Assuming that general expertise and management resources are in-house activities, then social media budgets cover two overall areas: media and production.

Production

• Asset capture such as photography, filming, audio recording – equipment and outsourced specialist costs
• Post-production of social content – design and editing expertise, software, stock assets from external libraries
• External expertise such as animators, copywriters and production staff.

Media

• Paid advertising budget on a social platform.
  Traditionally, due to the high cost of buying space on television, radio, print and outdoor channels, an ad campaign’s budget would be split 80:20 in favour of media.

This being said, in today’s social media landscape, a good piece of content can, in theory, appear across the internet without paid support if people are sufficiently interested or amused by it. Given this potential, brands have moved towards production, investing in higher quality content to raise audience engagement and shares across their consumers.

By shifting budget to production, you are essentially betting on the original idea behind content itself. Keep this in mind when splitting your social media campaign budget.

Join the discussion

If you were the social media manager for a brand or organisation of your choice, how do you think you’d divide your budget between media and product, based on the key considerations mentioned above? Briefly describe your budget below and explain why you have balanced it this way. Be sure to comment and reply.

Use the discussion section below and let us know your thoughts. Once you’re happy with your contribution, click the “Mark as Complete” button to check the Step off, then you can move to the next step.