Why Talking About Money on Social Media Isn't Crass
British business owners are taught money talk is rude in public, but that silence is quietly costing them customers every day. Here's how to be open about pricing on social media without being weird about it — and why the customers it filters out are doing you a favour.
Dave Smith
# Why Talking About Money on Social Media Isn't Crass
Somewhere along the way, British business owners were handed an unspoken rule: you don't talk about money in public. Not the cost of your work, not what you charge, not why your prices went up, and definitely not what other people charge for the same thing. Money talk is for invoices, not for Instagram.
That rule is quietly costing you customers.
The Silent Pricing Problem
Walk into a corner shop and the prices are on the products. Walk past a café and the menu's in the window. But visit the social media of a tradesperson, a designer, a bookkeeper, or a coach, and good luck working out what anything costs. The grid is full of sunsets, motivational quotes, and "DM us for a quote!"
That last one is the worst offender. You've made the customer do work just to find out if they can afford you. Most won't bother. They'll close the app, find someone whose pricing they can actually figure out, and you'll never know they were nearly yours.
Hiding your prices doesn't make you look exclusive. It usually makes you look expensive — or worse, like you're sizing up each enquiry to decide what to charge them.
What Customers Actually Want
People scrolling for a service aren't looking for a logo. They're looking for three things, in this order: can you do the thing, do you seem trustworthy, and roughly what's it going to set me back.
You can answer that third question without publishing a full price list. You can talk about money in a way that's useful, honest, and genuinely interesting — without ever feeling like you're standing on a market stall shouting your rates.
A few examples of what works:
- A starting price. "Most kitchens we fit come in between £8,000 and £15,000 depending on size and finish." Now the £20k customer knows you're affordable, and the £3k customer knows to look elsewhere. Both outcomes are good.
- The reason behind a price. A potter explaining why a mug costs £35 — the clay, the time, the kiln runs, the rejected ones. People don't begrudge prices they understand.
- An honest answer about value. "We're not the cheapest plasterer in town, and here's why." Confident, not defensive.
- A rough scope. "Brand identity packages start at £1,200 and most clients spend £2,000–£3,000." That's enough for a customer to decide whether to even start the conversation.
The Crass Myth
The reason this feels uncomfortable is cultural, not commercial. There's a particular kind of British awkwardness around money — you don't ask what someone earns, you don't tell people what your house cost, and god forbid you mention your day rate at a dinner party.
But that's social etiquette. You're running a business. The customer is the one trying to spend money. They want to give it to you. Making it harder for them isn't elegant, it's just inconvenient.
The genuinely crass move is the opposite — vague language, "investment" instead of "price", or refusing to give a number until the customer's halfway through a sales call. That's the bit that puts people off.
Talking About Money Without Being Weird About It
The trick isn't to suddenly turn your feed into a price list. It's to stop treating money as a subject you have to swerve around. A few ways in:
Talk about price increases when they happen, and say why. "Our rates are going up in May because materials have risen 18% this year, and frankly we've been absorbing it for too long." Customers respect honesty. They've seen their own bills go up; they know the world.
Share what's included. If your competitor charges less but doesn't include site visits, mention it. Don't slag them off — just lay out what your price actually buys.
Answer the awkward questions in public. If you keep getting "do you offer payment plans?" in DMs, post about it. The next customer will see the answer without having to ask.
Talk about the cost of the wrong choice. A roofer can post about what cheap repairs end up costing two years later. A designer can talk about the fix-it jobs that come from rushed branding. You're not selling fear — you're showing where the value actually sits.
The Customers This Filters Out Are Doing You a Favour
The fear is that being open about money will scare people off. It will. Specifically, it'll scare off the people who were going to ask for a discount, ghost you halfway through a project, or take three months to pay an invoice. Good. They were going to be a problem anyway.
The customers who stick around when they know your prices are the ones who already think you're worth it. Those are the conversations you want to have.
A Quiet Note on Aunty Social
If writing about money feels difficult, this is exactly the kind of content Aunty Social can help generate from the way you already talk about your business — turning the things you'd say to a customer in person into posts that work on Instagram or Facebook. At £29 a month it's also one of the more transparent pricing models in the social media management industry, which, given the topic, felt worth mentioning.
You don't have to overshare. You don't have to undercut yourself. You just have to stop pretending money isn't part of the conversation. Your customers are already thinking about it. You may as well join in.