Anyone can post on Instagram. Here's what you're actually paying me for…
I get asked a lot what's actually involved in social media management. Fair question, honestly. From the outside, it probably just looks like someone popping a photo up on Instagram every now and then and calling it a day.
So I thought I'd pull back the curtain and walk you through what a month on my Core package actually looks like behind the scenes. Not the highlight reel version. The real one.
Planning the month (1–1.5 hours)
Before a single caption gets written, I'm looking at what's actually going on in your business that month. New stock coming in? A slow patch you want to fill? An event, a launch, a seasonal shift? Everything gets mapped out against a content calendar so there's a reason behind every post, not just something thrown up because it's Tuesday.
Writing the captions (2.5–3 hours)
This is the bit people underestimate the most. A good caption isn't just "here's our new range, shop now." It's finding the right tone for your brand, telling a small story, giving people a reason to actually stop scrolling. Some captions take five minutes. Others I'll rewrite four or five times before they sound right. That adds up.
Creating the reels and carousels (2–2.5 hours)
This is the actual hands-on making of things — editing footage, adding text overlays, designing carousel slides in Canva, making sure everything's on-brand and doesn't look like it was slapped together in five minutes (even when, let's be honest, some weeks it has to be).
Scheduling to Instagram and Facebook (1–1.5 hours)
Once everything's approved, it all gets loaded in and scheduled properly — right platform, right time, right format for each one, because what works on a Reel doesn't always work as a static post.
Client communication and revisions (1–1.5 hours)
This is the back-and-forth. Sending drafts through, chatting about feedback, tweaking things until they're right. I'd rather spend the time getting it right than rush something out that doesn't actually sound like you.
Admin and keeping it all ticking over (30+ minutes)
The unglamorous bit. Checking analytics, replying to comments and DMs, sorting assets, making sure nothing's fallen through the cracks. It's not exciting, but it's the difference between a page that looks after itself and one that quietly goes stale.
All up, that's around 9–10 hours a month. Every month, for every client.
Anyone can schedule a post. That part's easy — genuinely, anyone with an Instagram account and half an hour can do it. What you're actually paying for is everything that happens before the post goes live. The strategy. The thinking. The judgement calls about what to say, how to say it, and when. I've spent over ten years in marketing, majority of those years in paid media and digital marketing, working with brands both here in the South West and globally, and every client gets the benefit of all of that experience, not just my time.
Social media management was never just posting content. It's understanding your business well enough to know what's worth talking about. It's creating content that actually sounds and looks like you, not like a template someone else is using too. And it's showing up consistently, month after month, so your business stays front of mind when people are ready to buy.
That consistency is the bit that's easy to underestimate. One good post won't move the needle much on its own. It's the slow build of showing up properly, week after week, that actually changes how people see your business.
Hopefully that gives you a proper look behind the scenes, and a better idea of what you're actually investing in when you hand your socials over to someone else.
If you'd rather spend less time posting and more time running your business, I'd love to help.
