How to Compare Social Media Agency Proposals in Dubai

Compare social media agency proposals by asking each agency to price the same required work, then separating what is included, charged extra and left to your team. Put content quantities into the same units, separate agency fees from advertising spend, and ask for prices on any missing essentials before choosing.

A lower monthly fee can be a good fit if it covers what you need. It can also represent a different job: editing footage you supply, for example, rather than coming to your business to film. The proposal needs to make that difference visible.

Here is a practical way to compare offers without turning the decision into a complicated spreadsheet.

Give every agency the same brief

If agencies have priced different requests, their totals will not answer the same question. Send a short clarification that sets out:

• The channels, audience and language versions you need.
• The monthly mix of original videos, graphics and Stories you want.
• Whether you supply footage or need filming at a named Dubai location.
• Who can appear on camera, or whether a presenter is required.
• The replies you want handled and the enquiries your own team will take over.
• Whether you need organic account management, paid advertising or both.

Use the same brief for every revised proposal. If an agency recommends changing the scope, ask it to show that recommendation separately so you can understand the trade-off.

Lunasol's social packages distinguish client-supplied footage from included filming. Essential uses footage from your team; Growth and Authority include filming in Dubai. Neither approach is inherently the right one for every business. Your ability to record consistently is part of the decision.

Count original content separately from publication

“Twenty posts” needs a definition. It might describe twenty different pieces of content or ten pieces published on two accounts.

The following example is illustrative, not a comparison of named agencies or actual offers:

Proposal B creates more original pieces in this example, but that alone does not make it better. You still need to compare the formats, production quality, relevance and price. Ten well-planned videos and twenty simple graphics are different jobs.

Ask each agency to separate original assets from platform adaptations and publication counts. For Stories, ask whether the unit is one screen or a sequence, and whether reposted mentions count towards the promised output.

This gives you a fair basis for comparing content volume without mistaking repeated distribution for additional creative work.

Mark every required task as included, extra or client-supplied

Take the jobs in your brief and place each into one of those three categories for each proposal. If the document does not say, ask the agency to clarify. An unpriced requirement is not a zero-cost inclusion.

Production deserves particular attention. Some Dubai social media packages include video editing while filming is priced separately. Ask who writes the scripts, records the footage, supplies the presenter and edits the finished material.

For a location shoot, compare session duration, number of locations and what happens if you need another session. State whether the work is in Dubai or requires travel elsewhere. If you need a studio, dedicated photography or specialist crew, have those items priced rather than assumed.

Apply the same approach to languages. One English video with Arabic subtitles is different from separately scripted and presented English and Arabic videos. Write down the version you need so that agencies are quoting the same task.

A Lunasol example: when a presenter is required

Lunasol's Growth social media package is AED 6,000 per month, excluding VAT. It includes a monthly filming session of up to four hours at one Dubai location, alongside 12 short videos and eight static posts or carousels, planning, publishing and the package's community and reporting services.

Adding an actor or presenter costs AED 2,500 per month, bringing the package-and-presenter subtotal to AED 8,500 per month, excluding VAT. Studio or paid venue costs and other separately priced extras remain additional.

If your brief requires someone else to present, the relevant starting point for that comparison is AED 8,500, not the base AED 6,000. If your own spokesperson can appear, the actor addition may be unnecessary. Compare the version that actually meets your brief.

Separate the amounts you will pay

Ask for a clear distinction between:

• Recurring agency fees: the agreed management, creative and production work.
• Required recurring extras: anything outside the base package that your brief needs each month.
• One-off charges: setup or other work charged at the start.
• Advertising spend and third-party costs: the budget paid to platforms, venues or other suppliers.

Compare figures in AED on the same VAT basis. Ask for the first invoice and the normal monthly amount after one-off work, with any third-party payments shown separately.

Compare the same number of months for each offer. Add the monthly fees and required extras, one-off charges, supplier costs and planned advertising spend. Check when each payment is due, the cancellation notice and any charges for ending early. Include costs paid to other suppliers, and do not spread a setup fee over more months than you intend to buy.

Lunasol's paid advertising management is separate from standalone social management. Media spend is paid directly by the client through client-owned advertising accounts. Keeping those figures separate lets you compare what the agency charges for its work and how much reaches the advertising platform.

Avoid dividing the total fee by the number of posts as your main decision rule. That calculation can hide differences in filming, scripts, formats, replies and ongoing management.

Compare the work left to your team

A proposal can meet your budget and still depend on more input than you can reliably provide.

Look at who supplies footage, product information and approved offers; who combines feedback; and who handles enquiries after a routine reply. Ask when those inputs are needed and what happens to delivery if they arrive late.

Put your remaining responsibilities beside the quoted fee. You do not need to assign a made-up monetary value to every hour. You do need to know whether someone in your business has the time and ability to do the work.

At Lunasol, Growth includes planning and filming as well as editing and publishing. Essential provides hooks or scripts and recording guidance, while your team supplies the footage. That is a practical difference in workload to compare, even before looking at the price.

Make support, approvals and ownership comparable

Two offers can include “community management” while providing different service hours and responsibilities. Ask for the reply window, volume allowance, handling of routine questions and the handoff for sales, bookings or complaints.

Full customer service is not automatically included and should be defined separately. Lunasol's social packages handle routine comments and messages using an approved FAQ; complex enquiries, bookings, sales qualification and customer service cases pass to your team.

For content approvals, compare the included revision rounds, how feedback is consolidated and when a change becomes a reshoot or an extra asset. A promise of frequent posting is only useful if the approval process works for both teams.

Agree account ownership and admin access, content usage rights, raw-file delivery and what is handed over if the relationship ends. If you plan to use videos in paid advertising, include that intended use in the brief. Receiving a finished video should not replace a clear agreement about how you can use it.

Separate promised work from hoped-for results

A proposal should make clear what the agency will deliver and how performance will be reviewed. Content quantities, filming sessions and reporting are work commitments. Future views, enquiries and sales are outcomes to evaluate, not interchangeable units of work.

If one proposal includes a forecast, look at its assumptions: audience, offer, advertising budget, measurement period and follow-up. Do not give it extra credit simply because the projected number is larger.

Ask what happens during the review: which findings will change the next content plan, and which decisions need your input? This helps you compare the service beyond the volume of assets being produced.

Ask for one final clarification before deciding

Send the same short request to your shortlisted agencies:

Please price the attached scope and distinguish original content from publication across accounts. Show what is included, any required extras, one-off fees, media spend and VAT. Please also state what our team must supply, the approval and reply arrangements, and the account and content handover terms.

You can then choose on three practical grounds: the proposal covers the required work, the payable costs are clear, and your team can handle its remaining responsibilities. An agency's alternative recommendation may still be better for your business, but it should be explained clearly enough to make that choice deliberately.

Lunasol can combine defined social media management, Dubai filming, optional presenters and separately commissioned paid advertising under one team. For a brief that needs those services together, this reduces the number of separate suppliers you need to coordinate. The proposal should show exactly which work and additions are included.

Ask Lunasol for a social media proposal based on your channels, content needs, filming location and presenter requirements.

Written by LunaSol