Survey Says: 65 Hours Per Week for Social Media
March 30th, 2010
We get a lot of questions about how much time and budget to allocate to social media. Questions like: “What percentage of the mix do we need to invest?” or “Can I have my PR person just add this to their job?” It seems that while nearly everyone is starting to understand the value of social media, not everyone fully understands the costs.
Here’s what we know: It takes at least 65 hours a week to maintain 4 social media channels for 1 brand.
While social media channels are considered “free,” the time you need to create, develop, and maintain those channels is anything but free. In fact, from our survey of social media practitioners, it can take quite a bit of time – for an average brand it takes 65 hours on average to maintain 4 social media channels at any given time. For the math challenged, that’s a full time job for 1.5 people.
How’d we get the numbers? This spring we surveyed nearly 40 SM practitioners and asked about their hours invested in social media for their brands or the brands of their clients. In our survey, we defined the following: creation means setting up the page with initial content (does not include creative design team hours); development means attracting followers, initial promotion/launch; and maintenance means listening, responding, posting, messaging, inviting. The average ranges depended on the potential for the community size, initial promotional pool, campaign goals, etc.
Here are what the surveyed practitioners spend on social media for a single brand:
Planning
Social Media Research 8-25 hours
Social Media Planning 10-20 hours
Blog
Creation 10-15 hours
Development 40 hours
Maintenance 5 hours/week
Creation 1 hour
Development 5-15 hours
Maintenance 3-10 hours/week
Facebook (Fan or Group Page)
Creation 3-12 hours
Development 10-50 hours
Maintenance 7-15 hours/week
Creation 1-10 hours
Development 20-60 hours
Maintenance 5-15 hours/week
Creation 1 hour
Development 15-40 hours
Maintenance 3-7 hours/week
YouTube (branded channel)
Creation 3 hours
Development 5-20 hours
Maintenance 2-7 hours/week
Flickr Pool
Creation 1 hour
Development 5-30 hours
Maintenance 2-10 hours/week
For those of you that are fully engaged and invested in social media channels, I’m sure you’re not surprised, right? Social media done well requires a time investment. It’s a free channel with a real cost and has the potential for tremendous value if you invest the time. Tell us how many hours you’re investing in social media each week. And if you’d like a copy of the survey, email us.
March 30th, 2010 at 11:53 am
Jenny, I love having these numbers. Of course these stats will vary:
Per the brand, its size and how extensive its social media marketing campaign is. A local small business shouldn’t need to spend as much time as a global brand.
Per the practitioner, if he or she is dedicated full-time social media or if it’s part of their other job functions, like public relations.
Bottom line: Social media is not free, it takes a significant investment of resources, money and time, to do it effectively.
March 30th, 2010 at 1:18 pm
Great of you to share this data with the world, Jenny! One thing of note is that the maintenance activities are less time consuming than the creation and development phases.
I see many organizations choosing to work with outside consultants to help with the ramp up activities and to handle policies/training for internal staff. The day-to-day tactical activities can then be handled by employees, with oversight by either the consultant or an internal strategic manager. This is an important issue for resource-strapped organizations, so thanks for addressing it.
March 30th, 2010 at 6:34 pm
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Kellye Crane, RubyVelle, cloudspark, topsy_top20k_en, topsy_top20k and others. topsy_top20k said: One brand in four SM channels can take 65 hours a week to maintain: http://bit.ly/9pL3am [...]
March 30th, 2010 at 6:37 pm
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This post was mentioned on Twitter by cloudspark: Survey Says: 65 Hours Per Week for Social Media http://bit.ly/9pL3am...
March 30th, 2010 at 7:30 pm
It’s great to see some of the numbers on paper. I have a general idea that yes, it’s time consuming, but it helps to see them in black and white. I agree with Kellye that the time is all in development and strategy, which of course, is what most clients want to bypass! It is also the most expensive, because it involves more top-level employees. Thanks for putting together this resource!
March 30th, 2010 at 8:40 pm
I agree, we spend a major amount of time identifying which SM channels work best for our clients. We then help develop and create and then work with them to maintain/build/grow those channels. We offer these numbers to our clients as well, this way they know just what they’re creating and investing in for their brand.
March 30th, 2010 at 8:42 pm
The hours definitely vary – that’s why we put in the ranges. It depends on how much of their marketing they are investing in these particular channels and how responsive they think their target audiences will be. Thanks for the comment!
March 30th, 2010 at 10:13 pm
A friend of mine talks a lot about how social media is “free” and costs much less than traditional marketing and communications activities in his presentations. And, while I appreciate and understand his main point, the fact remains this work is most certainly not free.
I’m glad to see some of the survey results above. It validates some of my work lately. And, I agree with Kellye on the maintenance angle. That’s the role I try to fill with my clients. Research, development and ramp up–then train, monitor and coach.
Thanks for organizing this survey. Very interesting data.
@arikhanson
March 31st, 2010 at 9:22 am
Jenny,
As always, your research and stats are spot on…seems easy to add “one more thing” to our daily to-dos, then voila, the day is gone. Results, results, results!
March 31st, 2010 at 9:54 am
This is a great breakdown to have, for sure; but of course, individual cases will vary greatly. I’ve found that spending more time up front is the key. Are you targeting the right people? Are you using the right message? We just re-explored these items for a client — we changed our target market completely, and are using mostly personal email touches. It’s further proof that social media isn’t the end-all be-all, it’s only another component to plug into the mix (when appropriate).
April 1st, 2010 at 10:22 am
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April 5th, 2010 at 7:58 am
[...] firm CloudSpark decided to put together an altogether unscientific survey about how much time it takes to use social media weekly in an [...]
April 5th, 2010 at 8:34 am
Hi Adam,
I agree – this is merely a small survey of dedicated SM practitioners – with the intent of creating a better understanding of just how many hours it takes to create, develop and maintain various SM channels. Granted it varies by skill, scope, and goals, and this is why on the post you’ll see ranges of hours invested. This survey was not a university-backed full-fledged scientific effort, as we state it’s a small effort on our part to help better understand the time those in social media invest in their efforts. For those of us that run companies and work directly with clients, it’s an effort to better define an understanding of the time required to execute.
And yes, while we don’t blog often on our own company page, you’ll find plenty of our guest blogs on other sites. It’s about community and contributing when you can, like social media, it’s not about quantity. It’s about sharing the knowledge, learning, and expanding the conversation. Thanks for challenging us.
April 5th, 2010 at 1:12 pm
Nice post–and as some of us have been discussing on buzz, an important topic to raise. A good strategy on the front end can save loads of time in the execution phase. Also, I’d add that automation can significantly reduce the time spent monitoring social media. Still, there’s no getting away from the fact that this is a real time commitment, and time=money.
Thanks for starting the ball rolling on this key topic.
April 6th, 2010 at 6:42 pm
Jenny, very intersting. I would like to see stats on Government 2.0 and social media involvement.
Also, when you say ‘maintenance’ are these this 1.5 staff responding to the incoming traffic or sending the requests throughout the organisation which therefore increases the work-flow and resources required?
April 6th, 2010 at 9:33 pm
Cris – good question. The maintenance question didn’t ask your specific question. However, from our follow up, the basic presumption is that these people are the ones responsible for the interaction, follow up, etc. It may mean that they need to work with other organization members, but they are ultimately responsible for the response/interaction. If you’d like a copy of the survey questions, feel free to email info(at)cloudspark(dot)com. Thanks!
April 7th, 2010 at 8:59 am
It is a very useful research. It would be interesting to have a breakdown of time needed for the maintainance of an enterprice social media, (i.e. internal collaboration and knowledge-sharing platforms). I am facilitating one of those internal communities and found that without significant time investment it is impossible to achieve tangible results. A potential research would help advocate allocation of additional human resources to facilitate social media in large companies or organizations.
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May 20th, 2010 at 1:31 am
I have been looking around studying a variety of info about online marketing. Does someone have an understanding of worthwhile resources which help to control as well as track performance associated with social media marketing strategies?
May 21st, 2010 at 9:21 am
You can easily find resources for tracking at MarketingProfs.com or follow their Summer Social series which includes metrics/measurement around social media. As for other online sources, start with Mashable.com and you’re certain to find plenty that contribute to the growing field.
June 18th, 2010 at 2:07 pm
Nice article. Pretty good to know for everyone who’s into social networking.
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June 29th, 2010 at 2:07 pm
Hi Monica, it’s a custom theme on WordPress.
July 13th, 2010 at 7:00 pm
Great read. Thanks for the info!
February 7th, 2011 at 3:21 pm
[...] media takes a lot of time. The Cloud Spark Agency surveyed social media practitioners about how much time is required for effective social media marketing. This was the bottom line result: It takes at least 65 hours a week to maintain 4 social media [...]
March 14th, 2011 at 2:37 pm
Thank you for this info! Really helpful.
August 3rd, 2011 at 10:27 am
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