14 NYC Paid Social Agencies Built for Performance

Nearly every performance creative agency in New York lists paid social somewhere on its services page. That does not mean it has the media-buying depth, creative testing process, or measurement discipline needed to make the channel work at scale.

This guide focuses on 14 agencies with a confirmed NYC presence and clear paid social capabilities across Meta, TikTok, LinkedIn, Snapchat, YouTube, and Reddit. Google Search may be part of their broader offering, but it was not considered here because it is not a paid social channel.

Disclaimer: inBeat Agency publishes this guide and appears on the list. We assessed it using the same criteria as every other agency, which is why we’re ranked first.

“For brands, the shift toward short-form video content offers a golden opportunity to connect with audiences more directly and engagingly. Short-form video platforms allow for creative storytelling, showcasing products or services, and building brand awareness within a few seconds, reaching potential customers where they spend a significant portion of their time.”

Our Evaluation Criteria

An agency earned a spot here on four things:

• A verifiable New York office
• Paid social as a demonstrated specialty
• At least one documented result tied to a real metric (CPA, ROAS, CAC, or a comparable figure)
• Current, active client work in paid social

Two entries from an earlier version of this guide, Marketing House and P3 Media, were removed: Marketing House's positioning is too broad to call it a paid social specialist, and P3 Media has shifted toward Shopify and commerce-platform work, with paid social buying no longer its focus. Aumcore was also dropped for the same reason; its practice reads as SEO-led, with social folded in as a secondary service.

Top NYC Paid Social Agencies at a Glance

* Note: Ad spend ranges reflect industry-typical bands for each agency's stated positioning; they are NOT a quote from that specific agency.

Best Paid Social Agencies in NYC

inBeat Agency

inBeat's New York office sits at 90 Broad St, the same building housing its new performance-media arm, 9AM. Its work centers on turning creator content into paid ad creative, tested across many variations at once; for Shark Ninja, they executed a large-scale activation with 100+ creators that led to 30,000+ content interactions and 2 million+ views; for Growtherapy, they created therapist-led UGC and educational content leading to 25% increase in CVR and 15% decrease in CPA.

• NYC presence: 90 Broad Street in Lower Manhattan.
• Paid social strength: Creator-led advertising supported by high-volume UGC production, creative testing, and media buying.
• Best fit: Consumer brands that need a steady supply of platform-native ads.
• Confirm during the pitch: How many new concepts and variations are included each month, and which production costs are separate?

• Rating: 4.9/5 (Clutch)

Monks

Monks, part of S4 Capital, runs a five-office US footprint that includes a New York studio at 250 Hudson St, and it's built for brands that need paid social, creative production, and data science working as one team. Its client roster spans Quaker, Ben & Jerry's, and Dropbox. The scale that makes Monks credible for global campaigns is the same thing that makes it a mismatch for a five-figure monthly budget; this is an enterprise engagement from the first call.

• NYC presence: New York studio at 250 Hudson Street.
• Paid social strength: Enterprise media, creative production, and data science coordinated across markets and platforms.
• Best fit: Global brands with large budgets, multiple stakeholders, and complex production requirements.
• Confirm during the pitch: Which work will be handled by the New York team, and what is the minimum scope required to access its senior specialists?

We Are Social

With a New York office at 333 W 39th St and 19 offices worldwide, We Are Social built its reputation on culturally fluent creative before performance media became table stakes, and clients like Bose, YouTube, and McDonald's still come to it for that blend. Paid social sits inside a genuinely social-first agency here. Expect an agency-of-record relationship and pricing; it’s not best for project engagement.

• NYC presence: New York office at 333 West 39th Street.
• Paid social strength: Social-first creative shaped by cultural research and supported by global campaign capabilities.
• Best fit: Established brands looking for culturally relevant campaigns across several markets.
• Confirm during the pitch: How much of the proposed scope covers ongoing performance optimization versus campaign strategy and creative development?

NoGood

NoGood treats paid social as one experiment among many running at once, testing creative and audiences the way a growth team tests a product feature. That approach has carried it from VC-backed startups to Citi, P&G, and Intuit. Brands that want an agency to propose ten hypotheses and kill nine of them fit here better than brands that want one polished campaign executed flawlessly.

• NYC presence: New York-based growth agency.
• Paid social strength: Rapid experimentation across creative, audiences, offers, and landing-page hypotheses.
• Best fit: Growth-stage SaaS, B2B, and consumer companies comfortable with an iterative testing model.
• Confirm during the pitch: How many experiments will run each month, and what evidence determines whether a test is scaled, revised, or stopped?

Direct Agents

A minority-owned agency now in its 21st year, Direct Agents runs paid social alongside enterprise SEO, Amazon, and creative from its Fifth Avenue office, backed by six Crain's New York wins. Its performance-media roots go back further than most names on this list, which shows in how it treats attribution as a full-stack problem.

• NYC presence: Fifth Avenue office in Manhattan.
• Paid social strength: Performance media supported by cross-channel attribution, search, Amazon, and creative capabilities.
• Best fit: Mid-market and enterprise companies managing acquisition across several paid channels.
• Confirm during the pitch: How will paid social performance be separated from and compared with the other channels in the media mix?

Amsive

Amsive pairs paid social with audience intelligence and, unusually, direct mail, giving it a cross-channel view that pure digital shops don't have. It's a fit for brands that already know social alone won't close the loop on attribution. Its established New York presence and data-led positioning point toward mid-market to enterprise budgets, though a specific street address wasn't independently confirmed for this guide.

• NYC presence: Established New York presence; confirm the current client-facing office during the pitch.
• Paid social strength: Audience intelligence that can coordinate paid social with other digital channels and direct mail.
• Best fit: Mid-market and enterprise brands with complex customer journeys and first-party data.
• Confirm during the pitch: How will its audience models change targeting, creative decisions, and budget allocation in your account?

Taktical Digital

Taktical Digital calls its approach "brandformance," and in practice that means paid social tied tightly to email, SEO, and conversion optimization for Shopify and B2C ecommerce brands. It's worked with Casper, Bark, and Benjamin Moore, and covers platforms most agencies skip, including Pinterest and Reddit. A Miami office added through an acquisition sits alongside the original Midtown Manhattan headquarters.

• NYC presence: Midtown Manhattan headquarters.
• Paid social strength: Ecommerce-focused media buying tied to creative testing, conversion optimization, and retention channels.
• Best fit: Shopify and B2C brands scaling through Meta, TikTok, Pinterest, or Reddit.
• Confirm during the pitch: How much new creative is included monthly, and how will store and customer data inform campaign decisions?

• Website: taktical.co

• Rating: 4.7/5 (Clutch)

Socium Media

Founded in 2017, Socium Media manages hundreds of millions in annual ad spend across Meta, Google, Microsoft, and TikTok for ecommerce and SaaS clients, and one client credits it with cutting cost per lead by 83%. It doesn't offer branding or broader consulting, so it works best for brands that already know their positioning and just need the media engine built.

• NYC presence: New York-based performance media agency.
• Paid social strength: Acquisition-focused media management with reporting tied to leads, sales, and revenue.
• Best fit: Ecommerce and SaaS companies that already have clear positioning and need stronger campaign execution.
• Confirm during the pitch: Who owns creative production and landing-page optimization, and how are those inputs factored into performance targets?

Voy Media

Voy Media has run exclusively on Facebook and Instagram advertising since 2016, serving direct-response ecommerce and lead-gen clients from its New York office. That single-platform focus is the point: brands choosing Voy Media want deep Meta expertise.

Voy Media

• NYC presence: New York office.
• Paid social strength: Direct-response Facebook and Instagram advertising for ecommerce and lead-generation campaigns.
• Best fit: Brands that want specialized Meta expertise instead of a broad cross-channel agency.
• Confirm during the pitch: Whether the proposed strategy can expand beyond Meta if audience costs rise or performance plateaus.

Socialfly

A female-founded agency working from its Manhattan office, Socialfly built a dedicated paid social practice on top of an existing influencer and creative business, and its client list runs from Discovery and Univision to 20th Century Fox. Brands wanting influencer content and paid amplification handled by one team are the clearest fit.

• NYC presence: Manhattan office.
• Paid social strength: Influencer and social creative that can be amplified through paid campaigns by the same team.
• Best fit: Consumer and entertainment brands that want creator content and paid distribution managed together.
• Confirm during the pitch: Whether creator fees, usage rights, paid amplification, and creative revisions are included in the quoted scope.

The Social Shepherd

The Social Shepherd runs organic and paid social as one team from its New York office, a structure that produced 8x revenue growth for Passenger Clothing through paid amplification of organic-performing content. It's a fit for brands that don't want to choose between an organic specialist and a paid specialist.

The Social Shepherd

• NYC presence: New York office supported by a broader international team.
• Paid social strength: Organic social and paid media teams working together to identify and scale promising content.
• Best fit: Brands that want one partner for community growth, content production, and paid amplification.
• Confirm during the pitch: How quickly organic content is evaluated and moved into paid testing, and who controls the final scaling decision.

The Social Shepherd provides paid social management and creative built specifically for performance campaigns. Their focus is on scaling paid acquisition through structured testing and channel expansion. They work particularly well with brands that need hands-on media-buying expertise and consistent optimization cycles, rather than one-off campaigns. 

Avenue Z

Avenue Z's New York office runs paid social alongside PR, TikTok Shop management, and AI-search visibility work, an unusually wide remit for one agency. Its creative testing for Kind Patches drove 175% revenue growth in 90 days and the #1 TikTok position in its category. The added PR and AI-visibility scope means it's priced, and staffed, beyond a pure media-buying shop.

• NYC presence: New York office.
• Paid social strength: Paid social combined with TikTok Shop, PR, creator campaigns, and broader digital visibility.
• Best fit: Consumer brands that need social commerce and awareness support alongside performance media.
• Confirm during the pitch: Which team owns paid-social results and how the budget will be divided across media, PR, creators, and TikTok Shop.

Major Tom

Major Tom's New York office folds paid social into a broader strategy, creative, and technology practice, useful for a brand that needs its digital foundation rebuilt before channel spend even starts. That integrated model suits an established brand planning a major initiative more than a startup that already knows what it wants to run.

• NYC presence: New York office within a wider North American agency network.
• Paid social strength: Integrated strategy covering media, creative, technology, and the digital infrastructure supporting acquisition.
• Best fit: Established brands planning a broader digital transformation or multichannel campaign.
• Confirm during the pitch: How much of the engagement will directly support paid social and how quickly the team can move from strategy into testing.

fishbat

fishbat's roots and headquarters trace to Patchogue on Long Island, with a stated New York City office alongside it; independent sources describe it consistently as a Long Island agency with NYC reach, worth knowing before assuming a five-borough address. Within that footprint, its paid social practice, running content, community management, and amplification as a retainer service, suits regional and mid-market budgets that don't need Manhattan-agency pricing.

• NYC presence: Headquartered in Patchogue, Long Island, with New York City presence.
• Paid social strength: Accessible social management combining content, community management, and paid amplification.
• Best fit: Regional and mid-market companies that want a full-service social partner at a more accessible entry point.
• Confirm during the pitch: Which team members work from New York City and what recent direct-response results they can share for a comparable client.

Best Agencies by Paid Social Need

What Does a NYC Paid Social Agency Cost?

Boutique NYC paid social shops on this list typically start around $5,000–$10,000 a month for management alone; enterprise agencies like Monks or Major Tom run well past $50,000 once creative and strategy are included. Ad spend is always separate from the management fee.

A quoted retainer usually bundles several separate costs, and untangling them is the fastest way to compare two agencies honestly:

• Agency fee: Strategy, media management, and account labor, billed monthly.
• Ad spend: The actual budget placed on Meta, TikTok, or other platforms, usually passed through with a management fee layered on top.
• Creative production: Video, static, and UGC-style assets; some agencies bundle this, others bill it separately per asset.
• Creator or influencer fees: Payments to creators, distinct from the media budget.
• Landing-page work: Build or optimization work tied to the campaigns, sometimes a one-time cost.
• Measurement and reporting tools: Attribution platforms and dashboards, flat monthly or bundled.

What to Ask During the Agency Pitch

A strong pitch should explain how the agency will improve the entire paid-social system, not simply who will operate Ads Manager. Use these questions to understand its creative capacity, measurement approach, team structure, and ability to manage your account as conditions change.

1. How many new creative concepts and variations will you test each month?

What a good answer sounds like: The agency provides a realistic monthly range, distinguishes original concepts from minor edits, and explains how performance data informs the next production cycle. It should also clarify whether scripting, creators, editing, and usage rights are included.

2. Who is responsible for producing the ads?

What a good answer sounds like: You receive a clear division of responsibilities covering strategy, briefs, filming, editing, approvals, and delivery. If your team supplies raw material, the agency explains what it needs and how quickly it can turn that material into testable ads.

3. How do you decide when an ad is fatigued?

What a good answer sounds like: The agency looks at several signals, such as rising frequency, declining click-through rate, increasing acquisition cost, and changes in conversion rate. It also has replacement creative ready before the current winner stops performing.

4. How will you measure performance when platform attribution is incomplete?

What a good answer sounds like: The agency can explain when it uses platform reporting, GA4, CRM data, post-purchase surveys, incrementality testing, or another attribution method. It acknowledges the limitations of each source instead of presenting one dashboard as absolute truth.

5. How will you allocate budget across platforms and campaigns?

What a good answer sounds like: Budget decisions follow your acquisition economics and the strength of the available evidence. The agency sets testing thresholds, protects enough budget for learning, and moves spend only after a campaign has produced a meaningful signal.

6. Who will work on our account after the pitch?

What a good answer sounds like: The agency names the strategist, buyer, creative lead, and day-to-day contact. It also explains how often senior staff review the account and what happens if a team member leaves.

7. What happens if performance drops during the first 90 days?

What a good answer sounds like: The team has a diagnostic sequence covering tracking, creative, audiences, offer, landing pages, and budget allocation. It does not immediately blame the algorithm or recommend increasing spend without identifying the likely constraint.

8. What will we own if the relationship ends?

What a good answer sounds like: Your company retains control of its ad accounts, pixels, audiences, dashboards, creative files, and historical campaign data. The agency can describe a documented offboarding process rather than treating account access as leverage.

9. What work is actually handled by the New York team?

What a good answer sounds like: The agency can identify the local staff involved in strategy, account management, or production. A distributed delivery team is not necessarily a problem, but the answer should match the local presence promoted on its website.

Red Flags to Watch For

A polished pitch does not necessarily indicate a strong operating team. Pay attention to what the agency cannot explain, especially around creative production, measurement, account ownership, and who will manage the work after the contract is signed.

• It guarantees a specific ROAS before reviewing your funnel. Paid-social performance depends on the offer, margins, conversion rate, sales cycle, creative quality, and existing account data. A credible agency may provide scenarios, but it should not guarantee an outcome without understanding those inputs.
• Its case studies show spend or impressions without business results. Large budgets and high reach do not prove profitable growth. Look for outcomes such as acquisition cost, conversion rate, qualified leads, revenue, or another metric connected to the campaign objective.
• It cannot explain its creative testing process. “We test different ads” is not enough. The team should explain how it develops hypotheses, separates new concepts from small variations, sets testing thresholds, and turns results into the next creative brief.
• Creative production is missing from the proposal. Paid social is increasingly constrained by creative volume and quality. If the agency manages media but expects your team to supply every asset, that dependency should be clear before the engagement begins.
• The reporting focuses on platform metrics alone. Click-through rate and cost per thousand impressions help diagnose campaigns, but they do not replace commercial outcomes. The agency should connect platform data with conversions, qualified pipeline, customer acquisition cost, or revenue where possible.
• The senior team disappears after the sale. Ask who will attend recurring calls and make optimization decisions. The strategist leading the pitch should not be presented as your account lead if the work will immediately move to an inexperienced team.
• The agency owns the ad account or restricts access. Your company should control its advertising accounts, pixels, audiences, billing information, and historical data. Limited access creates unnecessary risk and makes switching agencies more difficult.
• Every client receives the same platform mix. An agency that recommends Meta, TikTok, or LinkedIn before understanding your audience and buying process may be selling its preferred service rather than solving the right problem.

How to Choose the Right Paid Social Agency in NYC

The right agency depends on what is currently limiting growth. Choose inBeat, NoGood, or The Social Shepherd when creative testing and production volume are the main constraints. Consider Voy Media or Taktical Digital for direct-response ecommerce, and Direct Agents, Amsive, or Socium Media for acquisition programs requiring broader measurement. Monks, We Are Social, and Major Tom are better suited to complex enterprise engagements.

Before signing, compare each proposal across the same five areas: creative output, platform expertise, measurement, account team, and ownership. The least expensive retainer may cost more overall if your team still has to supply every ad, interpret the reporting, and coordinate additional vendors.

If you need creator-led ads and paid media managed as one performance system, book a call with inBeat. We can review your current account, identify the main creative or media constraint, and show you what a practical testing program would look like for your budget.

FAQs

What's the difference between paid social and paid search?

Paid social runs ads on platforms like Meta, TikTok, and LinkedIn, targeting people based on interests and behavior. Paid search targets people actively typing a query into Google. The two require different creative, different targeting logic, and often different specialists.

How much creative should a paid social agency deliver each month?

Volume varies by budget and platform, but a working paid social program typically needs new creative every two to four weeks to avoid fatigue. Ask any agency you're evaluating for their specific cadence, and treat a vague answer as a signal.

Should I hire an agency with only a New York office, or does it matter?

For most paid social work, the platform expertise and results matter more than the address. A local office matters more when the work depends on New York-specific production, creator relationships, or in-person client collaboration.

How do I know if an agency's results are real?

Ask for the specific metric, the timeframe, and the client's category, then ask what changed to produce that result. A vague "we drove great results" without a number or a named client is worth treating skeptically.