Social media presents a powerful set of tools at no charge. Anybody can set up a social media profile and start posting. But in order to make social media work for you effectively, you’ll need to commit time, resources and energy to the effort. There are also some paid options that can really boost your presence.

If you have the time and resources to do so, and you’re on a tight budget, you can manage your content strategy and stay regularly active on your social media profiles on your own without spending an extra dime. If you want to see the best growth on your social media network, consider some of the following expenses.

Social Media Ads

The majority of social networking websites offer some kind of paid advertising. This is the best option for a new social media presence seeking rapid growth. You can evaluate the many options available to you, but typically you can get started with a budget as small as $5 or as high as $50,000.

In addition to running traditional ads, you often have options like making your profile appear higher in other people’s newsfeeds, promoting a single post or announcement, etc.

Social Media Management

If you’re not a savvy social media marketing expert, but you want to see social media growth, you should look at a social media management expert.

Hiring a firm to handle your social media can be very beneficial and let you hit the ground running.

There are typically two types of help you can get: creating and designing your profiles, and long-term management.
Getting the help of an expert is probably the most important when you get your profiles set up. An expert can help you create the graphics and media required for a sharp, professional profile. They can assist in creating the initial copy for your profile and suggesting the best settings and strategies for how to use the profile.

Once you are established, an expert can help in managing your long-term content strategy. They can help to launch new social media campaigns, regularly publish content, create discounts and deals, and more.

Other Expenses

In addition to creating, customizing, managing and advertising your social media presence, there are some other expenses that can come up.

For example, the content that you publish on social media sites to make the most of your presence will require some time and effort. You may seek an expert’s help in creating whitepapers, freebies or authoring in-depth content for you.

You might want to cater to the social media userbase by developing and managing a solid mobile-friendly website in addition to your primary website. You might want to consider creating videos to publish on your social profiles that help introduce people to your products and services.

Budget Your Money Wisely

The important thing is to understand what you can afford and how important social media is for your business. There are very few companies that can afford to ignore social media entirely, but for some businesses it is truly an integral part of the business.