Comparison
Quick answer
A social media manager focuses exclusively on building and managing your brand's social presence — content creation, community management, and platform-specific strategy. A digital marketer is a generalist who may handle social media alongside SEO, email, paid advertising, and content strategy. The right hire depends on whether social is your primary channel or one of many.
If social media is genuinely your business's primary growth channel — as it is for most consumer brands — a specialist social media manager will outperform a generalist who splits attention across channels. For B2B companies or those where social is a supporting channel, a generalist digital marketer provides better ROI by covering more ground. Be honest about social's actual role in your revenue model before hiring.
Hourly rate
$75–$250/hr
Most common for audits, strategy sessions, and channel-specific advice
Per session
$150–$500
For a structured marketing audit or strategy advisory session
Monthly retainer
$2,000–$10,000/month
For ongoing fractional CMO or multi-channel strategy work