How Much Does Social Media Marketing Cost in Melbourne? (2026 Guide)

"How much should I be spending?" is the first question almost every Melbourne business owner asks us. The honest answer is that social media marketing is priced on scope, not on a fixed rate card — but the market does have recognisable bands. Here is what those bands look like in 2026, what you actually get inside each one, and how to tell whether the money is working.

The three ways to get it done

1. DIY — $0 to a few hundred dollars a month

Doing it yourself costs you time rather than cash. Expect to spend a scheduling tool subscription plus five to eight hours a month if you want to post consistently, write captions and reply to comments and DMs. It works when you enjoy it and your offer is simple. It falls over the moment you get busy on the tools — which is exactly when the pipeline needs feeding.

2. Freelancer or contractor — roughly $600 to $1,500 a month

A good freelancer will take posting and basic content creation off your plate. At this level you generally get a set number of posts, some light editing and a monthly summary. What you usually do not get is a documented strategy, structured creative testing, or paid ads managed alongside the organic content. Quality varies enormously, so ask to see work for businesses in your industry.

3. Agency retainer — roughly $1,500 to $5,000+ a month

An agency retainer buys strategy plus execution plus accountability. For a Melbourne trade or service business, the practical middle of that range covers a content calendar, short-form video editing, community management, and reporting on enquiries rather than reach. Larger budgets add paid media management, more video output and faster creative testing cycles. These are general industry ranges, not PG Media's prices. PG Media's content creation for Organic Social Media in Melbourne starts from $1,400/month + GST. Flexible (30 days' notice) or 12-month partnership. Lowest price shown is on a 12-month partnership.

Management fees and ad spend are two different things

This trips people up constantly. A management fee pays the people doing the work — strategy, content, ad builds, optimisation, reporting. Ad spend is money that goes straight to Meta or Google to buy the impressions. If someone quotes you "$2,000 a month including ads", ask them to split the two out. You need to know how much is actually reaching your audience.

For most Melbourne service businesses starting with Meta ads, a workable starting ad spend is $30 to $80 a day. Below about $20 a day you cannot gather enough data to test creative properly, so campaigns stay stuck in learning mode and cost per lead stays high.

What actually drives the price up

• Volume of content — four posts a month is a very different job to sixteen, especially with video.
• Video production. Editing footage you send in is cheaper than someone attending your sites to film.
• Number of platforms. Running Instagram well beats running Instagram, TikTok and Facebook badly.
• Paid ads management. More campaigns, audiences and creative variants means more hands-on work.
• Competitiveness of your trade. Crowded categories need more creative testing to keep cost per lead down.
• Reporting depth. Lead tracking, call tracking and attribution take setup time to do properly.

How to judge whether it is worth it

Ignore followers and reach for a moment and work backwards from a job. Take your average job value and your gross margin, then work out what you can afford to pay to win one. If your average bathroom renovation is $25,000 at a 25% margin, that is $6,250 gross per job — a $2,000 monthly investment needs less than one extra job a month to be in front.

The three numbers to ask your agency for every month are: how many enquiries came in, what each enquiry cost, and how many turned into quoted work. If nobody can tell you those, you are buying activity rather than marketing.

Realistic timelines

Paid ads can produce enquiries in the first two to three weeks once tracking and creative are live. Organic social media compounds more slowly — three to six months before it is reliably contributing enquiries, because it works by building familiarity and trust in your local area. Budget for at least a three-month runway before you judge the results, and make sure tracking is in place from day one so the judgement is based on data.

The short version

In Melbourne in 2026, expect somewhere between $1,500 and $3,000 a month plus ad spend for properly managed social media and paid ads for a small to medium service business. What matters more than the number is whether the work is tied to enquiries and reported transparently. If you want a scoped figure for your business rather than a range, request a free strategy session and we will put one together.