Most social media managers price by feel. They look at what a competitor charges, shave off a bit, and hope the client says yes. Then three months in, they are answering DMs at 9 p.m. and wondering why a $600 retainer feels like a second job.
Pricing a package well starts with your hours, not the market. Here is the method I use and teach.
01Start with the hours, not the deliverables
Before you name a price, work out how long the work actually takes for one month. Break it into the parts people forget:
- Planning and content strategy for the month
- Making the posts (design, video editing, writing captions)
- Scheduling and publishing
- Community management (replying to comments and messages)
- Client communication (approvals, calls, emails, revisions)
- Reporting
As a rule of thumb, a feed post with a designed graphic takes 45 to 90 minutes once you count the caption, hashtags and revisions. A short video takes two to three hours if you are editing it yourself. Client communication alone often eats four to six hours a month, even for a small account. Track your real time for two weeks on a current client and use those numbers instead of mine.
02Set an hourly rate you can live with
Divide the monthly income you need by the billable hours you can realistically work. Most freelancers can bill 20 to 25 hours a week, not 40, because the rest goes to finding clients, admin and the unpaid gaps. If you need $5,000 a month and can bill 90 hours, your floor is about $55 an hour.
That is a floor, not a price. Your rate should also reflect your experience, your niche and the results you can point to. A manager who has grown local restaurant accounts can charge more for restaurants than a generalist can.
Multiply hours by rate and you have the minimum a package must cost. If a client's budget sits below that number, the answer is a smaller scope, not a discount.
03Build three tiers around scope
Small business owners find it easier to choose between options than to react to a single quote. Three tiers works well. Name them plainly and spell out what is in each:
- **Starter:** 8 feed posts a month, one platform, scheduling and a monthly report. Comments and DMs not included.
- **Standard:** 12 posts plus 4 Stories, two platforms, light community management during business hours, a monthly call.
- **Full:** 16 posts, 2 short videos, three platforms, community management, a content calendar the client can review, and a monthly strategy call.
Price each tier from its own hour count, not by adding a flat amount per step up. The middle tier should be the one you most want to sell, so make sure its margin is the healthiest. Many managers find the middle option gets chosen most often when the tiers are laid out side by side.
Write down the limits as clearly as the inclusions. Two rounds of revisions per post. Approvals within 48 hours or the post moves to the next slot. Extra videos or ad management billed separately. Vague scope is where underpriced work comes from.
04Add the costs people forget
Your package has to cover tools, stock imagery, music licenses and any software you use for design or scheduling, spread across your clients. It also has to cover the time you spend on onboarding, which is usually three to five hours of setup, brand research and a first content plan. Charge a one-time setup fee for that, often equal to half a month's retainer, or fold it into a three-month minimum term.
If you also handle billing, remember that chasing late payments is unpaid work. Invoicing clients up front for the month, with a card payment option, saves a surprising amount of time. A tool like Postfolio lets you send invoices that clients pay by card, which removes one recurring awkward conversation.
05Present the price with the work attached
Do not email a number alone. Show the client what the month looks like: the posting schedule, the number of approvals they will be asked for, the report they will get at the end. When a client can see the calendar and the planned grid, the price reads as a plan rather than a guess. Postfolio's Grid planner shows the Instagram profile as it will look, which helps in sales calls when a client asks what they are actually paying for.
If they push back on price, offer to trim scope instead of the rate. Drop a platform, cut four posts, remove the strategy call. You protect your hourly rate, and the client still gets something that fits.
06Review your pricing every six months
Your first set of prices will be wrong in at least one direction. Check each client against your tracked hours twice a year. If a client costs you 14 hours a month and you priced for 9, either raise the retainer at renewal or tighten the scope. Give 30 days notice and explain the change with the hours in front of you. Most small business owners accept a fair increase when the reasoning is clear.
A package priced from real hours, with a written scope and a plan for change, is one you can keep delivering well. Everything else is guessing.