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Social Media ROI Calculator

Social MediaSocial Media Utilities
What the campaign brought in

Sales your analytics or UTM tracking credit to the social campaign.

Purchases, sign-ups or leads, for cost per conversion.

What it cost

Photography, video, design, creator or influencer fees.

Scheduling, analytics and design subscriptions for the period.

Social media ROI —
Net return
—
Total cost
—
Staff time cost
—
Revenue per $1 spent
—
Return on ad spend
—
Cost per conversion
—
Where the campaign budget went
The chart appears with your result

Social media ROI is the net return of a campaign divided by everything it cost, times 100. Count ad spend, content, software and the hours your team put in. A month with $5,000 of attributed sales and $3,000 of total cost returns $2,000, an ROI of 66.7%.

About this tool

Marketing managers, freelancers reporting to clients and small business owners all get asked the same question: did the social channels pay for themselves? This calculator adds up paid ads, content production, software subscriptions and staff time priced at an hourly cost, then sets that against the revenue your tracking credits to social. It shows the ROI percentage, the net return, return on ad spend, revenue per dollar and, if you enter conversions, the cost of each one. A donut chart shows which cost dominates. The result is only as good as the attribution behind the revenue figure: last-click reports tend to undercount social, while generous view-through windows overcount it.

How to use it

  1. Enter attributed revenue

    Use the sales figure your analytics or UTM-tagged links credit to the campaign, for one clear period.

  2. Add every cost

    Fill in ad spend, content production and software; leave a cost field empty if it did not apply.

  3. Price your team's time

    Enter hours worked and the hourly cost of staff so labour is part of the total.

  4. Read ROI and the breakdown

    Check ROI, ROAS and cost per conversion, and the chart for which cost is largest.

Examples

$1,000 of ads, $1,200 in sales

Revenue attributed to social
1200
Paid ad spend
1000

Result Social media ROI: 20%
Net return: $200.00
Total cost: $1,000.00
Staff time cost: $0.00
Revenue per $1 spent: 1.2
Return on ad spend: 1.2 : 1
Cost per conversion: $0.00

  1. Labour = 0 h × $0.00 = $0.00
  2. Total cost = $1,000.00 + $0.00 + $0.00 + $0.00 = $1,000.00
  3. Net return = $1,200.00 − $1,000.00 = $200.00
  4. ROI = $200.00 ÷ $1,000.00 × 100 = 20%

Only ad spend is counted here, so the $200 surplus gives 20% ROI, and a warning flags that staff time was left out.

Full monthly campaign

Revenue attributed to social
5000
Conversions
60
Paid ad spend
1500
Content production
500
Software and tools
100
Staff time
20
Hourly cost of staff
45

Result Social media ROI: 66.7%
Net return: $2,000.00
Total cost: $3,000.00
Staff time cost: $900.00
Revenue per $1 spent: 1.67
Return on ad spend: 3.33 : 1
Cost per conversion: $50.00

  1. Labour = 20 h × $45.00 = $900.00
  2. Total cost = $1,500.00 + $500.00 + $100.00 + $900.00 = $3,000.00
  3. Net return = $5,000.00 − $3,000.00 = $2,000.00
  4. ROI = $2,000.00 ÷ $3,000.00 × 100 = 66.7%
  5. Cost per conversion = $3,000.00 ÷ 60 = $50.00

With 20 staff hours at $45 added, total cost reaches $3,000; $5,000 of revenue leaves $2,000, an ROI of 66.7% and $50 per conversion.

How it is calculated

ROI = (R − C) ÷ C × 100, where C = ads + content + tools + hours × hourly cost

R
revenue attributed to social media in the period
C
total cost of the campaign, including staff time
ROAS
R divided by paid ad spend alone

Staff time is converted to money by multiplying hours by the hourly cost, then added to the cash costs. ROI divides the net return by that full cost, so 0% means break-even and a negative figure means a loss. ROAS uses ad spend alone, which is why it is usually much higher than ROI. Cost per conversion divides total cost by the number of conversions.

When not to use it

  • Brand awareness campaigns with no tracked sales cannot be judged by revenue ROI.
  • Long sales cycles where revenue lands months after the posts need a matching reporting window first.

Common mistakes

  • Leaving out staff hours, which makes organic social look almost free.
  • Using gross order value when returns and refunds later cut the real revenue.
  • Comparing ROAS from one report with ROI from another as if they measured the same thing.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between ROI and ROAS?

ROAS divides revenue by ad spend only, and is written as a ratio such as 3.33 : 1. ROI subtracts every cost, including content, software and labour, from revenue and divides the remainder by those costs. A campaign can show a healthy ROAS and still lose money once production and staff time are counted.

What counts as a good social media ROI?

Anything above 0% means the campaign earned back more than it cost. Many teams look for well above that because attribution is uncertain and overheads such as management time are hard to capture. Compare against your own past campaigns and other channels rather than a single industry figure.

How should I attribute revenue to social media?

Tag every link with UTM parameters, use platform conversion tracking, and pick one attribution model for all channels. Last-click tends to give social little credit because people often discover a brand there and buy later through search or email.

Should organic posting be included?

Yes, if you can track its revenue. Organic social has no ad spend but does cost staff hours, content and tools, so enter those and leave ad spend at zero. The return on ad spend line will then read No ad spend.

What hourly cost should I use for staff time?

Use the loaded cost of the person doing the work: salary plus payroll taxes and benefits divided by paid hours, or an agency or freelancer's billed rate. Using bare salary understates the true cost by roughly a fifth to a third in many businesses.

Why is my ROI negative?

Total cost exceeded the revenue credited to the campaign. Check that the revenue period matches the cost period and that attribution is not missing assisted sales before concluding the channel lost money.

Cite this tool

Using this tool in an assignment, article or report? Copy a citation, or a link for your website.

APA

Tools Directory Editorial Team. (2026, October 21). Social Media ROI Calculator. Tools Directory. Retrieved October 26, 2026, from https://tools.milunir.com/social-media/social-media-utilities/social-media-roi-calculator/

MLA

Tools Directory Editorial Team. “Social Media ROI Calculator.” Tools Directory, 21 Oct. 2026, https://tools.milunir.com/social-media/social-media-utilities/social-media-roi-calculator/. Accessed 26 Oct. 2026.

Chicago

Tools Directory Editorial Team. “Social Media ROI Calculator.” Tools Directory. Last modified October 21, 2026. Accessed October 26, 2026. https://tools.milunir.com/social-media/social-media-utilities/social-media-roi-calculator/.

Link<a href="https://tools.milunir.com/social-media/social-media-utilities/social-media-roi-calculator/">Social Media ROI Calculator – Tools Directory</a>