Social media, like any other marketing medium, requires planning for success.

A social media plan provides businesses with a strategy for social media activities, tactics and most importantly, a budget. A social budget helps to ensure time and resources are used effectively and efficiently.

Here are three things to consider when setting a social media budget:

Ensure social goals align with overall marketing goals
Social media marketing should support your overall business and marketing goals. Generally, overall marketing goals aim at increasing awareness of your products or service, selling more and reaching a new customer/client segment. The amount of money which is allocated to social media marketing will highly depend on how much social media engagement is worth to your business.

In-house vs outsource
It is important to consider who will be managing your social media channels – whether it be a current employee or if a new person will need to be hired for the job. Alternatively, you may decide to outsource social media marketing to a marketing agency. To determine which option is best suited for your business, you will need to weigh up the costs of employing your own staff versus outsourcing. No two businesses have the exact same needs, so the decision will vary depending on your goals and allocated budget.

Social channels and promotions
Planning your social media promotions in advance can help when writing up a budget. Each promotion will need its own budget, and therefore will tie into the overall budget. It is a good idea to plan the social channels as well, as more channels will generally equal additional funds.