Define what your exact business goals are.

Social media marketing can mean many things these days, but you are talking “ad spend” I see this less as social media marketing as I do PPC strategy, but including ad spend on social platforms. Correct?

Your end goal is service leads? Online sales? Awareness?

More ad spend means more data which means a faster timeline to identifying successful campaign.

Sad but true the most challenging clients are those with small ad spend and competitive business verticals. Easier models are larger companies, with larger ad spend.

Successful agencies have very little reason to toy around with $600/mo clients.

Conversely you have a mixed bag of posers, pretenders and the occasional good freelancer in the $50/hour range.

What to do:
Agency route:
Find an agency with deep experience in your specific market. Negotiate a 3 month contract to limit your risk. Have them detail out their tool set with their experience and how that is leveraged into success for your, that is what you’re paying for. Any decent agency will look at your marketing strategy from end to end to ensure you have a healthy setup. If they don’t do this, look elsewhere. In the U.S a qualified agency would start at a min of $1,600/month flat fee just to manage your marketing. FYI – High end agencies charge closer to 6 figures/mo for corps with large ad budgets.

Freelancer:
Seek to find a person who has been the in-house digital marketer for a company just like yours. Often these folks want a little extra side work. This would be your ideal candidate. Use linkedIn to find competitors, find their marketing talent and find your prospects. Hit them with a private message.

DIY
Its always to your benefit to learn the ropes of digital marketing. This will help you both launch your own marketing, but also identify true talent and select the right marketing resources. Take a 6 hour course on LinkedIn Learning, or use YouTube for free.

All the best to you