How to price social media management packages
Price a monthly social media package from the work it really takes, not from someone else's price list. Here is a method you can repeat for every client.
Start from your time, not the market
Price lists you find online come from different countries, niches and levels of experience, so they rarely fit your situation. A package priced from your own time and rate does, and you can explain it to a client when they push back.
You need two numbers: your hourly rate, and how long each piece of work takes you. If you don't have a rate yet, work it out with the freelance rate calculator first.
Step 1: time the work
For a week, time yourself on real pieces of work, from first idea to scheduled post:
- Feed post: design or photo editing, caption, hashtags, scheduling.
- Carousel: several frames that tell one story, so usually more than a single post.
- Reel or short video: planning, filming or sourcing footage, editing, captions and the cover.
- Story: quick each time, but they add up.
- Community management: replying to comments and messages, every week.
- Planning and reporting: the content calendar, calls with the client, and a monthly report.
Write down the average for each. Your own numbers are worth more than any guide's.
Step 2: add up a month
Multiply each piece by how many the client gets each month, then add community management and reporting hours. That is the time the package really takes.
The buffer, often 10 to 20%, covers revisions, messages and the admin that never shows up in a time log.
Step 3: charge for each extra platform
The same content posted to Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn is not three times free. Each platform needs resizing, a rewritten caption and its own posting. Add a percentage for every platform after the first, or price each platform as its own line.
Step 4: price the extras before anyone asks
Most packages lose money through small extras: one more reel, a fourth round of changes, a story for an event. Put these prices in the proposal:
- Price per extra post, carousel, reel and story.
- How many revision rounds each piece includes, and the price of an extra round.
- What happens to unused content at the end of the month (most freelancers don't roll it over).
When the request comes, the conversation is already settled: "Happy to, that's an extra reel, I'll add it to next month's invoice."
An example
As an example only: a package with 8 feed posts, 4 carousels, 4 reels, 12 stories, 8 hours of community management and 4 hours of planning and reporting comes to roughly 43 hours a month with typical timings. At a rate of 50 an hour with a 15% buffer, that is about 2,470 a month for one platform. Put your own times and rate into the social media package calculator to get yours.
Package tiers that are easy to sell
Three tiers work well: a starter package (feed posts and stories), a growth package (adds carousels, reels and community management) and a full-service package (more reels, more platforms, ads planning and a monthly call). Price each from the method above, and let the middle one be the obvious choice.
Keep the package honest every month
Pricing is only half of it. If you don't count what you deliver, extras slip through. Kanvo lists what each client's package includes, counts every post and revision round as you deliver it, and puts anything extra on next month's invoice. Clients approve posts on a private link without an account.
Free tool: Price a monthly social media retainer, and the extras on top.
Open the free tool