Ask what help with social media costs and you will find answers between a couple of thousand kronor and more than SEK 60,000 a month. Both can be right. They just aren’t the same service.

Here is what the four routes cost, what drives the price and what usually comes on top. Every price has a source, and where a figure is someone else’s estimate, we say so. Further down there is a sum you can work through yourself and seven questions to ask before you sign.

The figures are Swedish: prices in Swedish kronor (SEK), Swedish salary statistics and Swedish employer contributions. If you are outside Sweden, the structure of the comparison still holds, but check your own local numbers.

As of 15 October 2026. Prices change, and we update the article when the sources do.

Four routes and what they cost

RouteCost per monthWhat you getWhat to allow for
Do it yourselfSEK 0–2,000 in tools and graphics, plus 8–20 hours of your own time (Aidapt’s estimate)Full control and your own voiceThe time comes out of the business, and the rhythm is hard to keep
FreelancerSEK 3,000–20,000 and up, depending on experience and scope (Swivrr, Aidapt)One person who gets to know youEverything rests on one person. Check F-tax status and rights to the material
AgencyFrom SEK 2,000–2,500 for scheduled image posts to SEK 50,000–55,000 for full service (Ellary, Aidapt, Swivrr)Several skill sets and continuitySet-up fees and minimum terms occur, and what is included varies widely
EmployeeSEK 60,500–63,300 for a full-timer on the median salary with employer contributions and any agreed pension (Statistics Sweden, Swedish Tax Agency)Someone on site every day who can do more than social mediaRecruitment, management, equipment, holidays and sick leave

The table compares ranges, not equivalent services. A package for SEK 2,500 and one for SEK 30,000 rarely contain the same thing, so always read what is included.

Doing it yourself

Doing it yourself costs little money and a lot of time. Aidapt estimates SEK 0–2,000 a month for tools and graphics and 8–20 hours a month of your own time (Aidapt, 24 March 2026). That is an estimate, not a measurement.

Convert the time into money: 12 hours a month at SEK 500 is SEK 6,000, even though no invoice arrives. And those hours often come out of the time you would otherwise spend on customers.

The upside is that nobody knows the business better than you. What usually slips is the rhythm. It is easy to start and hard to keep going when things get busy.

Freelancer

Aidapt’s price guide splits freelancers into three levels: SEK 5,000–8,000 a month for a junior, SEK 8,000–15,000 for someone experienced and SEK 15,000–20,000 or more for a senior. Swivrr gives SEK 3,000–8,000 a month for a part-time freelancer on one platform (Swivrr, undated page). Neither says whether the prices include VAT.

Two things to check before hiring a freelancer:

  • F-tax (Sweden). If you pay for work to someone who is not approved for F-tax, Sweden’s tax registration for businesses, you normally have to withhold tax from the payment. If the recipient is a person rather than a company, you also have to pay employer contributions. You can check F-tax status in the Swedish Tax Agency’s e-service Hämta företagsinformation (Skatteverket, in Swedish).
  • Rights to the material. Put in the contract that you may keep using photos, videos and copy after the engagement has ended.

A freelancer is often flexible and gets to know you well. The weak spot is that everything rests on one person. If they fall ill or go on holiday, the feed stops, unless you have agreed otherwise.

Agency

Agency prices vary the most, because “agency” covers everything from scheduled image posts to full production with video and ads. Here is what published prices look like:

  • Fixed packages with image posts. Ellary charges SEK 2,500 a month for three image posts a week on Instagram and Facebook, and SEK 2,000 for three posts a week on LinkedIn. Engagement, meaning liking, commenting and following up messages on your behalf, is a separate package at SEK 2,000 a month for two hours a week. The set-up fee is SEK 1,500 and the minimum term three months (Ellary).
  • Packages with hours, ads and photography. SC Agency charges SEK 12,999 a month for 8 hours a week and SEK 16,999 for 12 hours a week. Both packages include social media ad campaigns, and the larger one also includes photography. The prices exclude VAT, and the minimum term is three months (SC Agency).
  • A social media manager hired by the hour. Panang charges SEK 21,000 a month for 5 hours a week with two posts a week, or SEK 39,000 for 10 hours a week with three to four posts, for at least six months (Panang). Per hour, that works out at roughly SEK 900–970 (our calculation, using 4.33 weeks a month).
  • The price guides’ levels. Aidapt gives SEK 15,000–50,000 or more a month for an agency. The same article’s FAQ says SEK 10,000–35,000, and the agency prices are based on US sources in dollars. Swivrr gives SEK 18,000–30,000 for three platforms with custom graphics and video, and SEK 30,000–55,000 for full service including ads and replies to comments. Swivrr’s own quick answer at the top says SEK 20,000–50,000 for full service.

Several of the agencies we found show no price at all. That does not mean they are expensive, but it makes comparing harder before you have spoken to them.

What drives the price

Two quotes of SEK 3,000 and SEK 30,000 can both be reasonable. The difference nearly always lies in these five things.

1. Number of channels. Each channel has its own format and its own audience, and Swivrr allows SEK 3,000–8,000 extra per platform per month. In Sweden, Instagram and Facebook are the platforms the most people use every day, 46 and 45 percent of internet users aged 8 and over respectively. TikTok is used daily by 15 percent and LinkedIn by 5 percent, and among adults aged 20 and over only 16 percent used TikTok in the past year (Svenskarna och internet 2026, in Swedish). If you sell to businesses, LinkedIn is the exception: well over half of Swedish white-collar workers use it, according to the same report. Pay for the channels where your customers are, not for all of them.

2. Number of posts and formats. An image post takes less time than a carousel, and a carousel less than a video that has to be filmed, edited and subtitled. “Three posts a week” can therefore be cheap or expensive, depending on what the posts are.

3. Who takes the photos. Stock libraries, templates and your own phone photos are cheapest. Someone who comes out to photograph or film costs more, but gives you material that shows your business specifically. Swivrr gives SEK 5,000–20,000 per occasion for a professional photo or video production.

4. Replies to comments and messages. Replying to comments and DMs on an ongoing basis, often called community management, takes time every day. It is rarely part of the cheapest packages. Ellary sells it as a separate package, and Swivrr allows SEK 3,000–10,000 extra a month. Ask whether it is included and who replies.

5. Ads. Advertising is two costs: the budget paid to the platform and the work on the campaigns. More on that further down.

Hiring someone: salary, employer contributions and the rest

There are no official Swedish salary statistics for the job title social media manager. The closest occupational group in Statistics Sweden’s salary statistics is information, communication and public relations professionals. There, the median salary was SEK 46,000 a month in 2025, and the middle half of employees earned between SEK 40,400 and SEK 53,300 (Statistics Sweden, wage structure statistics 2025, all sectors). Asta Agency’s salary checker, which is an agency’s tool rather than official statistics, puts social media managers in the same group. For advertising and marketing professionals, another closely related group, the median was SEK 53,000. So the salary may well be higher than in the example.

This is the monthly cost of a full-time employee on the median salary in Sweden:

ItemPer month
Salary, 2025 medianSEK 46,000
Employer contributions, 31.42%SEK 14,453
Occupational pension and insurance under ITP 1, 5.165% (with a collective agreement)SEK 2,376
Special payroll tax on the pension premium, 24.26% of SEK 2,070SEK 502
Total with a collective agreementSEK 63,331
Total without a collective agreementSEK 60,453

Swedish employer contributions are 31.42 percent for employees born in 1959 or later (Skatteverket, 2026, in Swedish). The ITP 1 premiums, under the occupational pension agreement for white-collar workers, apply to salary below SEK 52,125 a month in 2026, and the retirement pension of 4.5 percent of salary is paid from age 25. Special payroll tax is added to that premium (Livsmedelsföretagen, circular February 2026, in Swedish). Without a collective agreement the total is SEK 60,453, unless you provide a pension some other way. Aidapt, which also counts recruitment, arrives at SEK 57,000–71,000 a month for the first year.

On top of that comes what doesn’t show in the table:

  • holiday pay and holiday supplement
  • computer, phone, software and licences
  • recruitment and onboarding
  • time spent managing and following up the work
  • sick pay and cover when the person is away

If you don’t need a full-timer it gets cheaper, but a small role covering only social media can be hard to recruit for. If you hire someone aged 19–23, Swedish employer contributions are temporarily 20.81 percent on pay up to SEK 25,000 a month, for pay given from 1 April 2026 to 30 September 2027. In 2026 this covers employees born 2003–2007 (Skatteverket).

An employee has one advantage no external option has. They are on site every day and can do more than social media, such as customer service, newsletters and the website. If that is what you need, a hire may be worth the money.

What usually comes on top: ad budget, set-up fee, minimum term and VAT

Ad budget. A monthly fee for social media usually covers the posts, not bought reach. Swivrr lists ad management as an add-on at SEK 5,000–15,000 a month, excluding ad budget. You pay the budget to the platform, and the campaign work is usually charged separately. Ask whether the agency takes a percentage of the ad budget, and if so how much. According to Swivrr, 15–20 percent is common, but it gives no source for that. How large a budget can be reasonable is covered in Ad budget for local businesses, and how advertising works on our pages about Facebook ads and Instagram ads, in Swedish.

Set-up fee. It happens, for example SEK 1,500 at Ellary.

Minimum term. Three months at Ellary and SC Agency, six months at Panang. Also read the notice period, which applies once the minimum term has ended. At Panang it is one month.

VAT. Swedish VAT is 25 percent on almost all goods and services (Skatteverket, in Swedish). Of the five Swedish price pages and price guides we read, only one said whether its prices included VAT (SC Agency, “ex moms”). Always ask. If your business is VAT-registered you normally deduct the VAT, and then the price excluding VAT is your real cost. If you sell services that are exempt from VAT, such as healthcare or dental care, you normally cannot deduct VAT on your purchases (Skatteverket, in Swedish). Then the price including VAT is what counts, and SEK 2,000 excluding VAT becomes SEK 2,500. If you have both taxable and exempt sales, you can deduct the part of the VAT that relates to the taxable sales.

Licences and material. Stock libraries, music and larger photo or video productions can cost extra. On TikTok, businesses cannot use the general music library for commercial use and should use TikTok’s Commercial Music Library instead (TikTok, updated July 2025). The popular track in the feed is no free shortcut for a business.

What you still have to do yourselves, whichever route you pick

No arrangement removes your responsibility entirely. Even with full help, you need to:

  • Approve on time. Respond to the drafts, or the feed stalls.
  • Say what is going on. News, offers, new staff, a gap in the bookings. Nobody outside the business knows that something new came in this morning.
  • Be there for photo and video shoots. Material from the business needs the business to take part.
  • Answer customers. Booking questions in messages need to be answered by someone who knows the answer, unless replying to messages is explicitly included.
  • Follow up. Only you know which new customers came, and where from.

Do the sum: how many new customers does it take to break even?

The formula is simple:

New customers needed per month = monthly cost ÷ the margin a new customer brings

Use the margin, meaning what is left after materials and other direct costs, not revenue. And count what a new customer brings over, say, the first year, not just the first visit.

A worked example with made-up businesses: a salon where a new regular brings SEK 1,500 in margin in the first year, and a tradesperson where a new job brings SEK 8,000.

Cost per monthSalon, SEK 1,500 per new customerTradesperson, SEK 8,000 per new job
SEK 2,0002 new customers1 new job
SEK 8,0006 new customers1 new job
SEK 20,00014 new customers3 new jobs
SEK 63,331 (employee with a collective agreement)43 new customers8 new jobs

The numbers are rounded up, and they are customers who would not have come otherwise.

Bar chart with a worked example for a made-up salon where a new regular brings SEK 1,500 in margin: help at SEK 2,000 a month needs 2 new customers, SEK 8,000 needs 6, SEK 20,000 needs 14 and an employee at SEK 63,331 needs 43 new customers a month.
The formula: monthly cost divided by the margin a new customer brings. Worked example with a made-up salon, status October 2026.

This is the floor, not the target. Social media rarely produces direct bookings for local businesses, as we explain in Social media for local businesses. Much of the effect is that the customer recognises you when the need arises, and that does not always show up in a measurement. That is why the next section matters at least as much as the sum.

How to measure whether it pays off

  1. Decide what counts before you start. Enquiries, bookings and calls. Not likes or followers.
  2. Ask every new customer how they found you. Write the answer down, or add the question to the booking form. It is the simplest measure, and it also catches customers who saw you in the feed but booked some other way.
  3. Tag the link in your profile. Add the parameters utm_source, utm_medium and utm_campaign to the link, and visits from the profile will show in an analytics tool such as Google Analytics (Google’s help centre). For example example.com/book?utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=profile.
  4. Count messages that are real enquiries. A DM with a booking question says more than a lot of likes.
  5. Evaluate after a few months. A week tells you nothing. Compare the number of enquiries and the answers to “How did you find us?” before and after.

Seven questions to ask before you sign

  1. What exactly is included each month? Number of posts, which channels, stories, Reels or video.
  2. Who takes the photos and videos? Does someone come out to you, do you send material, or is stock used?
  3. Who owns the accounts, the logins and the material? And what happens to them if you stop?
  4. What does it cost in total? Set-up fee, minimum term, notice period and whether the price includes VAT.
  5. What comes on top? Ad budget, a percentage of the ad budget, licences and photography.
  6. Who replies to comments and messages? And how quickly?
  7. How do you follow up? What is reported each month, and is it tied to enquiries and bookings or only to reach and likes?
Checklist of questions to ask before hiring social media help: what is included, who takes the photos, who owns the accounts, set-up fee, minimum term and VAT, what comes on top, who replies to messages and whether follow-up is tied to enquiries.
The same questions work whether you are comparing freelancers, agencies or fixed packages. Status October 2026.

Red flags: bought followers, guarantees and accounts in the agency’s name

Bought followers and engagement. If someone offers more followers, likes or comments for money, say no. Meta says comments it detects as coordinated fake engagement will be seen less, and that spam networks may see lower reach and cannot earn money from their content. In 2024, Meta took down more than 100 million fake Pages engaged in scripted follows abuse on Facebook (Meta, 24 April 2025, updated 22 October 2025). LinkedIn says it is working to make engagement pods ineffective, meaning groups that like and comment on each other’s posts by arrangement, and to curb comment automation and third-party tools that create fake conversations (LinkedIn, 12 March 2026).

Guarantees of reach, followers or going viral. The platforms decide who sees a post, not the agency. Anyone guaranteeing a certain number of followers or views is promising something they don’t control. Ask instead for commitments on what can be delivered: number of posts, photo visits and follow-up.

Accounts in the agency’s name. The accounts, the page and the ad account should be yours. Create them in your business’s name and give whoever helps you access, rather than letting the agency own them or handing over the password. Meta has a feature for giving a partner access to assets in your business portfolio. If the engagement ends, you remove the access and everything stays with you.

Stock photos sold as your material. Ask where the images come from. Stock images are not wrong in themselves, but they don’t show your business.

Doing it yourselves? A minimum routine that lasts

Doing it yourselves is a perfectly reasonable choice, especially if someone in the business enjoys it. What decides it is the rhythm:

  • One or two channels, where your customers are.
  • A fixed slot, for example one hour on the same day every week, or one production day a month where you photograph and film for several weeks ahead.
  • Four types of post that last a long time: show the work, show the people, answer a common question and share a piece of news.
  • Scheduling, so posts go out even when you are flat out.
  • Once a month: look at which posts led to enquiries, not which got the most likes.

Which platform fits and what to post is covered in Social media for local businesses, which also includes a plan for the first month. How often it is worth posting, and how to find your best time in the platforms’ own insights, is in Best time to post and how often.

What you get at Synlighetsverket for SEK 1,995 and SEK 2,995

With us, you don’t buy social media as a stand-alone service at a fixed price. It is part of two packages together with the website and Google, because the posts need to lead somewhere: to a page that receives the customer and a Google profile that says the same thing.

Plus, SEK 1,995 a month excl. VAT

  • Everything in Basic: website with hosting and maintenance, local SEO foundation, Google Business Profile review, clear paths to booking and contact and a foundation for AI visibility
  • 8 posts a month on Instagram and Facebook
  • One photo visit every quarter, the first at the start
  • Monthly follow-up

Premium, SEK 2,995 a month excl. VAT

  • Everything in Plus
  • Reels and TikTok content
  • Video every month
  • Extended local SEO and AI optimisation
  • Priority improvement cycle

Both have no set-up fee, no lock-in and one month’s notice, and you keep your price for as long as the agreement runs. The material comes from your business, not from a stock library, and you approve everything before it is published. The photo visits and the content are handled by our own team, including Amelia Sadig, who works with photography and social media (meet the team). If you are more than about an hour’s travel from Uppsala or Stockholm, the photo visit becomes a guided photo session over video, where we coach you while you take the photos and then edit the material. The accounts are yours, and we take no percentage of your ad budget.

Not included:

  • ad budget paid to the platforms
  • LinkedIn, X and ongoing replies to comments and messages, which we quote separately and in plain terms before you say yes
  • larger photo productions or a professional photographer on site beyond the photo visits
  • external licences, such as booking systems and premium stock libraries

Just social media, without a website? It can be arranged, but it has no fixed price. We quote it on request.

When we are not the right choice:

  • You need someone replying to comments and messages every day. That is not part of the packages, and if it is a large part of the job, an employee may be the better option.
  • You sell to businesses and mainly want to be visible on LinkedIn. We can quote that separately, but packages built around Instagram and Facebook suit you less well.
  • You already have someone producing good material. Then you may need a plan, not a producer.
  • You want to buy a set number of followers or views. We don’t sell that.

The full price list is on our pricing page, and more about how we handle social media help is on its own page. To ask a question or book a call, get in touch.

Frequently asked questions

What does help with social media cost per month? Published Swedish prices start at SEK 2,000–2,500 a month for three scheduled image posts a week. Swedish price guides put a freelancer at SEK 3,000–20,000 and an agency that also produces video and runs ads at SEK 15,000–55,000. Ad budget and VAT often come on top. As of October 2026.

What does a social media manager cost? A full-time employee in Sweden costs around SEK 63,000 a month. The median salary in the closest occupational group in Statistics Sweden’s data, information, communication and public relations professionals, was SEK 46,000 a month in 2025. With employer contributions of 31.42 percent that comes to SEK 60,453, and with occupational pension and insurance under ITP 1 to around SEK 63,300. Hired by the hour, there are examples of SEK 21,000 a month for 5 hours a week, roughly SEK 970 an hour.

Is a freelancer cheaper than an agency? Often, per month, but compare what is included. Swedish price guides put a freelancer at SEK 3,000–20,000 and an agency at SEK 15,000–50,000 or more, but there are also fixed agency packages from SEK 2,000 for simpler image posts. In Sweden, check that a freelancer is approved for F-tax, and make sure you can keep using the material after the engagement ends.

Is the ad budget included in the price? As a rule, no. The ad budget is paid to the platform and sits outside the monthly fee for the help, and the campaign work often costs extra. Also ask whether the agency takes a percentage of the budget. At Synlighetsverket the ad budget is not included, and we take no percentage of it.

Are prices quoted with or without VAT? Always ask. Of five Swedish price pages and price guides we read in October 2026, only one said whether its prices included VAT. Swedish VAT is 25 percent on almost all services. A VAT-registered business normally deducts it, but a business selling VAT-exempt services, such as dental care, normally cannot. Synlighetsverket’s prices exclude VAT.

Can you get help with just social media, without a website? Yes. At Synlighetsverket, social media is part of Plus and Premium together with the website and Google, but social media on its own can also be arranged. It has no fixed price, so we quote it on request.

Who should own the accounts? You. Create the accounts in your business’s name and give whoever helps you access, for example as a partner in Meta’s business portfolio, rather than handing over the password or letting the agency own the account.

Sources

All web pages read on 15 October 2026 unless another date is given. Most sources are in Swedish.