Cardiff: Hire the BEST Social Media Ads Manager

So, you're based in Cardiff and looking to hire someone to run your social media ads. It's a smart move. Done right, paid social can be a massive growth engine. Done wrong, it's a fast way to burn through cash with nothing to show for it but some vanity metrics. The challenge isn't just finding someone; it's finding the *right* someone who won't just take your money but will actually get you a return.

The Cardiff market has its own quirks. What resonates with an audience in London or Manchester might not land the same way here. But the biggest mistake I see Cardiff businesses make is getting too hung up on finding a 'local' manager. The truth is, the best expert for your business might be working from their laptop in Bristol, Birmingham, or even further afield. This guide will walk you through how to find and vet a genuine expert, whether they're based in Cardiff Bay or Cornwall, so you can invest with confidence.

Does My Ads Manager Really Need a Cardiff Postcode?

Let's tackle the biggest myth head-on: the idea that your ads manager *must* be local. It feels comforting, I get it. The thought of meeting for a coffee in one of the Arcades to go over reports is appealing. But in 99% of cases, it's a completely unnecessary constraint that severely limits your talent pool.

Your number one priority shouldn't be proximity; it should be expertise. Specifically, expertise in three areas:

1. Your Industry: Have they successfully run ads for a business like yours before? A manager who has scaled an eCommerce brand from £5k to £50k a month has a completely different skillset to one who generates leads for local tradespeople. We've run campaigns for home cleaning companies where we got the cost per lead down to £5. That experience is transferable whether the service is in Pontcanna or Portsmouth. The principles of targeting homeowners within a specific radius, writing compelling local-focused copy, and optimising for phone calls or form fills are universal.

2. Your Customer: Do they understand who you're selling to? Can they articulate the specific, urgent pain point your product or service solves? This is far more important than them knowing the best route from Whitchurch to the city centre.

3. The Platform: Are they a master of the specific ad platform that matters to you? A LinkedIn Ads wizard who can target decision-makers in the financial firms around Callaghan Square is a different beast to a Meta Ads pro who can drive footfall to a restaurant on Mill Lane.

By insisting on a Cardiff-only search, you're choosing from a pond when you could be fishing in an ocean. The best person for the job is the one with the most relevant track record. In today's world, with tools like Zoom and Slack, physical location is almost irrelevant for this kind of work. It's far better to have an A-grade expert on a video call than a C-grade generalist in the same room. Before you even start your search, it's worth understanding how to properly vet an expert, regardless of their location, as the principles are the same everywhere.

Who Are You Actually Hiring? The Freelancer, the Agency, or the 'Guru'?

When you start looking, you'll find the term "social media ads manager" covers a wide range of options. Understanding the differences is vital to making the right choice. Broadly, they fall into three camps.

The Cardiff Freelancer: This is a one-person operation. They'll be your direct point of contact, building and managing your campaigns themselves.
-> Pros: Often more affordable than an agency. You get direct access to the person actually doing the work, which can lead to better communication. They can be more flexible.
-> Cons: They are a single point of failure. If they get sick, go on holiday, or get hit by a bus (a real risk on Cardiff's roads!), your campaigns grind to a halt. Their experience might be narrower, and they can get stretched thin if they take on too many clients.

The Specialist Agency: This is a team of people. You'll likely have a main point of contact (an account manager), but behind them will be strategists, copywriters, and ad specialists. They can be based locally in places like Tramshed Tech, or be a larger remote/UK-wide operation.
-> Pros: A whole team of experts is working on your account. They have established processes, more resources, and broader experience from working across many accounts. They won't disappear if one person is off.
-> Cons: Almost always more expensive. You might not always be speaking directly to the person placing the ads, which can sometimes lead to communication gaps. Some bigger agencies can feel a bit impersonal.

The 'Social Media Guru': This is a major red flag. They'll have a flashy Instagram, talk a lot about 'hacks' and 'going viral', and promise you the world. Their focus will be on vanity metrics like likes, followers, and reach.
-> Pros: Absolutely none.
-> Cons: They will waste your money. They don't understand business objectives like Cost Per Lead (CPL), Return on Ad Spend (ROAS), or Customer Lifetime Value (LTV). They are performers, not marketers. Run a mile.

So which one is right for you? It depends on your budget, goals, and how hands-on you want to be. This flowchart should help you decide.

Forget the Sales Pitch: How to *Actually* Vet an Ads Expert

Once you've decided between a freelancer or an agency, you need a bulletproof process to sort the experts from the amateurs. A slick website or a confident sales pitch means nothing. Results and strategic thinking are all that matter. Here’s how you find out if they have them.

Step 1: The Case Study Interrogation
Don't just glance at their case studies; dissect them. Anyone can make a pretty PDF. You need to look deeper. Ask yourself:
-> Is it relevant? A case study about a national eCommerce brand is interesting, but it's useless if you're a local solicitor in Cardiff trying to generate consultation bookings. You need to see proof they can solve *your* type of problem.
-> Is it recent? The ad world changes fast. A great result from 2019 is ancient history. You need to see success within the last 12 months.
-> Are the results real? Look for hard numbers: Cost Per Lead (CPL), Return on Ad Spend (ROAS), revenue generated in pounds (£). For example, I remember one campaign for a client where we generated £107k in revenue at 618% ROAS. That’s a concrete result. Be very wary of vague claims like "increased brand awareness" or "boosted engagement." These are the calling cards of a 'guru'.
-> Do they explain the 'why'? A good case study doesn't just show the result; it explains the strategy behind it. What audiences did they target? What creative angles did they test? What was the key insight that unlocked performance? If it's just a glossy results page, they're hiding a lack of strategic depth.

Step 2: The 'Nightmare' Question
This is my secret weapon for cutting through the waffle on an introductory call. Forget asking about their process. Ask them this instead: "Based on what you know about my business, describe my ideal customer's biggest business problem or frustration that we solve."

Their answer tells you everything.
-> An amateur will give you a demographic profile: "Your customer is a small business owner in South Wales, aged 35-55..." This is useless.
-> An expert will describe a *pain state*: "Your ideal customer is a director at a growing tech firm in Tramshed Tech. She's terrified of her best developers quitting out of frustration with a broken workflow, and she lies awake at night worrying about missing a critical project deadline because of it."
Someone who can articulate the *nightmare* understands marketing. They know how to write copy that connects and how to target based on pain, not just job titles. If they can't answer this, they can't help you.

Step 3: The Strategy Call Test
Never hire someone without getting a taste of their expertise first. Most credible agencies and freelancers will offer a free initial consultation or strategy session. This isn't a sales pitch; it's your chance to audition them. Tbh, we offer a free account review for potential clients, and it's often the deciding factor because it demonstrates our expertise in real-time on their own account.

During this call, pay attention to the questions they ask you. Are they digging into your business model, your customer LTV, your sales cycle? Or are they just talking about themselves? A true expert will spend 80% of the call listening. Then, when they do offer advice, it should be specific and actionable. They might suggest a new audience to test on LinkedIn, a different angle for your Meta ad creative, or a tweak to your landing page. If you walk away from that call with 2-3 genuinely good ideas you could implement yourself, you've likely found a contender. For anyone serious about this, it's worth reviewing a detailed breakdown of what to look for when hiring a Meta ads specialist.

A final, massive red flag: if anyone *guarantees* you results (e.g., "We'll get you a 5x ROAS in 90 days"), end the call immediately. No one can promise specific results in paid advertising. It's an auction-based system with dozens of variables. Honesty and a focus on a rigourous testing process are the signs of a pro; guarantees are the sign of a charlatan.

How Much Does a Good Social Ads Manager Cost in the UK?

This is always a tricky question, as costs can vary widly. But you need to have a realistic budget in mind. Cheap is almost always expensive in the long run, as a bad manager will waste more in ad spend than you save on their fee. Here are the common pricing models you'll see in the UK market:

1. Percentage of Ad Spend: This is very common for agencies. They'll charge a fee equal to a percentage of your monthly ad spend, typically between 10-20%. The logic is that as you scale your spend and success, their fee grows too. The potential downside is that it can incentivise them to simply increase your spend, rather than focus on efficiency.

2. Flat Monthly Retainer: This is more common with freelancers and some smaller agencies. You pay a fixed fee every month, regardless of your ad spend. This is great for budgeting and predictability. A junior freelancer might start at £500/month, while a senior expert or small agency could be anywhere from £1,500 to £5,000+ per month depending on the scope of work.

3. Hybrid Model (Retainer + Performance): This can be a great model as it aligns incentives. It usually involves a lower base retainer plus a performance bonus, like a percentage of revenue generated or a bonus for hitting a specific CPL or ROAS target. It means you both win together.

Be wary of anyone charging less than £500 a month. At that rate, they simply can't afford to dedicate the time required to properly manage and optimise an account. You'll get what you pay for. To help you budget, here’s an interactive calculator to estimate your potential monthly costs. It's also worth reading a complete guide on what you should expect to pay, as this goes into more detail on the different models and what's included.

Meta, LinkedIn, or TikTok? Choosing the Right Battleground

A common mistake is thinking you need to be on every platform. You don't. You need to be on the platform where your ideal customers are. A good ads manager will help you determine this, but you should have a basic understanding yourself. For a Cardiff-based business, the choice is usually pretty clear.

Meta (Facebook & Instagram): This is the powerhouse for most B2C (Business-to-Consumer) and local service businesses. The targeting options are incredible for reaching people in specific locations with particular interests.
-> Who it's for: The plumber based in Rumney targeting homeowners across Cardiff. The new restaurant on Caroline Street promoting its launch to foodies within a 5-mile radius. The online shop selling Welsh-themed gifts to people who've shown an interest in Welsh culture. The organisers of an event at the Principality Stadium. It's the default choice for reaching 'normal people' where they live.

LinkedIn: This is the undisputed king for B2B (Business-to-Business). If you sell to other companies, this is your primary battleground. You can target by job title, company size, industry, and seniority – it's incredibly powerful for reaching specific decision-makers.
-> Who it's for: The SaaS company in Tramshed Tech selling to Heads of Engineering. The corporate law firm on Cathedral Road targeting Managing Partners. The financial advisor looking for clients in the professional services sector. If your customer wears a suit (or a hoodie in a tech office), you'll find them here. For a specific local strategy, our expert guide to LinkedIn Ads in Cardiff is a great starting point.

TikTok & Pinterest: These are more niche and highly visual platforms. They can work incredibly well, but your product or service needs to be a good fit. They generally cater to a younger demographic (TikTok) or a predominantly female audience interested in aesthetics, planning, and hobbies (Pinterest).
-> Who they're for: A wedding photographer covering South Wales could do brilliantly on Pinterest. An independent fashion boutique in one of the Arcades could build a huge following on TikTok. A maker of handcrafted jewellery could find their tribe on either platform.

The key takeaway is that the platform follows the customer. Don't let a manager push you onto a platform just because it's trendy. The strategy must be rooted in who you're trying to reach. Understanding how to choose the right social platform based on your business goals is a foundational step before you spend a single pound. For those in B2B, there's even more nuance, which is covered in our deep-dive into B2B social media strategy.

Your Actionable Plan for Hiring Your Cardiff Ads Expert

Hiring an ads manager feels daunting, but it's a process. If you follow the steps, you dramatically increase your chances of making a great hire and avoid the costly mistake of picking the wrong partner. The goal isn't just to find someone to press the buttons in Ads Manager; it's to find a strategic partner who can help grow your business. This might be one of Cardiff's best paid ad agencies, or it could be a freelancer from anywhere in the UK. The process remains the same.

To pull it all together, here is my recommended, actionable checklist. Print this out, stick it on your wall, and don't deviate from it.

Finding the right person is a critical step for your business. It's an investment, not just an expense. This process protects that investment and ensures you partner with someone who is aligned with your growth. While a great PPC consultant can transform your business, the wrong one can set you back months and cost you thousands. Take your time, do your homework, and trust your gut.

If you're a Cardiff-based business owner who has read this and feels overwhelmed, or you just want a second opinion on your current advertising efforts, you might want to consider some expert help. We offer a completely free, no-obligation 20-minute strategy session. We can audit your existing campaigns, discuss your goals, and give you some honest, straightforward advice on the best way forward. There's no hard sell, just genuine expertise. Feel free to book a call if you think it would be helpful.

Hope this helps!