How to Find Affordable Social Media Marketing Services that Rock

Here’s a question that has been debated for ages: can affordable social media marketing services rock? In fact, can any affordable service rock?

Of course, the answer varies greatly depending on whom you ask.

I discussed the pricing issue in an article on the cost of copywriting services. The main principles apply to social media marketing and management services, too.

You see, digital marketing is a vast industry with thousands if not tens of thousands of players. And each of them has a different way to come up with pricing.

Expect to get quotes anywhere between $100 per month and $20,000 for the same month.

Crazy, right?

I mean, how could the value differ *that* much?

To be honest, I had the same issue when I was a freelance social media marketer and then again when I opened Idunn and started offering social media marketing and management services as an agency. I spent ages wondering “how the heck am I going to offer fair pricing for our social media services? What is the right amount to charge?”

Then it hit me.

I always knew I wanted Idunn to be a boutique agency that offers personalized…everything. And that included pricing. We don’t have a price list because we know every company is unique with unique needs. We take the time to learn about those needs and then we can come up with affordable social media marketing and management services for small businesses.

Looking for social media services that are both affordable and results-oriented? Take a look at what we can offer and let’s talk!

We are constantly working on social media strategies and their implementation with small businesses and bootstrapping startups. And, as much as we’d like to support all of them with great prices for social media services, the truth is that there’s more than liking a client and wanting to support their business when you set a price.

Let’s take a look at some of thease variables.

How Social Media Management and Marketing Prices Are Calculated

First off, will you be hiring a team, an agency or a single freelancer?

Depending on the size of the company you hire, the prices will vary greatly.

But this doesn’t mean that you can’t find an agency that offers more affordable social media marketing services than an agency. It all depends on their business model and their workload.

When you outsource social media management and marketing, you also have to take into account the living costs of the people who will be doing the work for you. Take a look at the Buffer salary model. One of the factors that influences how their team members are paid is where they live.

A San Francisco developer, for instance, has a higher living cost than one based in Montana or in Asia. So Buffer is using data from Numbeo and Glassdoor to extrapolate on living costs and make sure all their employees get the chance to live comfortably no matter where they are.

So, before you start negotiating affordable social media marketing services consider this: some freelancers or companies can’t afford to give you a discount. Aside from their location and cost of living, they also have different overheads to consider before setting prices.

Finally, keep in mind that a better price is not always in your interest. Which brings me to my next point.

Affordable Social Media Marketing Services Shouldn’t Mean Cheap Social Media Marketing Services

Sounds like a paradox?

I think not.

Here’s the catch: social media marketing services for small businesses should be affordable. But when you label them as “cheap”, you’re setting yourself out for failure.

Before you wonder how many posts could you get from your social media marketing provider for a given amount of money, ask yourself this: how much would you for that amount?

The difference is between affordable and cheap social media services is more of a mindset, if you will. Do not set out to find the cheapest provider. Set out to find the best value for your money. The best bang for your buck.

Factor social media in your small business marketing budget and be realistic about it. Yes, you can find freelancer who claim to rock your social channels for $100 per month, but you’ll soon find they do more damage than good.

Hiring a good social media consultant can turn your company’s profiles into well-oiled cash machines. If you’re just aiming for cheap social media services, you’ll only get bought followers and no real value.

Find out why it’s ALWAYS a bad idea to buy followers for Instagram (applies to other social networks, too!).

I know what you’re thinking: “I don’t have the money to hire a fancy social media agency that works for Fortune 500 companies.” I’m not saying you should.

Here’s how you can get affordable social media marketing services without cheapening your brand. Yes, the following section will teach you how to save money and still have an awesome social media presence.

How to Make Sure You Find Social Media Marketing Services that You Can Afford

We’re all trying to save money on the services our businesses need to survive or thrive. But there’s a difference between saving money and cutting corners on quality. And you never want to do the former.

So here’s how you can save money and make sure that your social media presence is still up to par:

1. Identify Your Needs and Goals

Simply hiring someone to “post” for you won’t get you too far. Before you start shortlisting candidates, make sure you know what to ask of them. In other words, what is your social media strategy supposed to bring you?

• Sales
• Brand awareness
• Leads
• Customer support
• Insights into your competitors or market research

Why do this?

Because otherwise, the social media agencies or freelancers you speak to will offer you their generic, all-encompassing prices. You will end up paying for things you don’t need.

2. Do You Need Strategy Help?

If you already have a strategy in place and only need someone to implement it, then the price for social media marketing services will go down. A strategy consultant is always more expensive than one who only executes an existing plan.

3. Clearly Define the Scope of Work

Our top secret for being able to offer our clients affordable social media marketing services is learning exactly what they need. We specifically ask if our clients need:

• Social media ad management
• Weekly/monthly reporting
• Image/video sourcing
• Competitor analysis

Each of these drive the price up. When you remove one or more of them, the price goes down.

However, it’s important to note that you should never ask for less than you need just because you want extra cheap social media marketing services. Again, this won’t bring you any real value and you’ll end up wasting money. It may not be a lot of money, but why waste them anyway?

4. Do Some of the Work Yourself

If you already have a marketing team in place, then you can take care of some of the work. Image and video production or sourcing are the first things you should consider.

Additionally, you can also sign up for your own social media management tool. There are tools (like Buffer) that offer free accounts for a limited number of profiles.

At Idunn, for instance, we work with Sendible for our own accounts and for the accounts of clients who don’t have their own tool. It’s not the cheapest way to manage social media accounts, but after trying most of the ones on the market, we can say without a doubt that it’s the best (for us, at least).

Conclusion

What you pay is what you get – it’s true for every industry, digital marketing included. Before you make a hire, make sure what you are actually getting are affordable social media marketing services and not bought bots as followers.

Ask your shortlisted candidates questions to make sure they know what they are doing. You can borrow ideas from our checklist for social media consultants qualities.

Need affordable social media marketing services? At Idunn, every price offer we send is unique. Tell us a bit about what you need and we’ll send you your very own offer ASAP. Plus, we’re super friendly – why not talk to us?