Should I Hire a Social Media Manager?
Last updated . Every fact on this page was checked October 2, 2026.
Whether you should hire a social media manager comes down to three things: social media is already a steady part of how you find or serve clients, the work takes hours you need elsewhere, and you can carry a monthly cost. It may be too early if you can't yet say what the person would do each week. If you're asking "should I hire a social media manager?", the call is yours. This page lays out common reasons to hire one, the signs it may be too early, and three other ways to cover the work.
This page is a plain reading of the rules. It isn't legal or tax advice.
Why hire a social media manager?
A common reason to hire a social media manager is to get back the hours that planning, making and posting take each week, and to keep replies from waiting. So the hire is worth weighing when those hours are real, they come back every week, and you know which parts you'd hand over. Which parts one person covers depends on the person. For the hiring steps, see hire social media manager, which lists each part of the job.
What are the reasons to hire a social media manager now?
Common reasons include a posting job that has grown into a weekly load, posts that slip when client work gets busy, and clients who ask for the service. Each one in more detail:
- Posting takes hours you need for clients. The work comes back every week, and it lands on you.
- Posts go out late, or not at all. When client work gets busy, your own channels go quiet.
- Comments and messages wait too long. Nobody has the time to answer them.
- Your clients ask for it. If you run an agency and you've sold social media work, someone has to deliver it.
No reason on this list promises a result. This site has no sourced number for what social media returns, so it gives none.
The cost belongs in the decision too. Indeed and PayScale each publish an average for US social media manager jobs. For what one costs, see social media manager cost.
DeskTeam360, the company that runs this site, makes social media content and delivers it ready to schedule. A call shows whether that covers the part of the job you'd hire for.
The button opens DeskTeam360's Book a Call page.
When is it too early to hire one?
It may be too early to hire a social media manager if you can't yet say what the person would do each week, or what you want social media to do for the business. Signs it may be too early:
- You haven't picked the one or two channels that matter to your clients
- You don't know yet what you'd post, or who it's for. That's a strategy question. Settle it before you hire
- The work wouldn't fill the hours you'd pay for
- A steady monthly cost would strain the budget
Start with the plan. The US Small Business Administration says a marketing plan describes the actions you'll take to persuade potential customers to buy your products or services. The sections it says most marketing plans cover include the target market, the goals for the next year, the channels you'll use, and a budget. It also says to plan to compare your marketing and sales costs to the revenue they bring in. If you can't fill in those parts for social media yet, that's the work to do first.
Check the hours. A hire doesn't have to be full time, so count the hours the work takes now before you set the hours you'd pay for.
Check the budget. The first-hire cost page shows what four kinds of first hire cost by the month, with the math.
| What's true for you | What it may point to |
|---|---|
| Posting takes hours you need for clients, every week | A hire, or an outside team for the content |
| Posts slip when client work gets busy | Splitting the job: you keep the plan, and someone else makes the posts |
| Comments and messages wait too long | A person on your side to answer them |
| Clients pay you for social media work | A hire, or an outside team for the content |
| You haven't picked your channels, or you don't know what you'd post | Waiting. Write the plan first |
| The work wouldn't fill the hours you'd pay for | A smaller job, or fewer hours |
| A steady monthly cost would strain the budget | Waiting, or a smaller job |
What can you do instead of hiring one?
Instead of hiring a social media manager, you can shrink the job, split it, or hand the content to an outside team.
| Option | What you hand off | What stays with you |
|---|---|---|
| Shrink it | Nothing. You post on one channel, on a schedule you can keep up yourself | All of it, in fewer hours |
| Split it | The making of the posts | The planning and the replies |
| Use an outside team for the content | The content. DeskTeam360 makes post graphics, story templates, cover graphics, banners and thumbnails, and delivers them ready to schedule | The plan, the publishing and the replies. Replies to comments and messages, and community management, are outside DeskTeam360's work |
Two notes on that table.
- A team and a hire aren't like for like. A hire is one person. A DeskTeam360 plan is a team that works on a set number of tasks at one time, and a team can't do every first-hire job.
- Splitting the job can mean a contractor. Two tests decide who counts as one: the IRS has a test, and so does the Texas Workforce Commission. Not legal or tax advice. Ask your accountant.
For other ways to get work done, see alternatives to hiring an employee. To see where this role sits next to an agency's other roles, see marketing agency team structure.
More on first hires for an agency
If the content is the part you'd hand off, a call with DeskTeam360 shows whether a team fits.
The button opens DeskTeam360's Book a Call page.
Sources
- US Small Business Administration, Manage your business: marketing and sales
- Indeed, social media manager salaries in the United States
- PayScale, social media manager salary
- IRS, independent contractor (self-employed) or employee
- Texas Workforce Commission, classifying employees and independent contractors
- DeskTeam360, social media content page (deskteam360.com/services/social-media-content)
- DeskTeam360, How It Works page (deskteam360.com/how-it-works)
- DeskTeam360, home page (deskteam360.com)
The reasons and signs on this page are plain guidance, with no statistic behind them.
All checked October 2, 2026.
This site isn't connected to the State of Texas or any government agency.
What changed
- October 2, 2026: First version of this page.