Social media management often costs $500 to $5,000 per month. See what changes the price and what Make Waves includes for $1,500 to $3,500.
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Social media management for a small business usually costs between $500 and $5,000 per month. The number depends on who creates the content, how many platforms you use, how often you post, and whether the plan includes community management, reporting, and paid advertising.
At Make Waves Marketing, social media management runs from $1,500 to $3,500 per month. That public range includes original monthly content shoots. We serve businesses across South Louisiana and Northeast Florida, where stock photos and generic captions rarely beat footage of the actual people doing the actual work.
I have reviewed enough social calendars to know that the cheapest plan can become expensive fast. A feed full of Canva holidays may technically count as posting. It does not give a customer much reason to remember the business.
This guide explains where the money goes, what should be included, and how to compare proposals without comparing twelve versions of the word "content."
Here is the short answer for a small or established local business.
Sprout Social's 2026 pricing guide puts a basic social media program between $500 and $5,000 per month. Its freelancer range runs from $20 to $150 per hour. Those figures are useful for orientation, though they do not make two proposals equal. One agency may include photography and video while another expects you to supply every asset.
The quote matters less than the responsibilities attached to it. Ask who plans the calendar, writes the captions, captures the content, posts it, responds to comments, tracks performance, and asks you for approval. Every unassigned task eventually lands on the owner's desk. That desk is already full.
The largest cost driver is original content. Scheduling ten posts from a folder you provide takes far less time than traveling to your business, planning a shoot, interviewing employees, filming real work, editing vertical video, writing captions, and routing everything for approval.
Platform count also changes the workload. Facebook and Instagram can share some ideas, but LinkedIn needs a different tone and TikTok often needs a different edit. Copying the same post everywhere saves time. It also makes the channels feel like unattended bulletin boards.