Most Bendigo business owners know their pages should be active. The trouble is that posting is the first thing to slip when the business gets busy, which is exactly when there’s the most to show.
Social media management means handing the regular work to someone who does it every week. This guide covers what that work includes, what it looked like for one local business over a busy few months, what you should keep doing yourself and what to ask before you hand it over.
What does social media management cover?
It’s a bundle of smaller jobs, and most of them have to happen every week:
Planning: what to post and when, around your seasons, events and offers.
Design and captions: graphics that look like your business, with words that sound like it.
Posting: across Instagram, Facebook and your Google Business Profile.
Reviews and replies: answering the people who take the time to talk to you.
Reporting: what went out and what it did, in plain English.
Done by the owner at nine at night, these jobs tend to happen in bursts. Done as part of someone’s working week, they happen on a schedule, and that’s what keeps a page looking alive.
If you’re weighing up which of these to hand over, our guide to what to outsource and what to keep goes through it job by job.
What it looks like in practice
National Heating & Cooling has been on our Department Plan since July 2026. Between 1 July and 14 October we published 143 posts across their Instagram, Facebook and Google profiles, covering three showrooms and NHC Solar.
Posting was only part of it. Over the same period we answered 105 Google reviews, including 90 that had been waiting from before July, and 13 of the 15 new Google reviews were answered within 12 hours.
The point isn’t the number of posts. It’s that every location stayed active through a busy season, and customers who left a review heard back. You can read more in the National Heating & Cooling story.
Your Google profile counts too
For a local business, the Google Business Profile is where many people meet you first: it shows up when someone searches for your name or your service on Google Maps. Posts, photos and review replies there belong in the same plan as Instagram and Facebook. Our Google Business Profile checklist and our guide to asking for Google reviews cover the basics.
What you should keep doing yourself
Some things lose their value the moment they’re handed over:
Your stories. New stock arriving, a job that went well, a team member’s milestone. Take the photo on your phone and send it on.
Replies that need judgement. A complaint, a quote request or a regular asking after someone should come from you.
The final say. Nothing should go out in your business’s name without your approval.
Rule of thumb: hand over the work that needs to happen every week. Keep the work that needs you to have been there.
What to ask before you hand it over
Whoever you choose, ask the same questions:
Who owns the pages and logins? You should.
How do approvals work, and how quickly can you say yes or no?
If you run ads, is the spend paid directly to Meta, with the ad account in your name? It should be, and with us it is.
What does the monthly report show?
How much design time is included each month?
The answers tell you a lot. A good manager will be happy for you to own everything, will make approvals quick rather than a chore, and will report what happened in words you can act on.
How it works on our marketing plans
Social media management runs through our marketing packages. On the Studio plan, from $2,200 a month + GST, your design hours cover post designs ready for you to schedule. On the Department plan, from $4,900 a month + GST, we plan, design and post your content for you. Both plans include 25 design hours a month, and both start with three months and then run month to month.
Common questions
Which platforms should a Bendigo business be on?
For most local businesses, Facebook and Instagram done properly, plus an up to date Google Business Profile. Doing two or three well beats being everywhere.
How often should we post?
There’s no magic number. A steady rhythm you can keep up beats a burst of posts followed by two quiet months. A business with several locations needs more than a single shop.
Will I lose control of my pages?
No. Your pages and any ad accounts stay in your name, and nothing should go out without your approval.
Can we start small?
Yes. The Studio plan covers the design side so you can schedule posts yourself, and you can move to the Department plan when you want us to run the whole thing.
Ready to hand over your social media?
See how our social media management in Bendigo works and compare the marketing packages. Get in touch at bendigographics.com or call (03) 5441 7900.
