Good morning everyone! I hope everyone’s having a great week. Life has been good over here. Planning some big campaigns for Cadence, we hit a new PR on TikTok for views, and I hit a bench press PR in the gym the other day too. What else could you really ask for in life? 🤣

To be honest… I’m really excited for today’s email. As I’m diving into a topic that is very unique and I have yet to see someone speak on. Then not to mention, I wish I had this sort of advice earlier in my career. Because I learned this the hard way.

Here’s what’s in today’s email:

Let’s get to it.

-Sam

One of the biggest frustrations you’ll run into as a social media professional is not being able to bring your ideas to life…

You know your brand community better than anyone in your company, you have the insights that back up your decisions, and you’re ready to bring your idea to life. Heck, you know social better than anyone in the company.

You have strategies, campaigns, posts, even some incredible memes that you know will do absolute numbers and drive growth. But leadership (or your manager) won’t hear you out and your ideas rarely see the light of the day.

Or your idea is not resourced.

Or it’s deprioritized.

Or most likely…your idea is watered down.

It’s the worst. I’ve been there.

Maybe your budget requests keep getting denied. Your ask for headcount has been "under consideration" for 6 months. Maybe you're producing great work and results and nobody above you seems to notice.

Sometimes, just sometimes…

This can be solved by properly managing up.

Managing down is one thing. Managing up is another.

This is something I learned late in my career, and it unlocked so much for me. And I want to shed light on some tips for managing up as a social media professional. Why? Because I have never seen this spoken on and I wish I had this advice earlier in my career.

Learn what your manager & leadership actually cares about — Revenue? Brand awareness? Vibes? 😅 It’s so important to understand what KPI’s leadership and your manager truly cares about. Then make this your top priority in conversations, in strategy conversations, and in reporting. Their top priority is your top priority.

The business impact of social— Social is bigger than just…social. Social must drive business goals. You’re not just there to create vibes (if you are, we are all jealous of you). So instead of speaking about your engagement rate or the likes you generated on a post - think bigger. Think of how social drives business goals, launches, campaigns, and brand initiatives. Social is a tool to drive these. Think less about “posts” and more about moments and initiatives that accelerate the brand forward.

Build relationships and advocates outside your team — A VP who mentions your work in a meeting is more powerful and impactful than the most extravagant strategy deck you can make. Build real relationships with others you work with. If there’s an opportunity to network and get to know key team members, take advantage of it. Especially if they are a part of the leadership team.

Insights are your best friend — As social media professionals, everything we do must be backed by insights. Every message, comment, post, and campaign must be data-driven. So be obsessed with the numbers, use them to validate your decisions. Then present them for buy-in. Insights also have your back. If you ever get asked “why did we post this?”, you should have insights to back up your reasoning.

Have a weekly 1×1 — If you don’t have a weekly 1×1 with your manager, set one up. You don’t need to talk to your manager all the time - but having a set time every week to discuss goals, status updates, and upcoming initiatives is imperative. Come to these 1×1’s with an agenda and run through it. I recommend having these on Mondays if possible.

Over-communicate — Never under-communicate. You need to over-communicate to properly manage up. Never leave your manager in the dark and provide updates when necessary. One thing I have always done is at least once a week, I will send bullet points to my manager on where I am with things, where I need eyes on something, and social wins.

Social reporting FTW — One of the most underrated tips to manage up is learning how to (and prioritizing) social media reporting. After campaigns, you should send a social report with insights, learnings, and recommendations for your next. After every month, you should also probably be sending a monthly report. Share these with key team members, with your manager, and leadership. This is a time to let your work and wins shine.

Managing up isn't about politics, or sucking up to management. It’s about making sure the work you're doing actually gets seen and valued.

Hope you all found this helpful!

Before you go…here are a few quick hitters for you! We’ve got a new Instagram update and a few reminders.

👀 Anyone Hiring? A good friend of mine is looking for a social media manager or community manager role. He works in the health & fitness industry and is an absolute champ. If you know of someone hiring, respond to this email and let me know!

⛽️ Follow Cadence I lead social & brand over at Cadence, a fast-growing sports hydration brand. Be sure to give us a follow here and follow along.

📱 View the archive Check out previous issues here

‼ Forward to a friend! If you do find Stronger Social helpful, be sure to forward to a friend.

🤔 Got a topic that you want to see addressed in a future issue?If so, respond to this email and let me know!

Thanks for reading and hope you have a great week!

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