Short answer: An agency suits brands that want a full team (strategy, filming, editing and community management) without hiring three people. A freelancer suits one channel on a tight budget, and an in-house hire makes sense once social media is big enough to need someone full time.
We’re an agency, so we have a side. A freelancer or an in-house hire is sometimes the better choice, though, and below is how we’d think it through in your position.
What does each option give you?
A social media agency
- A team with different skills. Strategy, filming, editing and community management are shared across a team of people who do this every day.
- More than one person on your account. One person’s holiday or sick day doesn’t have to stop your posting schedule.
- Benchmarks from other accounts. An agency sees what’s working across many brands at once and brings those lessons to yours.
- The trade-off: the team doesn’t sit in your office, so it needs good briefings and quick approvals from your side. Choose an agency where the people making your content are the people you talk to.
A freelancer
- Flexible and usually the cheapest option for one channel or one type of content.
- A direct relationship with the person doing the work.
- The trade-off: one person’s skills and one person’s calendar. It’s rare to find someone who’s equally strong at strategy, filming, editing and analytics, and there’s no cover when they’re away.
An in-house hire
- Deep knowledge of the company and someone on site to capture moments as they happen.
- Full control over priorities and timing.
- The trade-off: cost and range. One person is expected to be strategist, filmmaker, editor and community manager at once, and recruiting the right person takes time.
How do the costs compare?
An in-house hire comes with more than the role itself: recruitment time, equipment, software and training all add to the cost, and one person can only cover so much.
Agency and freelancer prices depend on how many channels you need, how many posts a month and how much filming is involved, so the useful comparison is what you get for the money. At Meridian, our packages range from 8 posts a month across two channels with a two-person team, up to 14 or more posts a month with a three-to-four person senior team, quarterly photo shoots and influencer work. Every management client gets a named team, a direct line to them and a monthly report. See the packages on our services page.
Which option fits which situation?
- Choose an agency if you want video-led content on two or more platforms, you don’t have time to manage it yourself, and you want results you can measure within three months.
- Choose a freelancer if you need help with one channel or one skill, such as editing, and someone in the company already owns the strategy.
- Choose an in-house hire if social media is central to the business, you post daily across several channels and you can support that person with tools, budget and outside help when needed.
What about a hybrid of agency and in-house?
For many brands this works best. The agency runs strategy and production, and someone in-house is trained to capture everyday moments, answer comments and keep the voice consistent between shoots.
Training helps here. Our workshops give founders and teams a plan, hands-on practice filming on a phone and ready-made posts to publish afterwards. After a workshop with Boa & Bim, the café’s first Reel reached 78,800 organic views, and the session produced more than 90 pieces of raw footage for future posts.
When is it time to switch?
- From doing it yourself to outside help: you post when you remember, nobody looks at the numbers, and social keeps losing out to everything else on your list.
- From a freelancer to an agency: you need more channels, more video or more strategy than one person can deliver.
- From an agency to in-house: social media has become central enough to need someone in the building every day. Many brands keep the agency for strategy and production at that point.
What should you ask an agency before signing?
- Who will make my content, and will I speak to them directly?
- Do you film and edit yourselves, or outsource it?
- What will the monthly report show, and how does it link to my goals?
- Can I see case studies with numbers from brands like mine?
- How long is the first commitment, and what happens in that period?
- Have any of your clients ever bought followers? The answer should be no. None of our clients has ever bought a single follower.
Frequently asked questions
Is a social media agency worth it for a small business?
It can be, if social media is a main way customers find you. Many of our clients are restaurants, cafés and young software companies. For a very small budget, a workshop that teaches your team to make content themselves is often the better first step.
How long should you give an agency before judging results?
Give it three months. That’s the first period every Meridian client signs up for, because it’s enough time to test, learn and double down. Read more in our guide on how long organic social media takes to show results.
Can an agency and an in-house marketer work together?
Yes, and it’s often the strongest setup. The in-house person brings company knowledge and day-to-day moments, and the agency brings strategy, production and benchmarks from other accounts.
Not sure which option fits you? Tell us about your brand and we’ll reply within 48 hours with first thoughts on where we’d start.
Written by the Meridian team in Helsinki. Last updated 7 October 2026.
