Social media managers have no shortage of advice on how to do their jobs better. Everyone with an Instagram account and a pulse think they know how to run a brand social media account best.
There are countless blogs, newsletters, and experts offering “tips and tricks,” questionable algorithm hacks, thoughts on trends, and other advice for social media managers. And while some of these can be helpful, for the most part, they don’t share much that many social media managers don’t already know. Or they offer advice that doesn’t apply to most brands.
If a social media manager needs advice on the latest platform updates, best practices, or industry commentary, there are plenty of places for them to find it. But when it comes down to it, what social media managers need most isn’t advice—it’s validation. Here’s how key stakeholders can help their social teams.
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No more party of one
Social media leads need to hear from others who are or have been in their position and understand its ups and downs—and that’s not always so easy to find.
Far too often, social media managers are teams of one. They are expected to be content creators, strategists, photographers, videographers, copywriters, customer service representatives, on-camera talent, community managers, and so on. While the growing scope of a social media manager’s job description is a huge problem of its own, there’s another problem with the “team of one” model that doesn’t get talked about—professional loneliness.
While social media managers might work as a part of a marketing team, they often work in isolation. Many ideate, create, edit, and execute their campaigns without any outside assistance other than a laborious approval process from management or clients who don’t understand social media.
They are left to their own devices without coworkers they can bounce ideas off of, ask questions of, learn from, or even just commiserate with.
Praise for social media managers is rare and criticism is abundant. They often face a daily onslaught of negative comments from the brand’s followers on social media and are told to “ignore the haters.” Every content decision they make is questioned by management. Every tiny mistake is on full public display to everyone inside and outside the company.
