Choosing a tool
How much should a founder spend on LinkedIn content help?
Short answer
It depends on how much you want to hand over. Freelance help is usually priced by the hour, and Upwork puts ghostwriters at about $20 to $45 an hour and video editors at anywhere from $15 to over $150.
Budget for the work you can't or won't do yourself, and keep the ideas and the final approval with you.
$20 to $45
an hour is what hiring a ghostwriter typically costs, according to Upwork
What does each kind of help cost?
Rates vary a lot with experience, country and scope, so treat these as rough market ranges rather than quotes for your own project.
- Ghostwriters. Upwork says hiring a ghostwriter typically costs between $20 and $45 an hour, and more for experienced writers.
- Video editors. Upwork's video editor cost guide puts entry-level editors at $15 to $30 an hour, intermediate editors at $30 to $60 and experts at $60 to $150 or more.
- Social media managers. Upwork lists social media managers at $14 to $35 an hour, with monthly account management for a small business at roughly $400 to $2,000.
- Employees. For a salaried hire, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics put the median annual wage for writers and authors at $76,910 in May 2025, and for film and video editors at $75,420.
Agencies usually quote a monthly retainer, and public figures for them vary too widely to be useful. Ask two or three for a quote on the same scope and compare like with like.
How do you set a budget?
Start from the hours. Estimate how long each post takes you now, from idea to published, and decide which parts you want off your plate. Writing from scratch usually takes the longest and editing video comes next, while scheduling and formatting take the least time and are the easiest to hand over.
Then pay only for those parts. A founder who is happy to talk through ideas but hates editing video needs an editor, not a full agency. One who wants to approve posts and do nothing else needs a writer who can work from short calls or voice notes, which costs more because it takes more of the writer's time.
What should the money not buy?
Your opinions. Whoever helps, the ideas, stories and views in each post should come from you, and you should approve every post before it goes out. Help that writes on your behalf without your input tends to produce posts that sound like everyone else's, which wastes the budget however small it is.
Is software a substitute for a person?
For some of the work. Software can now interview you, draft from your answers, edit and caption video and handle scheduling, while a person brings judgement and accountability. Many founders combine the two, with a tool doing the repetitive parts and a person, sometimes the founder, deciding what is worth saying.
Follow-up questions
How much does a LinkedIn ghostwriter cost per month?
It depends on how many posts you want and how much interviewing is involved, so monthly quotes vary widely.
Work out the hours behind your target number of posts, multiply by the writer's rate, and compare quotes for the same scope rather than the headline figure.
Is a freelancer or an agency better value?
A freelancer usually costs less and gives you one person who learns your voice. An agency costs more but brings cover for holidays and a mix of skills, such as writing, video and strategy.
For one founder posting a few times a week, a good freelancer is often enough.
How much time does doing it yourself take?
More than the writing alone suggests. Coming up with the idea, drafting, editing, formatting and replying to comments all add up.
Time a typical week honestly before deciding, because the option that looks cheapest on paper can cost the most once your own hours are counted.
Talk for a few minutes. Post all week.
Hummbird turns your ideas into LinkedIn posts and videos in your voice. Nothing publishes until you approve it.
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