Does a social media agency handle paid advertising?

Some do, most don't include it by default. Scheduling and content management agencies typically manage organic posting only — paid advertising is either excluded from scope or quoted separately. Full-service agencies include paid social management (Meta Ads and Google Ads) within the retainer. Konquer Media includes Meta and Google Ads management in its Growth and Scale retainers, with ad spend bundled at cost — no markup. If paid advertising is a goal, confirm it's explicitly in scope before signing any retainer.

What does a social media agency NOT do?

Most social media agencies do not handle the conversion step — what happens after someone clicks an ad or sends a DM. They generate reach and enquiries but don't build the CRM pipeline, automated follow-up sequences, or missed-call text-back that turns an enquiry into a booked appointment. Many also don't produce original on-site video — they work with content the client provides or stock imagery. A business hiring a social media agency should confirm what happens to the leads the campaign generates, who owns the ad accounts, and whether the agency has a production credential or only manages distribution.

Field notes · explainer

what does a social media agency actually do?

Q: What does a social media agency actually do?

A social media agency manages a business's presence on platforms like Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and LinkedIn. In practice this means producing content (video, photography, graphics), scheduling and publishing posts, managing paid advertising campaigns, and reporting on performance. The scope varies significantly by agency: scheduling-only agencies manage posting without producing content; production-led agencies like Konquer Media originate the video assets, manage paid campaigns, and wire up the CRM follow-up system that converts enquiries into bookings. What's included at each price point is in the retainer scope, not the agency label.

A plain-language breakdown of what you're paying for — production, ads, follow-up, reporting — what agencies typically leave out, and what to check before you sign anything.

Short version: a social media agency manages your business's presence on Instagram, Facebook and other platforms. What varies enormously — and what most business owners don't realise until they're a month into a retainer — is what "manage" actually means. Some agencies produce your content. Some just post what you give them. Some run paid ads. Some don't touch ad spend. Some handle the leads that come in. Most don't. Here's how to tell the difference.

the three things a full-service agency should do

If you're paying a retainer to a social media agency, there are three jobs that actually move the needle for a Melbourne small business. Not all agencies do all three — and the gap between "we manage your social" and "we produce content, run ads and convert the leads" is the difference between a feed that looks busy and a feed that generates revenue.

1. content production

Production means creating the assets: filming video, editing reels, designing graphics, writing captions. This is the work that requires someone to show up at your business with a camera — or at minimum, to have enough creative capability to build something that doesn't look like a template.

Many agencies that describe themselves as social media managers are not, in practice, production companies. They write captions, repurpose content you provide, use stock imagery, and design graphics in Canva. That's content management. It's not content production. For a service business — a restaurant, a tradie, a broker, a dealership — content that converts is almost always video of the actual work happening. You can't outsource the filming without someone physically showing up.

When you're evaluating an agency, the question is: does the scope include a shoot day? If it doesn't, you're hiring a distribution service, not a production partner. See what a short-form video agency does for the distinction.

2. paid social advertising

Organic reach on most platforms — especially Facebook and Instagram — has been declining for years. For most Melbourne businesses, a post published to their own followers reaches roughly 5 to 10% of that audience. A paid campaign pointed at the right postcode with the right demographic targeting reaches thousands of people who have never heard of the business.

A full-service agency runs your paid campaigns: setting up the ad sets, selecting the audience targeting, testing creative variations, adjusting bids and budgets based on performance, and reporting on what the spend produced. This is a distinct skill from content production — some agencies do both, many only do one.

The important question about paid: is ad spend included in the retainer, or is it separate? And if it's separate — does the agency take a markup on the media you buy? The most transparent model passes ad spend to the platforms at cost and charges a flat management fee. Ask specifically.

3. lead follow-up and CRM

The most commonly missing piece. Social media advertising generates enquiries — DMs, form submissions, phone calls from people who clicked an ad. What happens next determines whether any of that spend converts into revenue.

An agency that manages your social but doesn't wire up a follow-up system is handing you raw leads with no pipeline to put them in. A missed DM at 7pm is a lost booking. A form submission that doesn't get a reply within 20 minutes converts at a fraction of the rate of one that gets an immediate response.

CRM follow-up — missed-call text-back, auto-reply sequences, booking link in the first response — closes the loop between the content and the outcome. Most agencies don't offer this because it requires integrating a CRM platform alongside the creative work. When it's included, the conversion rate on the same ad spend typically doubles.

what a social media agency doesn't do (usually)

Setting expectations before you sign avoids the most common source of disappointment in agency retainers.

They don't design your brand from scratch. A social media agency works with your existing brand (logo, colours, tone of voice). If you don't have a brand identity yet, that's a separate design project — and it should be done before the content production starts, or the content will be inconsistent.

They don't write your website copy. Social posts and website copy are different disciplines. Some agencies do both, but it's worth confirming scope before assuming it's included.

They don't manage your Google presence. Most social media agencies work on Meta (Instagram + Facebook) and sometimes LinkedIn or TikTok. Google Ads and SEO are usually separate specialisations. If you need both, you're either looking for a broader digital agency or you're combining two retainers.

They don't guarantee results in a specific timeframe. Any agency that promises a specific number of followers, leads or bookings by a specific date is either misleading you or selling an inflated expectation. Content and paid social build over time. The right framing is a cost-per-lead target at steady state, not a week-one outcome.

They don't own the accounts. Your business's Instagram account, Facebook page, Meta Ads Manager and any CRM should stay in your name and under your ownership. A reputable agency operates as an admin on your own accounts — they should never ask you to transfer account ownership to them.

what the onboarding process should look like

When you start with a social media agency, the first two weeks are typically setup: access to the existing accounts, a brand brief (what you make or do, who you're selling to, what sets you apart), a content calendar for the first month, and a confirmation of the ad targeting strategy. If you're providing footage yourself, this is also when the briefing template gets established.

If the agency is doing production, the first shoot day happens in the first two to three weeks. The first published content typically goes live in week two or three. The first paid campaign launches after the first pieces are live, so there's real creative to run rather than placeholder graphics.

The first month rarely looks like a mature campaign — the targeting is still learning, the creative testing hasn't produced a clear winner, and the follow-up system is just being calibrated. Month two is when the data starts to tell you what's working. Month three is typically when the return on spend begins to stabilise.

This is why three-month minimum contracts exist — not as a lock-in tactic, but because the system genuinely takes that long to get to a fair evaluation point. An agency that offers month-to-month from day one either has no confidence in the process or is operating at a lower intensity than one committed to a real campaign.

what to look for in a brief session before signing

The onboarding call or brief session with an agency tells you more about how they'll work than their website or case studies. Watch for:

They ask about outcomes, not just content. "What do you want people to do after seeing the content?" is a better question than "what kind of posts do you want?" An agency focused on business outcomes thinks differently about the brief than one focused on deliverables.

They talk about what won't work. An honest agency tells you where the strategy has limits — where organic reach is capped, which verticals convert badly on paid, what a realistic timeline looks like. That honesty is a better predictor of outcomes than enthusiasm.

They can show you recent work in your vertical. Not a case study from three years ago — what did they produce for a similar business in the last six months? Ask to see the actual posts, the actual ads, the actual results. If they can't show you, the vertical expertise they're claiming is theoretical.

They explain the ad spend model clearly. At cost, no markup, managed in your own Ads Manager — that's the model you want. If the explanation is vague or they don't want to show you the ad account, that's the variable cost hiding.

the difference between a management-only and a production-led agency

The simplest way to describe Konquer is: we produce the content, run the ads and wire up the follow-up system — three things under one retainer. Most agencies do one of the three and call it social media management.

The brief session, the shoot day and the account access happen in the first two weeks. The first pieces are published by week three. The campaign runs and the reporting is delivered monthly. The pricing page has the full tier breakdown, and the brief form takes about five minutes to fill in if you want to start with a conversation.

For more on what to look for when comparing agencies and packages, see hire an agency or do it yourself and what social media content packages in Australia include. For the Melbourne-specific agency evaluation guide — four agency types, five questions, and price tier breakdowns — see how to choose a social media agency in Melbourne.

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