These businesses generally fall into three camps which include:
Businesses that have tried to navigate organic and paid social media on their own without an adequate understanding of social media best practices. These people have typically spent too much money and time for too little return on their investment.
Let’s explore point number three, businesses that have been burned by the cost of social media in the past:
All too often, however, business owners only measure last click attribution and overestimate how quickly social media marketing should produce a lead or a sale; they don’t look at the big picture of how social media plays a role in the overall marketing strategy.
Many people are out of touch with how long it takes to attract and nurture a new lead or prospect, especially in an increasingly competitive online environment. I don’t know who needs to read this, but it’s very similar to how long it takes to make a sale in the real world.
What does any of this have to do with the cost of
social media?
- How many audiences or consumer profiles do we need to connect with? How many educational messages will we need to create so that the target audience understands the brand, the product or service, and most importantly, the value it will offer them?
- How many channels are we going to use to connect with our target audience?
What kind of media are we going to create to catch their attention and to share a relevant and interesting story? Illustrations? Photos? Videos? GIFs? - What is our objective for each post? Is it to drive traffic to the website? To secure leads? To increase engagement measured through follows, likes, comments or shares?
- How many formats will we need to create the content in? For example, story format versus gallery format?
- How frequently are we planning to reach out? A few times week or several times each day?
- Who is going to handle community engagement? How quickly do we want to respond when the public has a question or comment?
- Who is responsible for writing and publishing the content? If we’re sending people from social media to the website, can the website handle the traffic and convert the lead?
- What software are we going to use to centralize and manage our social media ensuring an organized and productive team?
- A copywriter to write original content
- A graphic designer
- A photographer
- A videographer
- A community manager
- A web developer
- A strategist
- A media buyer
Business owners should also consider the cost of time saved by working with an agency for your social media needs.
This is a common occurrence because consumers want to see a current update from the brand. It’s well understood that websites are not always up to date, but social media can provide a glimpse of activities and updates in real time, and reinforces social proof (how many followers does the brand have, how many likes, how many comments?) Which helps support the idea that the visitor is on a quality site, exploring a quality brand. If other people ‘like’ this brand, perhaps I should too!
Another common traffic pattern is seen in referral traffic. Your customers are discovering and learning about your brand through social media even if your brand isn’t active on social media. In short, social media can help you net new prospects and allows your followers to be brand advocates for your business, sharing their personal experience and testimonials on your products and services. If you want to be a part of that conversation, then you will need to set up your social media accounts and participate.
How much does social media
marketing cost?
Social media marketing is not a free or easy marketing channel for most businesses. There are many considerations at play when determining how much a business should pay for social media marketing and social media advertising.
An average agency retainer for B2B brands executing a high performance social media presence typically ranges between $2,000-$10,000 per month allocated to content development and management (strategy, copywriting, photography, videography and graphic design), along with a dedicated ad spend of $1500 or more per month.
- A team of social media experts with a wide range of digital and design skills who are constantly staying up to date with the latest trends and best practices of social media marketing.
- A transparent and results driven team that will help you create a remarkable and memorable campaign strategy.
- Access to enterprise social media software to help deliver your content to a targeted audience.
- Support and consultation with clear communications to help you achieve your social media goals.
- A customized quote that aligns with your budget and prioritizes the best channels and content to reach your best customers.