer messages, comments, and routing for follow-up internally.
• Content creation: Social media marketing agencies can create graphics, captions, hashtags, and more for social media posts. Each social media channel has different guidelines for its content, so ensure that your team of social media experts is not only catering to the voice of your business but also knows the platform-specific specs and guidelines forward and backward.
• Connecting with partners: An effective social media strategy fosters relationships with other business owners— finding opportunities to connect with like-minded organizations for co-branding and collaboration.
• Managing social media analytics: Social media marketing companies also leverage different tools and software to track performance and reports. This insight will give you an idea of what is working and what isn’t.

Before hiring a social media marketing agency, it’s important to outline what you’re looking for and what’s most important to your business. The cost of working with a social media marketing agency depends on several factors like company size, industry expertise, location and the type of partner needed - from freelancers to agencies.

What Impacts the Cost of Hiring a Social Media Marketing Agency?

• Social media channel and number of active platforms
• Resources
• Tools
• Type of content
• Engagement criteria
• Location

Social Media Channels

Earlier, we broke down the specific social media channels that your company can choose to market your services on. While social media marketing agencies can use similar tactics for the different platforms, each one has a different ad spend for campaigns and pricing plans.

Resources

When selecting which social media channels to focus on, take a look at your marketing budget to see how much time and support you can offer to each platform.

Tools

Social media marketing tools for scheduling, content creation and publishing also have different pricing tiers depending on the social media network. While many agencies will typically roll in this cost to their overall fee, it may be important to you to understand which positing tool the agency will be using and if there is any wiggle room to negotate pricing based on tools used. Examples include SproutSocial, Hootsuite, Airtable and more.

Type of Content

Each social media marketing agency has different pricing plans for the amount of copywriting, graphic design work, and deliverables for social media content. Their teams also have different retainers for the amount of community management they can service a platform - whether this means customer service or social media advertising campaigns.

Additional Reading: 'Social Media Marketing Glossary: 80 Essential Terms'

Engagement Criteria

Along with selecting specific social media channels, your team needs to think about the type of engagement level you’d like to see on social, does the plan require consistent management and posting? 24/7 support?

Location

For some companies, location matters. For others, it’s just important to work with someone in the same time zone. Whatever your preference, prices for social media services vary by location as well, so be sure to weigh your options and what matters most to you.

Generally, social media marketing companies in North America and Europe charge more for their services compared to other companies across the world.

While hourly rates are higher in certain areas, businesses can save by outsourcing the work to an offshore agency that won’t charge as much.

The best way for your business to determine how much specific social media services cost is to review social media management packages on their websites, browse online reviews, and request an RFP from a select few that grab your marketing team’s interest.

Develop a Budget Before Contacting a Social Media Agency

Signing up for a social media account is free – but maintaining it is another story.

There are many factors involved in social media besides selecting the right social media channels for your target audience and deciding between advertising and marketing services. If you choose to advertise, the agency fee will not include ad spend, so this is something to factor into your budget.

Knowing your business goals and social media marketing budget can help provide your team with guidance on who to hire and where to invest in.

Hire the Right Company for Your Social Media Strategy

Where to begin when it comes to finding the best social media strategy for your business? Before selecting the right social media agency partner for your business, formulate your budget and understand your target audience.

The right social media marketing company will understand your business and hit your goals while remaining on target and budget. The right-fit social media partner will give your business guidance while providing creative support.

Social media marketing prices vary, but hiring the right social media marketing company will ensure your business is investing wisely.