FOR BUSINESS OWNERS
Should you hire a social media manager? What they do and what it costs in the UK
What a social media manager actually does, what the different routes cost in the UK, and the signs that you are ready to hand it over.
When paid social helps a personal brand, when it is a waste of money, and how to run a small, sensible first campaign.
Running ads behind your personal brand pays off when you have something specific to sell and content that already gets a response without paid help. You also need somewhere for people to land, such as a website or booking page. It’s rarely worth paying for followers or fame. Start small, with one clear goal and a test budget.
Once you’ve started showing up as yourself online, paid social looks like the obvious next move. A few posts take off. The platforms keep nudging you to “boost” them. Reaching more people seems cheap.
Sometimes that instinct is right. Other times it’s the fastest way to pour money into likes that never become customers. This guide explains how to tell which situation you’re in, what your options are on Facebook and Instagram, and how to run a sensible first campaign without burning your budget in the first week.
You pay to show content featuring you, your story or your expertise to people who don’t already follow you. On Meta’s platforms that could be:
What makes it different from ordinary business advertising is the hook. It’s you, where a normal ad would use a logo or a product shot. For owner-led businesses that’s often a real advantage. People respond to people.
Ads amplify what’s already there. They do their best work when three things are already in place.
“Get to know me” isn’t an offer. A consultation is. So is a workshop, a book, a product or a service with an obvious next step. Without one, you have no way of judging whether the ads did anything.
If some of your posts already pull in comments or shares, or even enquiries, without any money behind them, you know which messages land. Paying to push proven content is far less risky than guessing. Regular organic posting gives you that evidence, whether you do it yourself or through social media management.
Paying for clicks that land on a weak website or a confusing booking process is money down the drain. A clear landing page and a working enquiry form count for as much as the ad, and so does replying quickly. If your site isn’t ready, fix it before you spend a penny on ads.
Buying followers for their own sake is the classic mistake. A bigger number doesn’t pay the bills unless those people become customers or readers.
Boosting every post is another. Small, random boosts with no goal behind them teach you almost nothing.
Don’t advertise before the brand is clear, either. If you can’t say in one sentence who you help and how, ads will just spread the confusion faster. And don’t expect ads to rescue weak content: money can widen the audience, but it can’t make a muddled message make sense.
Finally, don’t run ads you can’t follow up. If you can’t answer enquiries quickly, pause until you can.
Meta gives you two broad routes.
| Boosting a post | Ads Manager | |
|---|---|---|
| How it works | Promote an existing post from your Page, professional profile or Instagram app | Build a campaign, ad set and ad, choosing objective, audience, placements, budget and creative |
| Control | Limited choice of goal and audience | Much more control, including testing different versions |
| Best for | Quick, small tests of content that is already doing well | Campaigns with a specific goal, such as enquiries, sales or sign-ups |
| Needs | A Page, professional-mode profile or Instagram professional account | A Facebook Page (and Instagram professional account for Instagram placements) |
Boosting is the shortcut. You take a post that already exists and pay to put it in front of more people. Ads Manager takes longer to learn, but it lets you set a proper objective and test versions against each other. Meta’s comparison of Pages and profiles shows you can boost from a profile in professional mode, while Ads Manager comes with a Page. Haven’t decided yet whether to post as yourself or as the business? Read should you post as yourself or as your business first.
Partnership ads let a brand run ads through a creator’s or partner’s handle. Meta’s developer documentation on partnership ads describes them as Facebook and Instagram ads run from a creator or partner’s handle. For a personal brand, that can mean ads that appear to come from you while your business pays for them, as long as the permissions are set up between the two accounts.
Style counts too. Ads that look like good organic posts often beat glossy commercials, but they still need decent sound, light and editing.
Creative is where most people underspend, and it’s a big part of any serious advertising work. One short, well-filmed clip of you speaking plainly will usually outlast a dozen rushed phone videos.
For a sense of where ad spend sits in the rest of a personal brand budget, see how much personal branding costs in the UK.
UK ads have to follow the advertising codes the ASA enforces, and they must be obviously identifiable as marketing. Start with the ASA’s page on recognising ads on social media. You can also see what other advertisers are running in the Meta Ad Library. Work in a regulated sector like finance or health? Check the specific rules before you advertise.
We plan and run advertising campaigns across paid social and search, and we make the ad creative too. We filmed Facebook ads for a property-care business, for example. Often we build ads from the same content we produce through social media management, so your paid and organic work pull together. As with everything we do, we agree the brief, scope and fee with you before we start. Start a conversation and we’ll talk through whether ads make sense for you yet.
There’s no single right figure. Start with a test budget you can afford to spend while learning, over a fixed period, and judge it on what each enquiry or sale costs you. Once you know the cost of an enquiry and the value of a customer, you can decide whether to spend more.
You can boost posts from your profile if you turn on professional mode. For full campaigns in Ads Manager, team access and Meta Business Suite, you need a Facebook Page, which can carry your own name.
Not always. Boosting a post that’s already doing well, with a clear goal, can be a useful small test. Boosting every post with no plan usually is a waste, because you learn very little from it.
Not necessarily, though video of you talking is often the quickest way for people to get a feel for you. Strong photographs with a clear message can work too, especially when you’re retargeting people who already know you.
It’s usually better to wait. Without a clear landing page, turning clicks into enquiries is hard and so is measuring results. Lead forms inside the platform can work for simple offers, but most personal brands do better with a proper home first.
What a social media manager actually does, what the different routes cost in the UK, and the signs that you are ready to hand it over.
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Four quick questions, and we’ll show you where we’d start. Your answers come straight to us with your message, so you won’t have to explain it twice.
A 30-minute introduction call on Microsoft Teams, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm. Your answers come with the booking, so we’ll be ready for you.
Prefer to talk it through? Make an appointment for a 30-minute call on Microsoft Teams, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.
A closer look at the work behind each part of your plan.
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