How to Hire a Social Media Management Company

If you want to hire a social media management company, most of the guides you will find are about something else: hiring one person, either a freelancer from a marketplace or an employee from a job board. That is one way to get your social media handled. Hiring a company is another, and the process is different. You are not judging one person’s skills. You are judging a team, a process, and a contract.

This guide walks through the whole thing, from deciding whether you need help at all to what the first month should look like. Social Maestro is a social media management company, so we have a stake in this topic. Everything below applies whether you hire us or someone else.

What Does a Social Media Management Company Do?

A social media management company runs your business’s social media accounts for you. Depending on the plan, that usually includes:

• Strategy: which platforms to be on, who you are trying to reach, and what you want those people to do.
• Content creation: writing posts, designing graphics, and sometimes photography or short video.
• Scheduling and publishing on a consistent calendar.
• Community management: answering comments and direct messages.
• Reporting: showing what happened each month and what it led to.
• Paid social: running ad campaigns, usually billed separately from the ad spend itself.

The biggest difference from a single freelancer is coverage. A company has several people, so the work keeps going when someone is sick, on vacation, or leaves.

Why Hire a Social Media Management Company?

Four reasons come up again and again.

Time. Social media rewards consistency, and consistency is hard to keep up while you are running a business. Handing it off gives those hours back to the work only you can do.

Range of skills. One person is rarely an equally strong writer, designer, video editor, ad buyer, and analyst. A company spreads that work across people who each do one part well.

Continuity. Your accounts do not go quiet because one person quit. The process, the history, and the brand notes stay with the company.

Keeping up with platform changes. Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn change their features and what they show people all the time. A company that manages many accounts sees those changes as they happen and adjusts, so you do not have to track them yourself.

There are tradeoffs. You will be less hands-on than you would be with an employee down the hall, and a company usually costs more than a basic freelancer. Whether that is worth it depends on the next question.

When Should You Hire One, and Do You Need One at All?

You are probably ready for help if:

• You post in bursts and then disappear for weeks.
• Comments and messages sit for days before anyone answers.
• You believe social media should be bringing in customers, but you cannot tell whether it is.
• You are spending evenings on it and resenting every minute.
• You are adding locations, services, or platforms and cannot keep up.

You may not need a company if you enjoy doing it yourself and it is working, or if your customers simply do not use social media to find businesses like yours. And if most of your customers find you through Google, your website and Google Business Profile may be the better first investment.

If you are on the fence, our post on the 7 signs you need a marketing expert can help you decide.

In-House vs. Outsourced: Employee, Freelancer, or Company

There are three ways to get social media handled, and each fits a different kind of business.

Option	Strengths	Drawbacks
Employee	Full control, deep knowledge of your business, available every day	Highest fixed cost (salary, benefits, payroll taxes, tools), one person’s skill set, you manage them
Freelancer	Flexible, lower cost, easy to start	Depends on one person, you usually supply the direction and raw material
Company	A team with a process, coverage when someone is out, reporting built in	A monthly fee, less day-to-day control, quality varies widely from company to company

To put rough numbers on it: Payscale reports an average base salary of about $61,000 a year for a social media manager in the United States, with most falling between $41,000 and $88,000, before benefits and payroll taxes. Freelancers who handle basic posting and scheduling typically charge a few hundred dollars a month. Company pricing is covered further down.

Define Your Business Goals Before You Hire

“More followers” is not a business goal. Before you talk to anyone, decide what you want social media to do for you. For example:

• More calls, booking requests, or quote requests
• More people at an event or open house
• More reviews from happy customers
• Help recruiting staff
• Staying top of mind with past customers so they come back and refer others

Pick one or two, and decide how you will measure them: calls, form submissions, bookings, or simply asking new customers how they heard about you. Without this step, no company can tell you whether the work is paying off, and you will end up judging it by likes.

Levels of Service: What Each Tier Usually Includes

Social media companies tend to sell in tiers, and two quotes can look wildly different because they cover different work. Most offers fall into one of these levels:

1. Posting only. You supply the content; they schedule and publish it.
2. Content and posting. They write and design the posts and publish them.
3. Full management. Content and posting, plus answering comments and messages, strategy, and monthly reporting.
4. Full management plus ads. Everything above, plus planning and running paid campaigns.

When you compare quotes, confirm which level each one is. A posting-only quote and a full-management quote are not competing offers; they are different services.

Skills and Qualifications to Look For

The best signals come from the work itself, not the sales pitch. Look for:

• Writing that sounds like a person. Read their posts for other clients. If they could belong to any business in any town, keep looking.
• Design and video quality that matches the standard of your brand.
• Knowledge of the platforms your customers use, not just the ones that are popular this year.
• Experience with businesses like yours, whether that means local service businesses or your specific industry.
• Reporting tied to business results, not just likes and impressions.
• Responsiveness. How quickly and clearly they answer you before you sign is a preview of how they will treat you after.
• Clean tactics. No bought followers and no fake engagement. Those schemes can get an account restricted.

Platform certifications are nice to have, but a portfolio and a conversation with a current client will tell you much more.

Write a Clear Brief (Your Version of a Job Description)

Companies hiring an employee write a job description. When you hire a social media company, the equivalent is a short brief. It does not need to be formal. A page is plenty. Include:

• What your business does and who your best customers are
• Your one or two goals from above
• The platforms you are on now and any you are considering
• What you can provide (photos, videos, staff for quick approvals) and what you want them to handle
• A budget range
• How you talk: words you use, words you never use, and a few businesses whose social media you admire
• When you would like to start

Send the same brief to every company you talk to. It saves time on every call, and it means the quotes you get back are actually comparable.

Where to Find a Social Media Management Company

Good places to start:

• Referrals from business owners you trust. Ask who handles their social media and whether they would hire them again.
• Local networking groups such as your chamber of commerce or a referral group.
• Businesses whose social media you admire. Send them a message and ask who runs it.
• A Google search for social media management companies in your area, followed by a careful read of their reviews.
• Agency directories such as Clutch, which list companies along with client reviews.
• Freelance marketplaces such as Upwork and Fiverr. Some agencies list there, though most profiles are individual freelancers.

Interviewing and Choosing the Right Company

Talk to at least two or three companies before you decide. Use the same brief and the same questions with each one.

Questions to Ask

• Who will actually work on my account, and how often does that change?
• How will you learn our voice and our business?
• Who answers comments and messages, and how fast?
• How does approval work before something posts?
• What does the monthly report show, and will a person walk me through it?
• What happens if something goes wrong, like an angry review or a negative comment thread?
• Can I see work you have done for a business like mine, and can I talk to a current client?
• Who owns the accounts, the content, and any ad accounts if we part ways?

That last question has only one right answer: you do.

Read the Contract

Before you sign, make sure the agreement spells out:

• The length of the term and how much notice you need to give to cancel
• What is included, in numbers: platforms, posts per month, and response times
• Who owns the content created for you
• Whether ad spend is billed separately from the management fee
• That all account access stays in your name and is handed back if you leave

Red Flags

Walk away, or at least ask hard questions, if a company:

• Guarantees a follower count or promises to make you go viral
• Asks for your passwords instead of requesting access through each platform’s business tools
• Sets up accounts or ad accounts in its own name instead of yours
• Will not tell you who actually does the work
• Locks you into a long contract with no way out
• Lets its own social media sit abandoned
• Sends reports full of likes with no connection to calls, bookings, or sales

What It Costs and How Much to Pay

For a local business, ongoing management from a company commonly runs from several hundred to a few thousand dollars a month, depending on the level of service. Posting-only plans sit at the lower end. Full management with content creation, community management, and reporting sits at the higher end. If you run ads, the ad spend itself is usually extra.

We break this down in detail in How Much Does Social Media Management Cost for a Small Business?, including what moves the price and why the cheapest option often costs more in the end.

The more useful question is not what it costs but what a customer is worth. Figure out what one new customer spends with you over the years, then ask how many new customers per month the work needs to bring in to pay for itself. For many local businesses, that number is one, and sometimes less. Hold any company you hire to that standard.

Other Kinds of Help: Recruiters and Virtual Assistants

A full-service company is not the only way to get help.

Recruiters. If you decide an in-house employee is the right fit, a recruiter can find and screen candidates for you, usually for a fee tied to the new hire’s salary.

Virtual assistants. A virtual assistant can handle scheduling and posting while you keep control of the strategy and the content. This works well for owners who like creating content but do not want to spend time on the mechanics.

A mix. Some businesses hire a company for strategy, content, and reporting, while staff members share quick behind-the-scenes photos and stories in the moment. That combination can work very well when everyone knows who does what.

What They Should Deliver in the First 30 Days

You cannot judge results after one month, but you can judge the process. In the first 30 days, a good company should:

• Run an onboarding call or questionnaire to learn your business, customers, and voice
• Set up access correctly, with every account owned by you
• Review your current profiles and fix the basics: bios, links, hours, contact details, and consistent branding
• Agree on your goals in writing, along with how they will be measured
• Record your starting numbers so month two has something to be compared against
• Share a content calendar for your approval
• Get the first posts published and start answering comments and messages

If the first month goes by without these basics, that tells you a lot about the months to come.

Related Services You Can Hire

Social media works best alongside the rest of your marketing. Many companies also offer:

• Website design and care, since your website is where social media traffic goes
• Search engine optimization (SEO) so people find you when they search
• Google Business Profile management for visibility in local search and maps
• Email marketing to stay in touch with past customers
• Paid advertising on social platforms or Google
• Blog and content writing

One team handling several of these can keep your message consistent everywhere. Just do not buy a bundle you do not need. Start with the one or two services that tie directly to your goals. Social Maestro is part of Digital Maestro, which handles websites, SEO, and Google Business Profiles for small businesses, so if you want those under one roof, that option exists.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does it cost to hire a social media management company?

For a local business, ongoing management commonly runs from several hundred to a few thousand dollars a month, depending on how much of the work the company handles. Ad spend is usually separate. Our cost guide covers the details.

How long does it take to see results?

You should see consistent activity right away: regular posts and prompt replies. Business results, like more calls and bookings, usually take longer to build. Give it a few months before you judge the outcome, and judge the process from the first week.

Should I hire a freelancer or a company?

A freelancer can work well if you want basic posting at a lower cost and you are comfortable providing the direction. A company makes more sense when you want strategy, content creation, community management, and reporting handled by a team, without depending on one person.

Will I still need to be involved?

Yes, but less. Expect to approve content, share photos and news from your business, and answer questions only you can answer. The best results come from businesses that stay a little involved.

Who should own my social media accounts?

You should. Every account, page, and ad account should be in your business’s name, with the company given access through each platform’s business tools. If you part ways, you keep everything.

Can a social media company guarantee results?

No. Platforms change how they show content all the time, and no company controls that. What a good company can promise is the work itself, clear reporting, and clear conversations about what is and is not working.

Find the Right Fit

Hiring a social media management company comes down to three things: knowing what you want it to do for your business, comparing companies on the same terms, and choosing one that treats your accounts, your voice, and your customers as yours. If you would like to talk through what the right setup looks like for your business, we are happy to help.