Restaurant Social Media in Miami: What $1,000, $3,000 and $6,000 a Month Actually Buy

Every agency in Miami will quote you a monthly number. Almost none of them will tell you what changes between one number and the next. So you end up comparing $995 against $3,200 with no way of knowing whether the second one is three times better or just three times more confident.

Here is the breakdown by tier, in terms of what lands in your account each month.

The market, honestly

Published 2026 rates for Miami restaurants cluster like this: a basic program runs $800 to $1,500 a month, a standard one $1,500 to $3,500, and a comprehensive program for a busy single location $3,500 to $7,000. Multi-location groups start around $6,000 and go up. National averages run lower — $500 to $5,000 — because they include markets where a shoot day costs half what it does here.

The realistic centre of gravity for an independent Miami restaurant is $1,500 to $3,500 a month. Below that you are buying scheduling. Above it you are buying production.

Around $1,000 a month

What you get: someone posting consistently. A content calendar, captions written by a person who knows what they are doing, community management, and a monthly report. Most of the imagery is either yours, resurfaced, or shot quickly on a phone during a short monthly visit.

What you do not get: a crew. At this price nobody is spending a full day in your restaurant with lighting. The maths does not allow it.

Who this is right for: a restaurant with a decent archive of photos already, that needs consistency more than it needs new material. That is a legitimate need and this tier serves it well.

The failure mode: paying $1,000 a month for two years and ending up with two years of increasingly recycled photos. If the plan does not include new footage from somewhere, the account slowly goes flat.

Around $3,000 a month

This is where production enters. Expect a shoot day every month or two — a crew in your space, real light, food styled — feeding a month of posts. Short-form video becomes possible at volume rather than as an occasional treat.

What that buys in practice: eight to fifteen posts a month with a mix of photo and video, stories, community management, and enough raw material that the account does not repeat itself. Reporting that tells you what performed, not just how many people saw it.

Who this is right for: most independent Miami restaurants that are serious about the channel. It is the tier where social stops being a chore someone does at the end of the day and starts being an asset.

Around $6,000 a month

At this level you are buying frequency and paid distribution together. Multiple shoot days, short-form video as the primary format, paid ad management on top of the organic work, and usually a strategist rather than only a manager. Some of the budget is ad spend, which is a separate line — ask for it separately.

Who this is right for: multi-location groups, or a single restaurant in an expensive, competitive stretch of the city where the channel drives a meaningful share of covers.

How to read a proposal

Four questions cut through almost any pitch.

"How many shoot days does this include?" This is the real cost driver and the fastest way to compare two proposals. A plan with no shoot days and a plan with two are different products regardless of what the monthly number says.

"Who is making the content, and where are they?" There is nothing wrong with a distributed team — ours produces from Medellín and shoots in Miami, and it is why the numbers work. But you should know, and you should know who is in the room on shoot day.

"Is ad spend included in this figure or on top?" Miami restaurant ad budgets typically run $1,500 to $5,000 a month on their own. An agency fee that quietly includes spend is not comparable to one that does not.

"What happens if I leave?" Ask who owns the photos and video. If the answer is anything other than "you do", find out what it costs to keep them.

The thing nobody puts in the proposal

A monthly social budget only makes sense if the restaurant behind it is ready. If the room is half empty on a Tuesday because the neighbourhood does not know you exist, content helps. If it is half empty because the food is inconsistent, content accelerates the problem — more people come, more people are disappointed, and they say so publicly.

Worth being honest with yourself about which one you have before signing anything.

Our own monthly programs and what each one includes are laid out on the services page, and if what you actually need is footage rather than management, the short-form video page covers that separately.

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Market figures cited from Button Up Media's 2026 Miami restaurant marketing breakdown, socialbrand-mia's Miami social media cost guide, and WebFX's 2026 national social media pricing survey.