There are plenty of articles around that talk about what it takes to get started with social media. Heck, I’ve probably even written a few myself. After all, anyone – with the exception perhaps of Gerry Harvey – knows that the barriers to entry to social media are very low. You need a computer and a connection to the internet. Oh, and maybe an hour or so.
In that hour you will be able to create a blog, a number of profiles, fan pages, accounts and maybe even link them together. But then what?
Well, normally I’d say:
STOP
right
there
Do your research, think through and align your strategy and then proceed. But presuming you’ve jumped in feet first …
That’s when you either start spending some time (and yes, time is money) or you hire a consultant or an agency to help you out. But what are the ballpark figures you need to budget for? Think about:
- The profile of your business customers – where they shop (yes, online), where they get their information, how they qualify their decisions and where they rate, compare and review products. In short, what is their digital footprint
- What resources/time/people do you have in-house that can “own” your social media project
- Decide your level of commitment -are you testing the waters, piloting a concept, building on previous efforts, building a platform for business growth
- Write down your top three objectives
Once you have this basic information, Mack Collier has written an excellent article disclosing the type of prices charged for various social media related services. I have summarised the prices here, but added in my view of what you are likely to see here in Australia. These prices are not LARGE AGENCY prices – and are more likely to be found amongst the boutique agencies and individual consultants. Also, the quality and amount of creative design will impact these costs – good design costs good money.
Remember, you get what you pay for (generally) – and be sure to ask for details or references regarding the last three social media projects your consultant/agency has worked on. Be sure to go through and read Mack’s whole article and subscribe to his excellent blog.
| Blogging | Range | My view |
| Full service – launch, content creation, comment moderation management and response | 1000-12,000 | 10,000-25,000 |
| Launch – content creation and launch | 1000-8000 | 5000-10,000 |
| Ghost writing (per article) | $50-$500 | $100-$500 |
| Full service – launch, content creation and customer interaction | 1000-7500 | 2500-5000 |
| Full service – launch, content creation and customer interaction | 2000-9000 | 5000-10,000 |
| Strategy | ||
| Comprehensive strategy and content creation | 3000-20,000 | 10,000-30,000 |
| Social media strategy audit of existing approach | 2000-10,000 | 10,000-25,000 |
| Consulting (hourly) | 50-500 | 50-500 |
| Training | ||
| 1-2 hours | 500-5000 | 500-5000 |
| 4 hours | 1000-10000 | 1000-10000 |
| Full day | 2000-50,000 | 2000-50,000 |
Nice work. I think too often organisations do think that social media is a low cost strategy that can be implemented by an intern – this proves some of the true costs of implementation.
Really awesome post.I come to know about all the pros & cons and facts and figures about the Social media.Social media becomes more popular now a days.Social media help people to know about what ever they want.Its good for spreading a network also.For the year 2010 face book is more used than goggle in US.I read this article on Yahoo.Thanks for this good post.Its really a perfect one.
With regards
Joe