Costs and pricing
Part of How UK brands can scope a paid social audit
How UK brands can scope a paid social audit
A practical guide for UK brands to define a paid social audit scope, check access and data protection, and assess findings before commissioning.
What to take away
- A paid social audit is a bounded review of accounts you already run, priced by platform, objective and depth rather than by media spend.
- Ask for read-only access, a named reviewer and a findings pack that shows the evidence behind each recommendation.
- Set the budget with a worked example20 hours at £85 per hour plus a £300 data export comes to £2,000, illustrative only.
- Buy the audit before media management, so the brief and the budget follow the findings rather than a pitch.
What the audit should cover
An audit is a second opinion on accounts you own, not a plan for accounts you might build. The reviewer opens your Meta, LinkedIn or TikTok ad accounts and works through structure, audience setup, creative, bidding, tracking and consent. Each finding needs a screenshot, a date and a named owner before it counts as usable.
Scope matters more than seniority. A single-channel review of one campaign objective is a small job. A cross-channel audit covering retargeting consent, pixel health and creative fatigue is a larger one. Compare quotes only when the deliverables list is identical.
Ask for the raw export alongside the summary. If the reviewer will not show the account-level numbers, the findings cannot be checked later.
A useful findings pack should make each issue actionable. Check that every finding includes:
- The finding and supporting account evidence, such as a screenshot or data extract, with its date.
- The likely impact and a specific recommendation.
- A priority, a named owner and a way to verify whether the fix worked.
Ad copy and landing pages should be checked against the CAP Code (the UK Code of Non-broadcast Advertising and Direct & Promotional Marketing), administered by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). Ask the reviewer to flag anything that needs changing before the next campaign flight.
Matching the audit scope to your spend
Fix scope in writing before you ask for a price. The cheaper quote often covers fewer platforms, not a faster job.
Audit scope by buyer type
Single platform, one objective
- What reviewer examines
- Structure, audiences, creative, tracking
- Typical buyer
- Small brand testing one channel
Single platform, full funnel
- What reviewer examines
- Prospecting, retargeting consent, measurement
- Typical buyer
- Ecommerce brand with repeat spend
Two or three platforms
- What reviewer examines
- Channel roles, overlap, budget split
- Typical buyer
- Brand with in-house media buyer
Full audit with creative review
- What reviewer examines
- Ad copy, landing pages, codes compliance
- Typical buyer
- Regulated or franchised business
What the reviewer examines
- Single platform, one objective
- Account structure, audiences, creative, tracking
- Single platform, full funnel
- Prospecting, retargeting consent, measurement
- Two or three platforms
- Channel roles, overlap, budget split
- Full audit with creative review
- Ad copy, landing pages, codes compliance
Typical buyer
- Single platform, one objective
- Small brand testing one channel
- Single platform, full funnel
- Ecommerce brand with repeat spend
- Two or three platforms
- Brand with an in-house media buyer
- Full audit with creative review
- Regulated or franchised business
Exclude anything that is not evidence. Forecasts, media plans and creative concepts belong in a separate brief. An audit that ends with a new campaign proposal is a pitch wearing a different label.
A written scope also protects you from a reviewer who bills by the hour without a ceiling. Ask for a cap and a change process for anything outside the agreed list.
If retargeting audiences are built from customer lists or pixel data, the review should test consent and the lawful basis against the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018 and the ICO's direct marketing guidance. It should also check whether tracking technologies such as cookies meet the consent requirements of the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 (PECR).
How audit pricing is structured
Pricing follows hours, not media spend. An agency charging a percentage of ad spend has little reason to keep an audit small, so ask for a day rate and an estimated hour count instead.
A Facebook ads audit of one platform usually takes one to two days of work. A three-platform audit with creative and measurement layers can run to five days. Treatment of VAT varies, so check whether the quote includes it.
If the audit has to support a spending decision, our guide to building a paid social budget from evidence sets out which inputs to give the reviewer.
How to buy one, step by step
- Write the scope on one page: platforms, date range, objectives and the decisions the audit must support.
- Ask each agency for a named reviewer, a sample findings page from a previous job and a fixed fee. Agree confidentiality, data-handling and deletion terms in writing, using an NDA or equivalent clause where appropriate.
- Grant read-only access with an expiry date, keep ownership of the accounts, and agree who can access the account and data and when access will end.
- Book a 60-minute readout and require the written pack within five working days of it.
- Score each quote against the same scope before comparing price.
Where two quotes cover the same work, put the pricing structures side by side; our comparison of paid-social pricing models shows how a day rate and a retainer change the total.
Access rights sit inside the ad platforms, so check the access route in Meta's own ads documentation before handing over anything.
Common questions
How long does a paid social audit take?
One platform with a single objective usually takes three to five working days from access to readout. A three-platform audit with measurement and creative layers often needs two to three weeks.
Is a cheap audit worth buying?
Sometimes, if the scope is genuinely narrow. A very low fee for an account with six-figure monthly spend is unlikely to buy thorough work. Compare deliverables, not headline price.
Can we keep running ads during the audit?
Yes. Read-only access does not interrupt delivery, and most reviewers want live data. Pause only the campaigns you plan to replace.
Do we need a separate audit for each platform?
Not always. One reviewer can cover several channels, but the fee should reflect the extra time. Split the audit when different teams manage each platform.
