Social Media Ads Manager Cardiff: The 2024 Guide

So you're looking to hire a social media ads manager in Cardiff. Good. It means you're ready to grow. The Cardiff business scene is buzzing right now, from the tech startups popping up around Tramshed Tech to the established professional services firms in Cardiff Bay. But finding the right person to manage your ad spend is a proper minefield, and tbh, fixating on finding someone local is probably your first mistake.

I'm going to be brutally honest here. The most important factor isn't whether they can meet you for a coffee in Pontcanna. The most important factor is whether they have a proven, repeatable track record of getting results for businesses exactly like yours. An expert who has scaled a SaaS business from Manchester is infinitely more valuable to a Cardiff-based SaaS founder than a local 'all-rounder' agency that mainly works with restaurants and retail shops. Your success depends on expertise, not geography.

So, what should you actually be looking for?

First things first, you need to get your terminology right. You are not looking for a "social media manager". That's someone who posts organic content, engages with comments, and grows your follower count. Those are vanity metrics. They don't directly pay the bills.

You are looking for a Paid Social Specialist or a Performance Marketer. This is a different breed entirely. They don't care about how many likes your post gets. They care about one thing: turning your ad spend into profitable revenue. Their language is CPL (Cost Per Lead), CPA (Cost Per Acquisition), and ROAS (Return On Ad Spend). If a candidate can't talk fluently about this stuff, they're the wrong person. It's a non-negotiable.

The next thing is niche experience. I can't stress this enough. Every industry is different. The strategy that works for an eCommerce brand selling cleaning products (we've seen a 633% return for one) is completely different from the one needed for a B2B software company trying to get demo requests (we've gotten leads for as low as $22 CPL on LinkedIn for these). When you're vetting someone, your first question shouldn't be "Where are you based?". It should be "Show me the results you've gotten for another company in the [your industry] space."

Look at their case studies. Do they talk in specifics? Do they show real numbers, like reducing a client's Cost Per User Acquisition from £100 down to £7? That's the kind of tangible result that proves expertise. Vague promises about "increasing brand awareness" are worthless. You want someone who can show you the money. Their job is to make you more money than you pay them. Simple as that.

What's the going rate? Understanding costs in Cardiff and the UK.

This is where a lot of founders get a shock. Proper paid advertising management isn't cheap, because the value it can deliver is enormous. If you're paying someone £300 a month, you're getting someone who is learning on your dime, and they'll likely waste more than that in ad spend. You have to be realistic.

In the UK, you'll typically see a few pricing models:

• -> Monthly Retainer: A fixed fee each month. This is most common. For a good freelancer, you're looking at £1,500 - £3,000+ per month. For a specialist agency, it's more like £2,500 - £5,000+ per month.
• -> Percentage of Ad Spend: They take a cut of what you spend on ads, usually 10-20%. This aligns their incentives with scaling your spend, but can be problematic if they scale too fast without maintaining profitability.
• -> Hybrid Model: A lower fixed retainer plus a smaller percentage of spend or a performance bonus for hitting certain targets (e.g., a certain ROAS or number of leads). This can be a good balance.

Anyone quoting you significantly less than these figures should set off alarm bells. They're either desperate for work, inexperienced, or they'll be outsourcing your account to someone even cheaper. This is one area where you absolutely get what you pay for. The cost of Facebook ads management in the UK reflects the level of skill involved, and trying to cut corners here is a false economy.

To give you a better idea, I've put together a simple calculator below. Adjust the slider to your estimated monthly ad spend to see what a typical management fee might look like.

Agency, Freelancer, or In-House? Which is right for your Cardiff business?

This is the next big question. There's no single right answer, it depends entirely on your budget, goals, and how hands-on you want to be. Most Cardiff-based SMEs will be choosing between a freelancer and an agency.

• Freelancers: You're hiring a person. The big pro is that you get direct access to an expert. The person who sells you the service is the person who does the work. They're often more specialised and can be more flexible. The downside is they're a single point of failure – if they get sick or go on holiday, your campaigns might be left unattended. Finding a truly great one can also be a challenge, which is why a proper guide on hiring paid media freelancers is so important.
• Agencies: You're hiring a team. This means you get access to a wider range of skills – copywriters, designers, strategists – all under one roof. They have more resources and are more stable. The downside is you might get sold by the senior expert but your account is managed by a junior account manager. They're also usually more expensive and might be less flexible with their processes.
• In-House: This is for when you're spending significant sums (think £30k+ a month on ads) and want total control. It's the most expensive option when you factor in salary, benefits, training, and tools, and finding top-tier talent willing to go in-house is incredibly difficult. Most businesses aren't ready for this until they are much larger. The decision between building an in-house team versus hiring an agency is a major strategic one.

To help you decide, here's a simple flowchart to guide your thinking:

How do you vet them properly? The questions that actually matter.

Okay, so you've decided between an agency and a freelancer and you have a shortlist. Now comes the most important part. You need to grill them. Forget the soft-ball questions. You need to ask things that reveal their actual process and expertise. The whole point of hiring a paid ads agency is to buy their expertise, so you need to confirm it exists.

Here are some questions I'd be asking:

• -> "Can you walk me through a campaign you ran for a client with a similar business model to mine?" - Don't let them just show you a glossy PDF. Make them talk through the strategy, the targeting they used, the creative that worked (and what didn't), and the final results. Ask them what the biggest challenge was. Their answer will tell you a lot about how they think.
• -> "What is your process for the first 30 days?" - A good answer will involve auditing, research, understanding your customer, setting up tracking properly, and then starting with small test campaigns. A bad answer is "We'll get ads running in the first week." That's a recipe for disaster.
• -> "How do you approach creative testing?" - The creative is one of the biggest levers for performance. They should have a structured system for testing different images, videos, headlines, and copy. If they say "We'll just need you to provide the images," run away.
• -> "What happens if the campaigns aren't working after a month?" - This tests their honesty and problem-solving skills. They should talk about analysing the data, finding the drop-off points (e.g., low CTR, low landing page conversion rate), and having a plan to iterate and improve. Anyone who says "Oh, they'll be working" is either lying or naive.
• -> "Who will be my day-to-day contact, and who will actually be working on my account?" - This is a crucial one for agencies. Get clarity on whether you'll be working with the senior person who is pitching you or a junior account manager. You're paying for expertise, so make sure you're getting it.

And remember what I said earlier. The best sign of a good partner is detailed case studies and strong reviews. Tbh, if someone has gone through our case studies, had a free strategy call with us, and then asks for client references, it's a red flag for us. It signals a lack of trust from the start, and it's probably not going to be a good fit.

Red flags: How to spot the charlatans from the experts

The online advertising world is full of people who talk a good game but can't deliver. Youre business can't afford to get this decision wrong. Here are some of the biggest red flags to watch out for:

Does being based in Cardiff *actually* matter?

Let's circle back to the original thought. I understand the desire to work with a local company. There's a certain comfort in it. But in 2024, for a digital service like paid advertising, it's an outdated way of thinking. The talent pool in Cardiff is good, but it's a fraction of the size of the talent pool across the entire UK, or even globally.

Are you willing to sacrifice world-class expertise in your niche for the convenience of being in the same city? The expert who can transform your business might be in Bristol, London, or Edinburgh. With Zoom, Slack, and email, they are just as accessible as someone down the road. In my experience, communication and responsiveness have nothing to do with location and everything to do with professionalism.

The only real advantage of a local manager is the potential for occasional face-to-face meetings. And while that can be nice, a well-run weekly strategy call over Zoom is far more productive than a monthly coffee. Don't let a local postcode blind you to a better-qualified partner elsewhere. If you're a B2B company in Cardiff, you shouldn't just be looking for a LinkedIn ads expert in Cardiff; you should be looking for the best B2B LinkedIn ads expert you can find, period.

Focus on finding the right partner with the right skills first. If they happen to be in Cardiff, great. If not, it really shouldn't be a dealbreaker.

This is the main advice I have for you:

Hiring someone to manage your ad spend is one of the most important growth decisions you'll make. Getting it right can transform your business; getting it wrong can be a very expensive mistake. The table below summarises my core recommendations for any Cardiff-based founder.

Ultimately, the best way to vet a potential partner is to talk to them. See how they think. Do they ask smart questions about your business, your customers, and your goals? Or do they just jump straight into talking about platforms and tactics?

A true expert will want to understand your business deeply before they ever recommend a strategy. That's why many reputable consultants and agencies (including us) offer a free initial consultation or strategy session. It's a no-risk way for you to get a taste of their expertise and for them to see if they can genuinely help you. If you're serious about growing your business with paid ads and want a second opinion on your strategy from a specialist team, consider booking one of these free calls. It could be the most valuable 30 minutes you spend on your marketing all year.

Hope that helps!