Published 3 October 2026.
Social media management with us costs ₹1,00,000, ₹1,25,000 or ₹2,00,000 a month plus GST, and the difference between the three is the kind of content you get, not the number of platforms we post on. The cheapest plan gives you a dependable feed with stock-based video. The middle one adds AI-assisted video. The top one puts a camera operator and in-house creators in the room for a day.
This guide lays out what each retainer buys, what sits outside it, and how to pick one. The full scope is on our social media agency in Delhi page. We are an agency and we want your retainer, so check our arithmetic against the page and not against our enthusiasm.
What the three retainers include
Every plan starts at the figure shown, plus GST, billed monthly. Platform mix, approval steps and final scope are confirmed in the proposal before anything starts.
| Plan | Monthly fee (plus GST) | Videos | Creatives | Shoot | In-house UGC | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Social Essentials | ₹1,00,000 | 4 to 6 stock-based videos | 12 | No | No | Brands that need a steady feed and useful short video without a monthly shoot |
| Social + AI | ₹1,25,000 | 6 to 8, including two 30-second AI videos | 15 | No | No | Brands that want more variety and planned AI-led video next to regular storytelling |
| Social + Production | ₹2,00,000 | Agreed in the proposal | Agreed in the proposal | One shoot day with a camera operator | Yes, in-house creators | Brands that need original footage and creator-led content inside a planned programme |
Two details in that table cause most of the confusion. In the Social + AI plan, the two AI videos are part of the 6 to 8, not on top of them. And the Production plan has no advertised count of videos or creatives. We confirm quantities in the proposal and we do not sell it as unlimited output, because a shoot day produces what a shoot day produces.
All three include content planning around your brand priorities. Community management is part of the work, but it is an agreed response workflow with a named escalation owner, not round-the-clock support.
What the money works out to per asset
This is arithmetic from the published allocations, not a rate card. We do not price a video or a creative separately on these plans, and a motion video costs us more to make than a static post.
Social Essentials covers 16 to 18 assets a month (4 to 6 videos plus 12 creatives). Divide ₹1,00,000 by 18 and by 16 and you get about ₹5,556 to ₹6,250 per asset. Social + AI covers 21 to 23 assets (6 to 8 videos plus 15 creatives), which gives about ₹5,435 to ₹5,952 per asset on ₹1,25,000.
The step up between the two plans is ₹25,000 a month, and for that you get two more videos at the top of the range, three more creatives and two AI videos folded in. Over twelve months the retainers add up to ₹12,00,000, ₹15,00,000 and ₹24,00,000 before GST.
We cannot do this sum for the Production plan, since the quantities are not fixed until the proposal. If an agency gives you a neat per-post price on a shoot-based retainer, ask what it assumes.
For comparison, our standalone UGC video pricing is ₹8,000 a video on the 20-video pack (₹1,60,000 for twenty). That is a different product, creator-led videos only, with none of the planning, creatives or community work. We explain what drives UGC prices in what UGC videos cost in India.
What is not in the retainer
The retainer pays for our team’s planning, creative and production work. Four things sit outside it unless we agree otherwise in writing.
Ad spend. Boosting a post or running a paid social campaign uses your ad account and your money, and the management of it is scoped on its own. For how we charge on paid work, see performance marketing. The management fee there is the higher of 15% of monthly media spend or ₹50,000 plus GST a month, and we suggest ₹50,000 to ₹1,00,000 a month of media as a floor.
External influencer fees. The in-house creators on the Production plan are covered. A creator with their own audience, whom we book for your brand, is paid separately. Our published creator fees are ₹10,000 to ₹15,000 per deliverable for nano creators, ₹30,000 to ₹1,00,000 for micro and ₹1,00,000 to ₹25,00,000 for macro. Our influencer marketing agency page has the agency fee, and what a festive influencer campaign costs works through a real budget.
Paid licences. A music track, a stock library beyond what the plan assumes, a font. If the content needs one, we confirm the cost with you first.
Travel and location costs. A shoot day inside the Production plan covers our camera operator and in-house creators. Hiring a location, travelling to your factory in another city or paying for permissions is quoted separately.
How to choose between the plans
Pick the plan by the content you lack, not by the biggest number you can afford.
Choose Social Essentials if your product or service can be explained without new footage. A consulting firm, a school, a B2B supplier explaining a process. A feed that is consistent, accurate and planned beats a feed that is occasionally brilliant. This plan has no monthly shoot, so if your products need to be seen being used, it will feel thin.
Choose Social + AI if you want more volume and more formats, and you are comfortable with some video being AI-generated. We say plainly that AI should serve the idea and not stand in for product accuracy. A shampoo bottle or a piece of machinery needs to look like itself. If you want to see what AI film looks like before agreeing, our AI video production page shows it.
Choose Social + Production if your audience needs to see real people, real products or a real place. A planned shoot day with creators gives you a bank of footage to cut into several posts. It works best when scripts, location and permissions are agreed before the day, so the camera is never waiting.
If you are unsure between two, start with the smaller one. You can move up when the content proves its worth. Discovering you paid for a shoot you had no use for is not.
What to ask any social media agency
These questions work on us as well as on anyone else.
How many videos and creatives will you deliver each month, and in what formats? A number is a promise you can check. “Regular content” is not.
Who approves what, and how long do they have? Our process names a review owner and approval stages during onboarding. Revision rounds and urgent requests are agreed in the proposal, and you should ask for the same from anyone else.
Who owns the accounts? Your pages, ad accounts and analytics should sit in your name, with the agency given access. If the agency owns the account, you cannot leave without losing your followers.
What will the monthly report show? It should say which themes and formats reached the people you wanted, which videos held attention, which posts led to useful clicks or conversations, and what happened on the website afterwards where tracking exists.
What is excluded? Ask for the list in writing. The four items above are the usual ones.
How social media is measured
Decide the objective first, and the measures follow. If you want enquiries, count enquiries and where they came from. If you want people to recognise the brand, look at reach among the right audience and how long videos are watched. If you want product-page visits, count clicks that land.
Follower growth on its own is not a result. A brand can add ten thousand followers who never buy, and another can add two hundred who do. We review content-level reach, engagement quality, video watch behaviour and useful clicks, and we keep organic and paid activity apart in the report so one does not hide the other. Reports are only as good as the access we have, so agree platform access, event tracking and a way for sales to tell us which enquiries were any good.
We have not published a case study that ties a social retainer to sales, and we do not quote one here. What we can show is the work itself, on the social page, for brands including Vega, Asian Hospital, British Paints and JBM Group.
What we do not guarantee
We do not guarantee followers, leads or sales. Outcomes depend on your offer, your audience, the content, how it is distributed, the budget behind it and how quickly your team follows up an enquiry. What we commit to is the agreed scope and a review process that tells you what is working.
If social is only one part of how people find you, the website and search need to carry the same message. Our website development service and SEO, AEO and GEO work are separate scopes that sit alongside a social retainer, and social does not replace either.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does social media marketing cost in India?
Our retainers start at ₹1,00,000 plus GST a month for 4 to 6 stock-based videos and 12 creatives. ₹1,25,000 plus GST gets 6 to 8 videos and 15 creatives, and ₹2,00,000 plus GST adds a shoot day and in-house creators. Ad spend and external influencer fees are separate.
What is included in a social media management retainer?
Content planning, the agreed number of videos and creatives, review and approval stages, publishing to the agreed accounts and a monthly report. Community management follows an agreed response workflow and is not round-the-clock support. The proposal lists everything else.
Does the retainer include ad spend?
No. Ad spend runs through your own ad accounts and is paid to the platforms. If you want us to manage paid social as well, that is scoped separately, and our performance marketing fee is the higher of 15% of monthly media spend or ₹50,000 plus GST a month.
Are influencer fees included?
Not for external influencers, unless expressly agreed. The in-house creators on the ₹2,00,000 Social + Production plan are included. Outside creators are paid separately, and our influencer marketing page sets out creator fees by tier.
Are the AI videos extra on the Social + AI plan?
No. The two 30-second AI videos count within the 6 to 8 monthly videos, not on top of them. Product accuracy, usage permissions and brand review still apply to them.
How do you measure if social media is working?
We agree the objective first, then review reach, engagement quality, video watch behaviour, useful clicks and enquiries where tracking is available. Follower growth alone does not show if social is helping the business, so we do not report it as a result.
Can you guarantee followers, leads or sales?
No. Results depend on the offer, audience, content, distribution, budget and follow-up. We commit to an agreed scope and a regular review, and we do not publish projections or promise a follower count.
References
- DigiStreet Media, Social Media Agency in Delhi, published retainers, allocations and exclusions, checked 3 October 2026.
- DigiStreet Media, Influencer Marketing Agency, creator fee tiers and agency fee.
- DigiStreet Media, Performance Marketing Agency, management fee and suggested media floor.
