From Strategy to Stardom: How Social Media Managers Became Content Creators
Discover how social media managers transformed from behind-the-scenes strategists to content creators, and the impact it has on their mental health.
All aboard The Social Line, a monthly(ish) newsletter exploring social media and themes such as sustainability, wellbeing, and gen z, loosely linked together through my love of the tube network.
This month I’m diving into how social media managers have become the main character online, and we’re not going away anytime soon - despite the impact that title might be having on our mental health.
With over 8 years in the social media industry, I’ve seen a huge shift in how social media pros are treated. When I started out it was something to be sneered at, now, we’re the driving force behind some of the biggest brands’ content. Literally shaping the industry.
If you haven’t already subscribed, do it now (substack is turning into a much nicer place to be than Twitter) and join me each month as I go exploring, with a sprinkling of tube related trivia and content thrown in for fun. It’s free!
Social media managers. Let’s chat.
There’s a lot to be said for how social media managers are perceived within businesses. For too long, SMMs (it’s literally too long to type social media managers every time, so we’re shortening it) were an after thought, or were someone else on the marketing team who already had a lot on their plate, and yet were lumbered with building a social presence for their company’s brand.
Now however, we’re starting to see a shift in the value of SMMs. More and more frequently, SMMs are the face of a brand, creating content, specifically TikTok, on the regs.
Social media managers are becoming content
SMMs work on strategies. They create content. They edit video. They sift through data and turn it into insight driven reports.
And now, they’re becoming the content.
Why, and how has this happened?
We’re all mercy to algorithm changes, and in the past 2-3 years video has become a huge factor. Back in the day, brands were making moves by having a snarky Twitter account (which really when we think about it was the first step to SMMs becoming the content).
Here’s one of my favourite examples:
Aldi throws shade at Marks & Spencer after supermarket accused of ripping off brand
One of the reasons SMMs have naturally been put front and centre on brand accounts, particularly on video, is because nobody else is willing to go on camera.
Often, especially in more corporate environments, there’s either a million hoops to jump through to get buy-in from stakeholders before anyone would even consider being on camera, or people just don’t get it. They don’t understand the platforms, they’re not immersed in internet culture as much as we are, and the whole prospect seems very alien.
And really, why would you blame them?
Customers want to vent their frustrations somewhere
Social media is the place that many customers go to vent, especially if they’re unhappy with a brand.
Think about an order you purchased that didn’t arrive on time. Or maybe a service that’s not been working properly. You might reach out on Twitter, and get a fairly generic reply from a customer service team (this isn’t shade, it’s just what happens), or now… a brand’s TikTok account quickly becomes the place for disgruntled customers to air their frustrations.
Comment sections can quickly become clogged with grievances, and what I’ve seen happen is people get more and more frustrated that they don’t get a response.
Imagine you’re waiting for a brand to get back to you and you keep seeing the social team publishing TikToks everyday having a great time in the office, making content following the recent trends.
Doesn’t sit well with a disgruntled customer, does it?
But is that a SMMs fault? I’d argue not at all.
But I do question what that’s like for SMMs in small teams (sometimes solo teams) that end up taking the brunt of negative feedback on content they’re both appearing in and producing.
It’s not always sunshine and rainbows.
Are we content creators?
Answer me this, if you work in social, did you sign up to become a content creator?
The answer will be yes - you’re planning a strategy, all of the assets, the copy, using your knowledge to communicate your brand’s message to their audience. Yes. Obviously yes.
But did you sign up to be the face of a brand? Probably not.
And because TikTok has come around so quickly and we’ve all just pivoted to get on the bandwagon and produce content - gotta be consistent to get results.
There are many SMMs out there that have to juggle all of their usual responsibilities as well as being responsible for this content creator lifestyle, all during their 9-5.
Maybe it sounds like a first world problem, but this is reminiscent of trends we’ve always seen in the social media space, and how one person’s remit can quickly expand exponentially.
Social media pros are the main character
This taps into a trend in itself, we all feel like the main character online, but I think SMMs actually are the main character.
Not only are we the brains behind strategies, but we’re also so in touch with the latest algorithm changes and trends, that we’re often the ones creating the trends, experimenting on brand accounts to see what sticks, starting a tidal wave within internet culture, whether that be B2B or B2C.
There’s now even brands taking SMMs on trips, much akin to the influencer trips we’ve all seen online for the past 10 years or so.
See @away’s TikTok where they invited SMMs from other brands on an outdoor escape:
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Are we placing too much pressure on SMMs?
I feel like we're putting so much pressure of one kind or another on SMMs who are always on camera.
They get used to building up views, engagement, and a relationship with the audience because, let's be real here, that's what you have to do if you want to improve engagement on your content.
However, what happens if they move jobs? How does the audience feel? We have parasocial relationships with these online personalities, and this is seen as the norm now. But what is the actual impact of that on both sides?
Not only is the audience perhaps even alienated when an employee leaves a company, but the person they've grown used to seeing every day on their feed is gone. Sometimes their identity is never revealed because that SMM were given a pseudonym, or just never revealed their identity.
On the other hand, audiences might have loyalty to the creator rather than the company itself and will stop engaging with the company account. It could happen!
As a SMM, it's important to be mindful of the potential downsides of putting oneself in front of the camera for the sake of content awareness and exposure.
While it may be part of the job, should we consider whether separate talent fees should be negotiated for these tasks? After all, they are often not part of our original job specifications in this industry.
The dopamine crash
We also need to keep in mind the parasocial relationship that we have with our audience as creatives. When a SMM leaves a company from which they’ve built up these parasocial relationships with, not only are you putting the company account ‘at risk’ because engagement rates may suffer, they might question where you’ve gone, you’re also leaving a big job for your successor, having to befriend the audience you’ve built.
Treat social media managers as you would a content creator
As social media professionals, we need to ask ourselves how we advocate for our services. Whether we are freelancers or employed by a company, what is our true day-to-day role? When we are tasked with being on camera for clients or our own companies, how can we navigate this to be as fair as possible?
Can we talk about having a separate talent contract, the same way that an influencer working on behalf of a brand would negotiate specifics such as exclusivity, add-ons, and time limits on the contract?
We should be fairly compensated for our exposure on social media, which can actually have quite a negative impact on creators and potentially even audiences.
Tell me what you think!
Mind the gap
It’s time for one of my favourite segments of the newsletter - mind the gap!
Before you depart, it’s time for me to share one of my Notion templates with you.
Are you struggling to keep up with your to-do list?
No worries, I’ve got you covered with a super simple and effective task manager template in Notion. (When I’m not scrolling, I’m dabbling in template creation).
With a daily inbox to add new tasks throughout the day and a task manager that sorts them based on how much time they take, you'll be absolutely smashing your productivity goals.
And because you're part of The Social Line newsletter crew, you get a sweet 50% discount on the template, if you use this link:
Don't wait, download it now and get your life together with me! 💪
Please mind the closing doors
Less trivia, more TikTok this month. Ya girl’s been scrolling an awful lot.
So enjoy this tub related-toks:
How they named the tube map: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMYWdNSs4/
Poetry on the tube: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMYWdjSBq/
Life moves pretty fast: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMYWecrCv/
This train is ready to depart
We’ve reached the end of the line again! Here are some social related tidbits I’ve found interesting in the past month!
F1Toni on Building a Brand, The Importance of Creators in Sport and the Uncertain Future of F1 - Going Purple with Lissie Mackintosh Podcast (very fitting giving last month’s topic)
Pop Songs Really Are Shorter Than Ever Now - https://www.vice.com/en/article/qjv8pq/pop-songs-shorter-than-ever
When it comes to the talent working on TikTok, more agencies are eying personal profiles - https://digiday.com/marketing/when-it-comes-to-the-talent-working-on-tiktok-more-agencies-are-eying-personal-profiles
R x