Question 1

How does the social media post ROI calculator work?

Accepted Answer

It takes four inputs: hours per week you currently spend on social media, your hourly rate (or your team's loaded cost), posts per week shipped, and number of active platforms. It then computes monthly cost (hours × rate × 4.33), the equivalent cost on Content Drifter (recommended plan based on platform count), and the monthly delta. The math is live and updates as you move the sliders.

Question 2

What hourly rate should I use?

Accepted Answer

For a founder doing it themselves, use your fully-loaded effective hourly rate ($75–$200/hr is typical for a venture-backed founder; $40–$80 for a bootstrapped one). For a junior in-house marketer, use $35–$50/hr (US, loaded). For a freelance social media manager, use the $25–$60/hr they bill at. The point of the calculator is to make the opportunity cost concrete — most founders are stunned to see the number, because they had been treating their own time as free.

Question 3

Does the calculator include the cost of design, scheduling, and analytics?

Accepted Answer

Yes — the "hours per week" input is meant to capture the total social media workload: brainstorming, writing, designing, scheduling, posting, replying, and reporting. Most people underestimate this; the average solo founder running 3 platforms reports 8–15 hours per week when they actually time-track. The 12-hour default is the median we see in user surveys.

Question 4

Is the calculator biased toward Content Drifter?

Accepted Answer

It uses public Content Drifter pricing ($0/$19/$49/$149) and a conservative Drifter-time estimate (0.03 hr per post + 0.05 hr per platform per week — about 30 minutes a week for 10 posts on 3 platforms). The savings number reflects real users' reported workflow time, not a marketing figure. If you currently spend less than 2 hours a week on social media, the calculator will (correctly) tell you the savings are small.

Free Social Media Post ROI Calculator

Your Current Workflow

Monthly Cost Breakdown

How to read your number

Like the math? Run a real week through Content Drifter.