How much does it cost to start a social media?
Nothing to start posting. To do it seriously: budget $0–$500/mo for tools (Buffer, Hootsuite, Later for scheduling; Canva for creative), $500–$3,000/mo for content production if you outsource writing/design, and $500–$50,000+/mo for paid amplification if you're running ads. Full-service US social media agencies typically charge $2,000–$15,000/mo depending on platform coverage and content volume.
What paying somebody to run it costs
Opening an account costs nothing. Running one properly is the cost people mean. 361 US firms in The Wall list social media marketing, 336 publish a minimum project size, and 248 of those open at $5,000 or less.
On hourly pricing, 290 publish a rate and 207 sit between $100 and $199. 294 of the 361 firms run fewer than 50 people, so in most cases you are hiring a small team rather than a department.
The cheap end is real and it is worth naming. 51 of these firms price under $100 an hour and 32 price at $200 or above. Below $100 you are usually buying somebody junior running a calendar, which is a fine purchase if a calendar is what you need.
How to use this
Price the first year as production plus media plus somebody accountable for replies. The third line is the one in-house plans forget, and it is what makes the other two work.
How this was computed. Every figure on this page is counted from The Wall's own directory of approved, US-headquartered, machine-verified-live listings: 3,460 of them in the snapshot captured 2026-09-14. Rates, minimum project sizes, team sizes, founding years and ratings are provider-declared figures published on public profiles. 1,738 of those listings publish a service list, and that field holds at most 4 services per firm, so service counts are counts of what firms name first rather than everything they sell. Percentages of disclosed values exclude listings that publish no figure. Nothing here is modeled or estimated. Sourcing standards: editorial policy.
Why this matters
Google puts this question in People Also Ask for the "social media marketing" query, which means buyers are asking it while they shop. The Wall answers it from the directory position: we index 3,460 verified US growth-services vendors across 10 pillars, so the figures above come from those records rather than from a survey.
If you are evaluating vendors in this category, the Social Media Marketing pillar page carries the full US firm list with rate, team size and headquarters filters.