Introduction to Social Media Budgets
Social media marketing has evolved rapidly over the past decade.
What started as a free and organic way for brands to reach audiences has shifted to a pay-to-play model. Platform algorithms have changed, making it much harder for brands to get content seen without putting ad dollars behind posts, causing a social media budget to be needed.
While the audience reach is still there, capturing it now requires strategy and budgeting.
Gone are the days of throwing up a Facebook page or Twitter account and watching the fans and followers multiply.
Today’s social media marketing landscape requires planning, resources, and funding. Brands that want to maximize their social media ROI must develop and manage a social media budget.
But for many companies, social media is still new territory.
Gaining executive buy-in and budget approval can be challenging, especially if leadership doesn’t fully understand its value. Social media managers must learn how to build a case for the necessary budgets to support their strategy and tie it back to core business goals.
In this beginner’s guide, we’ll walk through the key steps for developing a social media marketing budget and tips for garnering executive support at your company.
With the right approach, you can secure the dollars needed to create an impactful social presence and see strong returns from your investment.
Steps for Developing a Social Media Budget
The first step in creating your social media marketing budget is to map out your overall strategy and plan.
This should include the channels you’ll be active on, the types of content you’ll produce, campaign ideas, and your goals.
Once you have your social media marketing plan fleshed out, you can determine the associated costs:
- Content Creation Costs: Will you produce content in-house or use freelancers/agencies? Factor in expenses like graphic design, video production, influencer content, etc.
- Advertising Costs: Decide on your ideal mix of organic vs. paid advertising. Estimate costs for social ads, promoted posts, and influencer partnerships. Analyze current ad benchmarks.
- Staffing Costs: Determine if your team has the bandwidth to execute your social strategy or if you need additional hires.
- Tool Costs: Factor in social media management tools, analytics software, or other tech/services expenses.
In addition to outlining potential costs, take time to gather data and research benchmarks for your industry—for example, review reports on your niche’s average social ad CPMs.
See what competitors are spending. Back up your proposed budget with market data.
Building your budget directly from your social media marketing plan ensures you tie dollars to strategy. And having robust data gives you credibility when requesting a budget from company leaders.
Example Social Budget
| Expense Category | Annual Budget |
|---|---|
| Content Creation | $10,000 |
| Advertising Spend | $15,000 |
| Influencer Partnerships | $5,000 |
| Social Media Management Tools | $2,000 |
| Additional Staffing | $20,000 |
| Total Budget | $52,000 |
Example Social Ad CPMs
| Industry | Average CPM |
|---|---|
| Retail | $1.00 – $3.00 |
| Travel | $3.00 – $5.00 |
| Financial Services | $4.00 – $7.00 |
| CPG/FMCG | $1.50 – $2.50 |
| B2B Technology | $6.00 – $10.00 |
Gaining Executive Buy-in
Once you’ve developed your social media budget, the next hurdle is getting executive buy-in.
This means connecting your strategy and proposed budget to tangible business goals and demonstrating the value social media can bring.
Rather than focusing on vanity metrics like followers or shares, frame your budget requests around core areas that matter to leadership:
- Revenue: Show how social media can drive new sales opportunities and customers. Provide revenue projections.
- Cost Savings: Highlight how social channels can improve efficiency. For example, deflecting support inquiries to social DM saves on call center costs.
- Competitive Advantage: Explain how specific tactics will help you pull ahead of competitors in your industry.
- Brand Reputation: Demonstrate how social media safeguards and builds brand reputation.
- Customer Satisfaction: Illustrate how social improves customer experience and satisfaction scores.
Back up claims with as much data as possible. If you don’t have an existing program, position your proposal as a small pilot or experiment and show how you’ll measure results. Provide multiple budget scenarios.
The goal is to shift the conversation from the “what” of social media activities to the “why” – how it furthers overarching business objectives. You’re far more likely to secure budget and resources with a compelling case aligned to leadership goals.
Example Social Media Budget Goals
| Business Goal | Social Media Tactic | Projected Impact | Requested Budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Increase brand awareness among teenagers | Partner with gaming influencers | Increase brand mentions by 2% | $7,500 |
| Improve customer satisfaction | Expand social care team | Decrease response time by 50% | $30,000 |
Key Takeaways
Developing a social media marketing budget and getting buy-in from company leadership is achievable with the right approach. Here are some key tips to recap:
- Start by outlining your full social media marketing strategy and plan first. Then determine associated costs for content, advertising, staffing, and tools.
- Collect industry benchmarks and competitive data to support your budget ask. Quantify projections whenever possible.
- Tie social media goals back to core business objectives like revenue, costs, competition, brand, and customer satisfaction. Focus on the “why.”
- Frame new budget requests as a small pilot or experiment with measurable results. Provide multiple budget scenario options.
- Use ample data and projections to demonstrate the tangible business value of social media marketing.
With these steps, you can build a convincing case for the budget needed to support impactful social media efforts.
Spending the time to craft a solid proposal rooted in business goals will go a long way in securing executive buy-in and allocation of resources.
Social Media Budget Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q: I’m new to social media marketing. Where do I start with budgeting?
A: First, develop your overall social media marketing strategy and document the tactics you want to implement. Outline goals, platforms, content plans, etc. Then estimate the costs associated with executing that strategy.
Q: What type of costs should I factor into a social media budget?
A: Consider content creation, advertising, influencers, staffing, software/tools, and any other expenses for managing social media for your brand—research average costs for your industry.
Q: How much budget should I request for social media marketing?
A: Start small if you don’t have an existing program. Propose a pilot program budget first focused on testing/learning. Then scale up budget requests as you prove ROI.
Q: How do I convince my executives to fund social media marketing?
A: Tie social media goals back to core business objectives. Show how it can drive revenue, decrease costs, and improve brand reputation and customer satisfaction. Provide ample supporting data.
Q: What if leadership rejects my budget proposal?
A: If your request is denied, use it as a learning opportunity. Ask why it was rejected and what objections you need to address. Revise your proposal and highlight how you’ll measure impact.
Q: Should my social media budget remain fixed or fluctuate?
A: Social media budgets often need room for optimization and testing. Maintain some flex room rather than a fixed dollar amount. Review and adjust quarterly.
Social Media Budget Glossary
CPM – Cost Per Thousand (impressions). A common advertising metric used to estimate budget.
ROI – Return on Investment—the amount earned or lost on an investment relative to the amount spent used to demonstrate value.
Organic Reach – The number of unique users who see a post through unpaid distribution.
Paid Advertising – Social media advertising and promoted posts that require budget spending to boost visibility.
Influencer Marketing – Leveraging influencers to promote products/services to their audience. Requires a budget.
Impressions – The number of times a post or ad is displayed, a commonly used social media metric.
Vanity Metrics – Metrics like followers and likes that don’t tie directly to business value.
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) – The cost to acquire a new customer. It can be optimized through social media.
Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) – Total revenue generated from a customer over their lifetime, maximized through retention and loyalty.
Ad Benchmarks – Research reports on average advertising costs and performance for an industry used for budgeting.
Executive Buy-In – Getting executives/leadership to approve and fund a proposed budget or project.
