To avoid being pulled in multiple directions, proactively survey your leadership team to define their top goals for social media. Consolidate their varied answers into three "north star" objectives. This creates a clear mandate and gives you leverage to decline off-strategy requests by referencing their own agreed-upon priorities.

At Rippling, the social media role is elevated from a simple scheduler to a strategic creative partner. This person acts as a "gatekeeper" for quality, collaborating with various internal teams to transform their requests (e.g., for a webinar promo) into engaging, high-performing content that fits the brand's human-first voice.

Companies often bring social media management in-house because they perceive it as less serious than traditional advertising. This is a critical error. Driving real business results through social media is far more complex and difficult than replicating the functions of a traditional creative agency for print or TV commercials.

The "Social Media Manager" title is a relic from an era of simply posting links and doesn't capture the role's modern complexity of content creation, production, and brand strategy. Retiring it for titles like "Head of Content" or "Brand Marketer" can help secure proper resourcing and executive respect.

The title "Social Media Manager" is impossibly broad. To set realistic expectations, leaders must force founders to specify what "great social" looks like (e.g., viral videos, educational carousels) to define the role's actual focus.

To operate as a true content entity, a social team needs executive leadership (VP of Content), operational direction (Manager/Director), and creative horsepower. The ideal minimum is three specialized content creators who can collaborate on scripts, appear on camera, and edit various formats, supported by design and video resources.

To combat being undervalued, social media managers should proactively market their impact internally. This means sharing positive customer feedback (even if it feels boastful), holding educational training for other departments, and using high-stakes situations like crises to demonstrate strategic value to leadership.

When hiring for social media roles, prioritize candidates who have successfully built their own public platform. This hands-on experience is a non-negotiable prerequisite for understanding platform nuances, virality, and authentic creator collaboration. A traditional corporate background is insufficient for this specific role, as it lacks proof of practical expertise.

It's standard practice to have dedicated experts for Google Ads and Facebook Ads, yet companies expect one person to master all organic social platforms. To achieve excellence, marketing teams should structure their organic social function with platform specialists, mirroring the successful paid media model.