Paid Does Not Discover. It Amplifies.
Putting budget behind untested creative is paying to learn something organic would have told you for nothing. Post the ideas, watch which ones people actually stop for, and then put money behind those. It is a slower start and a much cheaper one — and it means a business with no organic evidence yet is not being turned away, it is being told to spend the first month differently.
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Six things worth settling before the first pound
Each of these is cheap to answer now and expensive to discover after three months of spend. None of them is about the platform.
- Which creative already earned attentionOrganic tells you free
- Where the click landsAnd whether that page keeps the promise
- What a result actually isAn enquiry · not a lead form fill
- What you can afford to pay for oneWorked backwards from your margin
- Who pays the platformYou do · directly, always
- When you would stopDecided while nobody is emotional
The fourth row is the one that decides whether a campaign is a success or an argument. What you can afford per enquiry comes from your own margin and close rate, not from an industry benchmark — and until that number exists, nobody can say whether a result is good. Working it out takes twenty minutes and it is skipped almost every time.
The creative decides most of it, and the targeting decides less than you think
Most of the conversation about paid social is about targeting, and most of the outcome is decided by the creative. The platforms have become very good at finding people; what they cannot do is make somebody stop for something dull. This is why the organic-first order matters so much in practice: a month of posting produces real evidence about which idea, which opening, which framing earns attention, and that evidence is worth more than any amount of audience configuration.
It also changes what a campaign looks like. Rather than one advert with a large budget, the useful shape is a handful of things that already worked organically, given enough budget each to produce a signal, with the losers switched off quickly and the winner scaled. That sounds obvious and it is unusual, because it requires having several proven pieces before you start — which is exactly what the organic month produces.
Then there is the destination, which is where a surprising share of paid budget is wasted. A click that arrives on a homepage, or on a page that says something different from the advert, has cost the money and delivered nothing. We would rather fix that page before increasing spend, and we will say so even though the page is a smaller invoice than the campaign.
On money, our position is plain and matches the rest of the site: ad spend is billed separately and paid directly to the platform by you, never through us, and the management fee is 10–20% of that spend depending on volume. You keep the account, the data and the history. Agencies that hold the ad account keep the thing you paid to build, and the moment that matters is the moment you want to leave.
- ✓Creative decides more than targeting — Platforms find people well. They cannot make dull interesting.
- ✓Several proven pieces, not one big bet — Which is what the organic month is for.
- ✓Fix the destination before scaling — A click landing on a homepage has cost money and delivered nothing.
- ✓You own the ad account — And the data and the history. It matters on the day you leave.
- ✓Spend paid straight to the platform — Never through us. Fee is 10-20% of spend.
Budget behind untested creative is paying to learn something organic would have told you for nothing.
What running paid social actually involves
Six things, and the first one may be "not yet".
An Honest Readiness Check
Whether you have creative that has already earned attention and a page worth sending clicks to. Sometimes the answer is not yet, and that answer saves a quarter of budget.
Your Affordable Cost Per Enquiry
Worked backwards from your margin and close rate, not from a published benchmark. Until that number exists nobody can say whether a result is good.
Amplify the Proven Pieces
Several things that already worked organically, each given enough budget to produce a signal, losers switched off early and the winner scaled.
A Destination That Keeps the Promise
Checked or built before spend increases. The page that continues the sentence the advert started is worth more than any targeting change.
Your Account, Your Data
Run inside accounts you own, with spend paid straight to the platform. You keep the audience history and the learning, including on the day you decide to leave.
Reported Against Your Number
Enquiries and cost per enquiry against the figure we agreed, not platform-defined conversions that count a form opening as a success.
What clients say
Real clients, quoted in their own words — published with their permission.
“Ghalib’s clear guidance has helped improve our website’s SEO performance.”
“We’re very thankful to Ghalib and his team for building a fully-functioning website for our business.”
“It was a pleasure working with Ghalib and his team.”
More of them, in full, on our reviews page.
— Our Proprietary Methodology —
The Visibility Framework™, applied in Paid Social
The method doesn’t change by market. What it’s pointed at does.
Audit & Listen
Existing accounts, competitor feeds, audience demographics and every comment and review already written about you. Ends with a recommendation on which platforms to keep.
Position & Plan
Content pillars, brand voice, visual direction and a first calendar — agreed with you before a single post is produced.
Produce & Publish
Shooting, editing, writing, scheduling and replying. The part that has to happen every week without fail, which is where most in-house efforts quietly stop.
Amplify & Refine
Budget behind proven pieces, formats that underperform dropped, and the calendar rewritten monthly around what the data actually said.
Honest, No-Nonsense Commitment
Nobody controls a platform’s algorithm, so we will never promise you a viral post or a follower number. What we do commit to: the agreed content volume ships every month, every comment and DM is answered inside the agreed window, and if we miss either, that month is on us.
Social Media Management pricing for Paid Social, in USD
Ad spend is always billed separately and paid directly to the platform by you — it never passes through us. The figures below are the management fee only, and the percentage falls as spend rises because the work does not scale with the budget.
Small Spend
Under $3,000 a month in ad spend.
- Minimum $400 a month
- Amplification of proven organic creative
- Reported against your cost-per-enquiry figure
Growth
The usual one. $3,000 to $15,000 a month.
- Creative testing across several proven pieces
- Destination pages reviewed before scaling
- Your account, your data, your history
- Optional: bundle in SEO or Website Development
Scale
Above $15,000 a month in ad spend.
- Multi-platform and multi-market campaigns
- Creative production folded into the plan
- Weekly review against agreed thresholds
- Optional: combine all 4 services for full-funnel growth
Every plan is scoped around your market — get a free audit and we’ll recommend what fits, priced in USD.
What you’re actually committing to
Most agencies keep this in a contract you only see after the sales call. We would rather you knew now, because it is the question everyone asks second — right after the price.
- A 3-month initial term, then month to monthThree months is the shortest period in which a content approach can be judged honestly — month one is mostly setup and production. The wider industry standard is 6 to 12 months.
- 30 days’ notice to stopNo exit fee and no buy-out of the months you haven’t used. You leave when you decide to, not when the contract lets you.
- No setup or onboarding feeThe audit is free, and month one costs exactly what month two costs. Nothing is front-loaded.
- You own everythingAccounts, page roles, ad accounts, raw footage and every finished asset — in your name from day one, and still yours if we part ways.
- Ad spend never touches our invoiceYou pay the platform directly and keep the billing under your own control. Our fee is our fee.
- An agreed response windowThe time we commit to replying to comments and DMs is written into your agreement, not left to goodwill.
These are the terms as they appear in the agreement itself — nothing here is softened for the website. The full wording lives in our terms and conditions, and you get the agreement to read before anything is signed or invoiced.
Paid Social Social Media Management questions, answered
Related Social Media Management pages
Same service, different angle — by market, by discipline and by platform.
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Get in touch with Ghalib Ashrafi HQ
Ghalib Ashrafi takes on work for brands in six markets — the UK, USA, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Australia and Pakistan. Every enquiry gets a reply within 24 hours.