The cost of living crisis is affecting us all in its own way, and it’s harder than ever to convince potential clients they need you. I often hear that Social Media is an easy and free way for Small Businesses to promote themselves. But is it really?

While using Social Media is technically free, there are costs involved. Did you that the average Social Media Manager in the UK charges £17.95 per hour? Depending on how many platforms you have and how much you can do yourself, that can easily add up to £2000 per month!

Of course, you can do it yourself. And, let’s be honest, if you’re reading this, you more than likely are. Unfortunately, that still doesn’t mean it’s necessarily free. You might choose to pay to boost a post, you might have a Canva subscription, and you might pay for a scheduling tool.

So how can you reduce your Social Media Marketing costs?

Canva Subscription

Don’t get me wrong, I love Canva and I would hate to work without it, but I don’t actually pay for it. A few of my clients do, and they have chosen to add to me their team so I can access it when working on their content. The truth is that the only real benefit I get from this is a bit of a time saver.

When working for myself, or for clients without a paid Canva subscription, I have to find workarounds. I sometimes have to head to other sites to get stock images. I have to copy the content and paste it to a new document to resize it (there’s an easy “resize” button if you pay for Canva). I have to go to other sites to remove the background.

Will I get a Canva subscription one day? Yes, absolutely!

Is it a necessity? No, you can quite easily create all the same content without it.

Scheduling tools

Scheduling your posts is a great time saver. It allows you to sit down on one day and get everything scheduled for the week(s) to come. But do you need to pay for a tool like Buffer, Later or Hootsuite? If you are already paying for Canva, definitely not! Did you know Canva has a scheduling tool available for their paying members?

If you want to see all your scheduled posts in one place, these tools are great. If not, most of the platforms have their own scheduling features – if somewhat limited.

On Twitter, you can only schedule from your computer – or from your phone if you go through your browser.

On LinkedIn, you can schedule posts but not articles – and not on a business page!

Through Meta Business Suite, you can schedule to a Facebook page, Instagram, and Facebook groups all at the same time. Although you can’t schedule different images, you can have different captions for Facebook and Instagram. Of course, you can schedule the posts separately to have different-sized images. You also can’t schedule Instagram images with background music.

Will I pay for a Scheduling Tool one day? Probably not.

Boosting your posts

Of course, there are benefits to boosting posts, but I work only with organic posts! I strongly believe that an optimised profile, a good strategy, and relevant hashtags are so much more important. And yes, I have first-hand experience to back up this claim. A client once came to me struggling with reach on Facebook. Their posts were getting seen by about 200 people, and their boosted post reached just over 800 people. I optimised their page and the first post I created for them reached around 1600 people.

Will I ever boost posts? It’s unlikely!

Should you? If you can’t afford to work with a professional, it can be a low-cost little boost.

Your time

They say you can’t work both in and on your business. All the time you spend working on your Social Media is time you aren’t working in your business. What’s your usual hourly rate for your clients? How many hours do you spend on your Social Media Marketing? Don’t forget to value your time!

Working with a professional

From that one example above, you can see how working with a professional can make a huge difference. Of course, it can’t come for free, but it doesn’t have to be expensive. Did you know that I have worked with some Small Businesses for just £50 or less?

A recent client came to me with three weeks to go until their Christmas Event. They needed one-off support to promote it. I was able to deliver an Audit type of review, a two-week post plan, some relevant hashtags, some relevant groups to join, and a call to answer any of their questions. It cost them less than £50.

Should you work with a professional? Well, I’m not going to say no, am I? But honestly, yes!

Stay warm and fed this winter you lovely people, your Social Media doesn’t have to be a big expense ♥