What Should You Look for in a Social Media Package?

Introduction: A Package Is More Than a Monthly Price

People compare social media services on the basis of price. This approach is wrong and misleading. An affordable package does not always mean a better deal. Look at the support provided as well as the pricing.

If one service includes 12 graphics, and another includes eight posts, four videos, captions, scheduling, and revisions — the first option gives you more posts, but the second one may save you much more time.

Then there is your part of the work. The photos, videos, updates, approvals, and feedback come from your end. Some services handle these tasks for you, while others leave them to the business owner.

Find this out before choosing a plan. If you are busy with customers, staff, sales, and everything else that comes with running a business, even a few small social media tasks each week can become a burden. The right service should fit into your routine and take some of that work off your hands.

Start With What You Need Help With

Before comparing packages, think about what happens when you try to manage social media yourself.

Maybe you have plenty of ideas but never have enough time to turn them into posts. Creating graphics takes too long. You might keep putting off videos because editing them becomes another task on your list. The tasks a service can cover include:

• Creating graphics, carousels, and short-form videos
• Planning topics and content ideas
• Writing captions
• Scheduling or publishing posts
• Keeping your colours, fonts, and visual style consistent
• Looking at content performance
• Deciding what photos or videos you need to provide

You may not need all of these. For example, a business owner who enjoys creating content but hates editing may only need design and video support. Someone who rarely has time to think about social media may need content creation, captions, scheduling, and publishing.

Look at the tasks that keep getting pushed to next week. Those are often the areas where outside support can make the biggest difference.

Features to Look For and Why They Matter

Look at the actual features in each package. The number of posts is only one part of the comparison.

The important thing is to understand what each feature actually includes. For example, "video included" can mean a simple edited clip, or it can mean a finished short-form video with text, branding, cuts, captions, and other edits. Those are different levels of work.

Check What Content Is Included

A package promising 12 posts a month may sound good until you find out that all 12 are static graphics. That might work well for one business. Another may need a mix of graphics, videos, and carousels to keep the page useful and varied.

Before comparing packages, find out:

• How many graphics are included?
• How many videos are included?
• Are carousels included?
• Are captions written?
• How many platforms are covered?
• Is the content customised for your business?
• Can you provide your own photos and videos?
• Is there help with content ideas?

Think about what you would actually use during a normal month. A local service business may have before-and-after photos and short clips from its work. A consultant may have useful knowledge that can be turned into educational carousels. A product-based business may need more product photos and videos.

Twelve pieces of content do not necessarily give you more value than eight. The format and usefulness of those pieces matter too.

Find Out What Happens if You Have No Content Assets

Many small businesses do not have professional photos and videos ready every week. That is normal. You may have photos sitting on your phone, older product images, customer questions, screenshots, service information, or random clips from a normal workday.

The important question is whether the person managing your social media can work with what you already have. Find out what you are expected to provide. If you do not have enough material, ask whether the provider can give you simple instructions on what to capture.

A salon owner could take a few before-and-after photos during the week. A restaurant could record short clips while preparing a popular dish. A contractor could capture a few stages of a project. These do not need to be professional productions — they simply give the content creator something real to work with.

You do not need to spend your entire week creating material for social media. But the more useful photos and videos you can provide, the more options there are for creating content around your business.

Know What You Are Still Responsible For

This is one of the most important things to ask before choosing a package. A service may say that it handles your social media, but you could still be responsible for several tasks — sending photos, providing business updates, checking drafts, answering customer messages, or giving information about upcoming offers.

That is not necessarily a problem. You just need to know about it before you sign up. Imagine that you run a restaurant and change your opening hours every few weeks. Someone creating your posts cannot know about those changes unless you tell them. The same applies to a new service, price change, holiday closure, promotion, or event.

It is also useful to ask how often you need to send information and whether there is a simple way to provide it. A package that looks good on paper can become frustrating if you are constantly being asked for small pieces of information.

Check Captions, Scheduling and Publishing

These tasks are sometimes grouped together under "social media management," but they are different. Content creation covers graphics, carousels, and videos. Caption writing takes care of the text that goes with those posts. Scheduling prepares approved content for specific dates, while publishing means the posts are actually placed on the selected platforms.

That difference can affect how much work stays with you. If you are comfortable publishing posts yourself, content creation and captions may be enough. If you regularly forget to post because you are busy, scheduling can remove that task from your list. If you want someone else to handle publishing too, make sure that is included.

The Social 99 supports content for Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, X, and TikTok. The important part is choosing the platforms where your customers are actually active. Being present on every platform is not automatically useful.

Ask About Approval and Revisions

Find out what happens between receiving a finished post and seeing it published. Ask how content is shared, how feedback is provided, how many revisions are allowed, and how long changes normally take. It is also worth asking whether several posts can be reviewed together.

This matters when you are running a busy business. You might notice an incorrect price, an old opening time, a product detail that needs changing, or a sentence that does not sound right for your business. A review process gives you an opportunity to fix those things before the post goes live.

The Social 99 uses a review-before-publishing process, with the number of revisions depending on the package selected.

How Does The Social 99 Make Social Media Management Easier?

The Social 99 is built for businesses that want regular social media management support without taking on a large monthly commitment. Packages start at $99 per month, with higher plans available for businesses that need more content and support.

The Social 99 also includes a dashboard that keeps your social media work organised in one place. Every content update, approval, and message can be seen on the dashboard. There is no hassle to check emails or messages regularly.

If something needs to be changed, you can leave feedback through the dashboard and request a revision. Once everything looks right, you can approve the content for publishing. This gives you a simple way to stay involved without having to manage the entire social media process yourself. You can also see which content is ready, what is waiting for approval, and what still needs changes.

For example, if a post has an outdated offer, incorrect business information, or a caption that does not sound right, you can catch it during the review process and request an update before it goes live.

The pricing is structured around different levels of content needs:

The right plan depends on how much content you need and how much of the social media workload you want handled. The dashboard is especially useful if you want to stay involved without having to chase updates or keep track of individual posts across different conversations. For a small business owner, that can make social media management easier to keep up with while still giving you a say in what gets published.

Look at the Platforms, Not Just the Number of Them

More platforms can sound better, but that does not mean you need content for all of them. Start with where your customers already spend time.

A local service business might get more value from Facebook and Instagram, whereas a B2B company may need to put more effort into LinkedIn. A business that relies heavily on video may need a stronger focus on YouTube or short-form video.

Also consider whether the same content is being used everywhere or adjusted for each platform. A post written for LinkedIn may not work well as an Instagram caption. A short video may need different text or formatting depending on where it is published. The goal is to have a manageable presence on the platforms that matter to your business.

Compare Price With the Level of Support

There is nothing wrong with choosing a lower-priced package if it covers what you need. A $99 package may be enough if your main goal is to keep your social pages active with regular, professional content. You may not need a large volume of content or detailed reporting at this stage.

A higher package can make more sense when you need more videos, carousels, captions, scheduling, reporting, or other ongoing support. Your own time should be part of the calculation too.

Suppose publishing three or four times a week takes you only a few minutes — you may be happy to handle it yourself. But if you have been telling yourself, "I will post this week," for the last three months and still have nothing scheduled, having that task handled for you could be worth paying for.

Closing: Choose Support That Fits Your Brand

The right social media management package depends on your business, your schedule, and the type of content you actually need. Look beyond the monthly price. Compare the content formats, number of platforms, captions, scheduling, publishing, revisions, approval process, and reporting. Then look at what you will still have to do yourself. Check out website design & development services for growing businesses.

You may find that a simple package gives you everything you need right now. As your business changes, your social media needs may change too. The best choice is the package that solves the problems you actually have. Paying for more services does not make sense if you are not going to use them.

Frequently Asked Questions