Thinking About Hiring Social Media?
How Much Should You Expect to Pay For Social Media Employees & Contractors?

(Updated from original Spring 2012 blog post on Social Sparkle & Shine)

What can a Social Media Community Manager do for your business?

A community manager is the voice of the company externally and the voice of the customers internally. The value lies in the community manager serving as a hub & having the ability to personally connect with the customers (humanize the company), & providing feedback to many departments internally (development, PR, marketing, customer service, tech support, etc). – Connie Bensen

It’s a bit of a wild ride these days if you’re trying to make a living as a social media professional. New apps and startups are launching weekly and qualified social media professionals are creating and accepting social media positions with small businesses, large companies and ad agencies every day.

Many social media experts and professionals charge $10,000+/month for social media and Internet marketing consulting packages, while many business owners feel like paying $50/hour to a social media contractor is too much.

Most employers and hiring managers I speak with are looking to hire a Social Media Community Manager for the first time, and they’re often unsure of how traditional employee/contractor expectations translate to social media. Just writing this post, spawned another “Are Your #CMGR Hiring Expectations Realistic?”

People often email me asking for information on how much I charge for various social media services, which obviously I can’t provide without knowing a lot more about what results the client is looking for, why they need social media help now, and how much time & money resources they are going to budget/invest in a consulting solution.

That being said, I’ve applied for so many social media jobs, contracts and spoken with employers, HR managers and recruiters in Canada and the United States and feel like these could be the minimum budget you should expect to invest for ongoing social media community management services.

Please let me know in the comments if you think these are high, low or right on the mark. Again, these are not my rates, which vary by clients, they are just the average rate I think you should expect to invest if you are a) a serious business looking for a professional social media solution, and b) want to experience minimum acceptable results from your investment.

$60,000+/year
> 35 hours/week + event management & liveblogging, community participation
> Full-Time, On-Site, Community Manager Employee
Depending on the size of organization and activity & importance of the social media communities to the business, this role may focus on on-page community engagement only (large brands) and be part of a team, or in the case of small businesses with new communities and small budgets, this role could also include:

  • Website content management
  • Blogging and multi-media content development
  • Internet & digital marketing
  • Event marketing
  • Online advertising-media sales

> Look for: Candidates with a college/university degree in Internet marketing, marketing, PR/communications or writing, professional community management experience they can show you and blogging/content development experience preferably in your business category.

$1,500/month
> 1 hour/day + weekly client conference calls to report on results

> Daily updates from your pre-populated blog to all your social channels including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google+, etc.
> Part-Time Virtual Community Manager
> Appropriate for small communities (less than 10,000 members)
Actively engaging audiences on Facebook, Twitter daily and blogging daily. Occasional multi-media content development & event journalism for sharing on social channels.
> Look for: Candidates with professional community management experience they can show you and blogging/content development experience in your business category.

> Additional meetings and event attendance or product review blogging is usually available for $40-$70/hour.

$750/month
> 3 hours/week + monthly client conference calls to report on results

> Daily updates from your pre-populated blog to Facebook, Twitter, Google+ or Pinterest (a mix)
> Part-Time Virtual Community Manager
> Appropriate for small communities (less than 10,000 members)
Actively engaging audiences on Facebook, Twitter daily and blogging daily. Occasional multi-media content development & event journalism for sharing on social channels.
> Look for: Candidates with professional community management experience they can show you and blogging/content development experience, plus a desire to learn about your business category.

> Additional meetings and event attendance or product review blogging is often available for $50-$75/hour.

$250/month
> 1.25 hours/week
> Part-Time Virtual Community Manager
> Appropriate for small communities (less than 2,000 members)
Posting 2-3 updates per week, answering audience questions on Facebook & Twitter.
> Look for: Candidates with professional community management experience they can show you.

Want to confirm the above rates are really the least you can reasonably expect to find with quality results?

Read these posts from working social media professionals:

What are the key traits that will make a community manager successful in their role?

Wikibrands author Sean Moffitt at his book launch party at Social Media Week Toronto 2011

Darius Bashar

Here’s what Lauren O’Nizzle, one of Canada’s most popular community managers has to say about selecting a community manager who is an appropriate demographic fit for your community