Almost every social media management package is described in the same units: posts per month, channels covered, a content calendar, community management and a report. Those units are easy to compare and they tell you very little, because two agencies quoting twelve posts a month can be selling wildly different work depending on who writes, who shoots, how fast approvals turn, and what happens when a customer complains publicly at nine at night. This page unpacks what the tiers usually contain, what is almost always excluded, the disclosure obligations that come attached, and how to test a package against your own situation before signing.
What the tiers usually contain
A starter tier is typically a small number of posts on one or two channels, sourced from stock imagery and your existing material, with a monthly report and community management limited to business hours. A middle tier adds channels, original photography or short video, and faster approval cycles. A top tier adds strategy, paid amplification management, influencer or creator coordination and something closer to same-day responsiveness. The unit that changes least between tiers is post count, and the units that change most, origination of creative and speed of response, are the ones that decide whether the output looks like your business or like a template. Read the tier definitions for those two things first.
What is almost always excluded
Five exclusions cause most billing disputes. Advertising spend is nearly always separate from the fee to manage it, and the management fee may be flat or a percentage. Original photography and video production are usually quoted per shoot rather than included, even when the sample work is full of it. Influencer and creator fees are pass-through costs. Out-of-hours community management is often explicitly excluded, which matters most in exactly the categories where a bad thread spreads overnight. Finally, crisis response and reputation work are usually outside the retainer entirely. Ask for each of these in writing, because a package that looks cheaper than a rival is frequently a package that excludes one of them.
The disclosure duties that come with the package
If any part of the package involves endorsements, creator collaborations, gifted product or incentivised reviews, disclosure obligations attach to your brand and not only to the agency. The FTC's endorsement guidance says a material connection that a significant minority of consumers would not expect, and that would affect how they weigh the endorsement, should be disclosed clearly and conspicuously, and that the ultimate responsibility rests with the influencer and the brand rather than the platform. It also warns that offering an incentive can be deceptive if it materially raises your average star rating compared with non-incentivised reviews. Ask any agency proposing creator work to show you its written instructions to creators; if none exist, the program is not being run properly.
Testing a package against your own situation
Start from the outcome rather than the post count. A business whose customers ask questions publicly needs responsiveness and should pay for it. A business selling a visual product needs original creative and should not accept stock. A business with a compliance layer, a clinic, a lender, a law firm, needs an approval workflow, and the package should describe how many rounds are included before revisions are billed. Then ask for the last two months of live output from an existing client rather than a best-of deck, and read the replies as well as the posts. Where the shortlist widens into full social media management services with paid amplification and creative production, price the same defined scope from each firm rather than comparing three tier sheets.
Questions people ask about social media management packages
How many posts a month do we actually need?
Fewer than most packages sell, and better. Consistency and relevance matter more than volume on every major platform, and a business posting three strong pieces a week outperforms one posting daily filler. Buy the quality tier you can sustain rather than the highest post count you can afford.
Is ad spend included in a management package?
Almost never. The fee covers managing the spend, and the spend itself is billed separately. Confirm whether the management fee is flat or a percentage of spend, and what happens to it when your budget changes materially.
Who is responsible if a creator fails to disclose a paid partnership?
Both the creator and the brand can be. The FTC's guidance states that the ultimate responsibility for clearly and conspicuously disclosing a material connection rests with the influencer and the brand, not the platform, and that a company may be liable for hiring and directing endorsers who fail to disclose.
What should the monthly report show?
Reach and engagement are context, not outcomes. Ask for saved and shared content, click-throughs, enquiries attributed to social, and a list of what was actually published. A report with no link to enquiries cannot tell you whether the retainer is earning.