How Much Does it Cost to Hire a Social Media Consultant?

How Much Does it Cost to Hire a Social Media Consultant?
Photo by Greg Bulla / Unsplash

A social media consultant is someone who specializes in helping businesses and brands build, manage, and engage with their social media communities. They can be hired on a part-time or full-time basis to help with all aspects of running the company’s social accounts.

Before you hire a social media consultant, it’s important to think about your budget and determine how much you are willing to pay them. They can charge hourly, daily, weekly or monthly rates. Most consultants also have a starting rate for projects and a minimum contract term.

The costs of hiring a social media consultant vary greatly, depending on the consultant’s experience level, the types of services you want them to provide, whether they work in-house or remotely, etc. In this article, we’ll look at how to calculate the cost of hiring a social media consultant, including the hourly rate and costs of project-based work.

Hourly Rate

The hourly rate is the starting point when you’re looking at hiring a consultant and it can be negotiated downward based on the experience level of the consultant and what services they are providing. Hourly rates will vary depending on how many hours a week or month the consultant is available to work. Consultants who work full-time often charge around $30–$40 per hour (USD). The minimum rate for part-time consultants will typically be around $25–$35 per hour (USD).

If you’re looking to find a social media consultant who works on a part-time basis, it will likely be easier to find a consultant who’s available at the lower end of this range. It’s also important to remember that some consultants charge more for their services if they’re working remotely rather than in-house. The rates should be outlined in the consultant’s contract, so make sure you read it carefully before you sign.

Project-Based Work

There are two types of work that consultants often complete: project-based work and ongoing services.

· Project-based work refers to the short term project where the consultant is hired for a limited amount of time to provide specific services, such as building a social media campaign. Ongoing service refers to ongoing monthly or weekly or bi-weekly consultancy sessions that can last up to 12 months.

If you’re hiring a social media consultant for ongoing services, the most common pricing model is to pay a monthly fee for their services. An hourly rate is often charged to cover the time they spend on your account, but this amount is usually very low.

· The cost of project-based work depends on how long it takes to complete the project and what services are being provided. The consultant might charge a flat rate or hourly rate to complete the project. Hourly rates will range from $20–$50 per hour (USD).

If you’re looking for an agency to manage your social media accounts, the choice of staff is limited, so it’s important to think about how much you are willing to pay. We typically need five key skills that are difficult to train in-house:

1. Social Media Campaign Management: This includes content and process management and can include community management too. Depending on your requirements, the project could be completed in a few weeks to a year.

2. Social Media Monitoring: This involves using social media listening tools to monitor social networks and online mentions of your brand or products.

3. Social Listening Training: This includes identifying the main areas you need to monitor and providing training to employees on how to use the tool.

4. Social Content Creation: This can take many forms, from designing images for Pinterest or creating video content for Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.

5. Social Media Management: This is where the social media consultant will manage your social accounts and often work with the rest of your company to create content for them.

The way you pay for social media consultancy also determines what costs you’ll need to consider. You can pay for either a project or ongoing services on a per-hour or per-day or per-week or per-month basis. A per-hour, or per-day rate is often used for ongoing services such as training.

Email marketing, analytics, A/B testing and website optimisation are all general services that can be provided by a social media consultant. And depending on your budget and the specific services you need, these costs can vary greatly. For example, hiring an agency for email marketing will cost anywhere from $600–$5,000 a month (USD) so it’s important to consider all of the costs involved before you start.

Finding a Social Media Consultant

Social media is a broad term, covering almost every online behaviour, from blogging to online video production. A social media consultant who has experience with social media and can help run your accounts, produce content, monitor discussions and provide ongoing support will be invaluable. To hire an agent to assist you with social media management, you’ll need to find someone who:

– Has experience running a successful social media presence for clients in your industry.

– Is available to work on a regular basis.

– Can provide ongoing support and training, with one-on-one meetings at least weekly.

– Understands your products, services and goals.

– Can manage multiple social media accounts, such as Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, LinkedIn groups and Instagram accounts.

– Can provide guidance on how to generate new leads and increase engagement on your social media channels.

– Has the skills and experience needed to handle crisis management when social media support fails.

Some tips include:

– Look for someone who is active in channels where you want to be active, such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

– Look for someone with a good reputation on social media and lots of positive feedback from clients.

– Look for someone who has experience running social media accounts in your industry.

– Look at the type of content they post and how they interact with their followers.

– Use Google to search for their name, to see if there are any complaints or negative press about them.

– Check their credentials, such as whether they completed a university degree or certification program in social media management.

– Ask to see their portfolio of work.

– Ask them if they’re willing to provide references and how you can get in touch with them.

To find a social media consultant or agent in your city, take a look at social media agents on LinkedIn and send the relevant information to each agent individually, or contact the agency or company itself. It’s important that you find a social media consultant with experience running successful accounts in your field and can provide ongoing support.