Every year around Sha'ban, our inbox fills up with the same message: "Ramadan is in three weeks, our social media is a mess, can you help?" The answer is usually yes, but the truth is that three weeks before Ramadan is the worst possible time to be choosing a social media agency, because the calendar is exactly what a Muslim social media agency should have been planning around since Muharram.

So here is how to choose one properly, what the good ones do differently, and what you should actually get for the money.

What a Muslim social media agency does that a generic one does not

It plans around your calendar, not the marketing world's. Ramadan, the two Eids, the first ten days of Dhul Hijjah, Muharram, the Friday post: these are the moments your audience is most engaged and most receptive, and they should be on the content calendar months ahead. A generic agency will discover Ramadan when you mention it.

It knows what will sit badly. Music under a reel for a modest fashion brand. A stock photo that is wrong in three ways for a charity appeal. A joke that works for a general audience and lands as disrespect with yours. You should not have to explain any of this, and with a specialist, you will not.

It can write in the languages your followers speak. Our team writes captions in English, Arabic, Turkish and Russian in-house, which matters when a third of your comments arrive in Arabic and the agency's plan is to leave them unanswered.

And it understands the tone. Muslim audiences online reward sincerity and punish anything that feels like it was made in a boardroom. A Muslim social media agency has usually learned that the hard way, on its own accounts, before it ever managed yours.

Eight questions to ask before you sign

1. Show me three accounts you run now

Not a portfolio deck. Live accounts, with their posting history visible. Look at whether they post consistently, whether the comments are answered, and whether the content looks like it belongs to the client or to the agency.

2. Who writes the captions, and in which languages?

If the answer is "our content team" with no names, ask to speak to one of them. If Arabic or Urdu captions are being produced by a translation tool, you will find out from your followers first.

3. What does your Ramadan plan look like?

A specialist will have an answer that starts weeks before the first fast and includes the last ten nights, Eid, and the quiet fortnight afterwards. A generalist will ask what dates Ramadan falls on this year.

4. How many posts and reels, and what counts as one?

Get the numbers in writing. Our packages run from 12 posts and 2 reels a month up to 20 posts and 6 reels, and we say so on the page. Vague packages hide the real cost.

5. Who replies to comments and messages?

Community management is where trust is built or lost, and it is the first thing a cheap agency drops. Ask whether replies are included, in which languages, and how quickly.

6. Who owns the accounts and the content?

You do, always. The agency should be added as a manager on your accounts, never the owner, and every design file should be yours to keep.

7. What will the monthly report actually show?

Reach and followers are easy to inflate. Ask for engagement, link clicks and, for a charity, donation clicks. Ask to see a real report for another client with the name removed.

8. What happens if we want to stop?

A month's notice and a clean handover should be the answer. Long lock-ins are a sign the agency does not expect you to want to stay.

What £300 a month should get you

Our Basic package is £300 a month, and this is what it covers, so you can benchmark whoever you are talking to. Two platforms managed. Twelve designed image posts and two vertical reels. A review of your existing page or channel. Captions and content written for you. Everything scheduled. A monthly report. At £500 a month, that becomes three platforms, twenty posts, six reels and active engagement with followers on your behalf. The exact figures are on our social media management page.

If an agency is charging less than that, ask what has been left out. It is almost always the reels, the replies or the strategy. If they are charging more, ask what has been added, and make sure it is something you will use.

Social media management for charities is its own discipline

If you run a charity, the calendar question matters even more, because a large share of the year's donations arrive in a few predictable windows. The content that raises money in Ramadan has to be planned, designed and approved by your trustees before Ramadan, and the emergency appeal template has to exist before the emergency. A Muslim social media company that has done this for charities will talk about donor journeys, appeal cycles and reporting for trustees without being prompted. We went into detail in our social media strategy for Muslim charities, and Merciful Relief Foundation's Ramadan campaign is one we still point to.

The red flags

  • A proposal that does not mention Ramadan, Eid or Jummah at all.
  • Sample posts with stock imagery that is wrong for the audience.
  • No named person who will actually run your account.
  • "Guaranteed followers." Nobody can guarantee followers honestly.
  • A contract longer than three months before you have seen a single post.

How to start

Look at your own account and answer three questions: what are we posting, who is it for, and what do we want them to do? If you cannot answer the third one, no agency can help yet. If you can, take those answers and the eight questions above into two or three conversations. And if it is already Sha'ban, start anyway. A specialist can still make the last ten nights count, and next year you will be planning in Muharram like everyone who has done this before.