Social media marketing expanded to become one of the mainstream business tools utilized by so many companies across Australia to increase recognition and interactivity for their brand. This rapid growth in social media raises the question regarding costs. If you are an Australian small businessperson, you’re undoubtedly asking yourself, “Just how much does it cost?”.
The actual costs may be a bit tricky to work out because there’s a heap of different factors that may influence your final bill, so here we will break down some of the costs associated with social media marketing in an effort to give users a good idea of what to expect from such services. In doing this, we will break down some of the real costs associated with social media marketing, so you can get a good idea of what to expect from these services.
Small Business Cost for Social Media Marketing
While that does indeed sound like a large investment for any small business in Australia, be reassured that these costs do scale down to various budgets and requirements. After all, the typical spend of small businesses on social media marketing runs to about $500-$5,000 per month. However, following the average marketing rule, the cost can differ, depending on the campaign and platforms used, along with the level of expertise required.
Platform Choice: Of course, not all social media platforms are similar when talking about cost. A Facebook ad is quite likely to be cheaper compared to an ad on LinkedIn, which very often targets a small professional audience. Thus, your choice of platform is going to be a key determinant in your overall cost.
Content Quality: High-quality visuals, videos, and graphics usually cost more. Factoring in a professional need for photography or video production, this will add up in cost as well. You can reduce the cost by doing it yourself, but with simple tools, keep it on the low side.
Budget: Daily posting and complex campaigns will take up the budget quicker than a simple campaign with a couple of posts a week. So, in this respect, most likely, a simple campaign will be much cheaper compared to a full-blown strategy with daily updates, community management, and sophisticated targeting.
Management and Strategy: The second cost in regards to social media marketing is maintaining and strategizing social media marketing. They can also be a case where you hire a social media manager or an agency to run the accounts on your behalf, usually at $1,000 – $3,000 per month. This may also extend to the development of strategies, planning, and scheduling, monitoring, and reporting generally.
What social media marketing costs amount to in Australia?
The social media marketing scenario in Australia is highly competitive and diverse. The prices can vary very significantly depending on where you are, the standing of your agency, and just how big your campaign is. What you can expect to pay within each tier is then essentially broken down as follows:
Local vs. National Campaigns: It would be cheaper to run a campaign if it’s targeted at the local level of people, such as local town or region. Likewise, local campaigns usually have less competition, so it costs less.
Payment Terms: The payment terms for social media marketing agencies in Australia are also very varied. While some charge on a flat rate, others work on retainers. Their usual fees would be between $1,500 and $6,000 monthly. This may be inclusive of all services done for your business.
Ad Spend: This is the largest part of what most people pay for running ads with social media marketing. The cost per click can vary from $0.50 to $5.00 or more in Australia, mostly depending on the platform and how competitive your industry is. Accordingly, ad spend goes on to become one of the major constituents in your budget.
Influencer Marketing: The next one is the influencer cost. These influencers charge a variable amount depending on the number of followers, engagement rate levels, and the industry relevance. You can pay them between $100 and $10,000 for each post, depending on the reach and influence.
Cost per Month of Social Media Marketing
As you make a budget, you will need to apply disaggregated monthly outgoings for social media marketing. Here you could go further, detailing what makes up an average of that cost each month:
Content Creation: Ranging from as simple as $500-$2,000 per month.
Management Fees: The going rate for either a social media manager or a social media agency will easily run from $1,000 to $3,000 per month. Normally, this already includes strategy, implementation, and tracking.
The ad spends are very affordable in themselves and can be from small entrepreneurs to the giant companies or ventures where large campaigns could amount over $5,000 or more.
Additional tools or software, driving this number up, include social media management tools, analytics, and scheduling software in with subscription fees that could vary from $50 to $300 per month.
In the end, small businesses might incur charges ranging between $2,000 to $7,000 per month for fully integrated social media marketing that covers content creation, content management, advertising, and tools.
What is the Cost of a Social Media Marketing Campaign?
Social media marketing campaigns will way be too different in cost compared to running a monthly cost. Social media marketing campaigns are mostly goal-based, more result-oriented, intensive, and time-bound. Therefore, here’s what you should consider:
Campaign Scope: The broader the campaign, the pricier it tends to be. For instance, if a campaign has the objective to introduce/launch a new product or to raise brand awareness, then the scope of work—that is to say, of production, ad buying, and relationships—becomes larger.
Duration: Shorter Campaigns usually are cheaper than long campaign alternatives of comparable quality and targeting, but also generally require proportionately less effort. For example, a one-month campaign typically costs from $1,000 to $10,000, depending on campaign size and complexity.
Goals and Metrics: If the goal is, for instance, driving more Web site traffic or doing some interesting analytics in support of the goal, that could cost money. Also bound to vary in respect to the extent of precision and measurability is. Agency vs. In-House Executing a campaign through an agency is bound to up the ante over running it in-house. In most cases, large agencies maintain highly specialized skills and resources that can be an explanation to the high rates.
One can expect such a social media advertising campaign to be usually between $2,000 and $15,000. The expenditure easily depends on the scope of work, time frames, and objectives equally enough.
Social media marketing costs can be tricky, so I hope anyone has got a little bit of an inside idea about what goes into the price. It is all about holding up a good budget-to-goals strategy to ensure that one maximizes on what falls under the business strategy via social media marketing. Spending your resources wisely assures a maximum return on the input of social media marketing, bringing amazing results to the brand.
Social media: Whether you are working with a social media agency on retainer or running campaigns with your in-house team, be very clear about what you are trying to achieve and budget for in order for you to be on the right track. Now, with this information at hand, plan a social media marketing strategy accordingly. With a well-executed campaign that can yield high ROIs, it will really show that driving your business in the digital world is no longer just a dream.