What’s up everyone and Happy New Year! Welcome back to Stronger Social - the cheat code for social media professionals. Are you looking to move up into a bigger role in 2026? If so, then keep reading. Today’s issue is for you.

In this issue, we will go over the following:

Let’s go! 💪

-Sam

Throughout my social media career of 10+ years, I have sat in social media roles at all levels. From ‘Social Media Coordinator’ to ‘Director of Social’ to ‘Head of Social’. It’s been a ride and I’ve enjoyed every second of it.

In fact, my first social media job was running social for a GNC store right outside of Columbus, Ohio. Fast forward to today, I have led social for some of the biggest brands in the health & fitness industry such as Cadence, C4 Energy, Cellucor, XTEND, Legion Athletics, and more. I’m truly grateful for it all.

However, today I really want to dive into a really interesting topic.

As a social media professional, how do you move up in the org chart and step into more senior-level roles? Great question. That’s what I am going to dive into today.

Think you’re ready to be elevated into a social media director role as a current social media manager? Or move from a coordinator to a manager? Let’s dive in. Here are 5 tips 👇

Plain and simple, and as you expect. If you want to get promoted and step into a new and bigger social media role, you need to have the results. It’s important to understand the role of social for your brand and your KPI’s - and then crush them. Results can span across follower growth, impressions, and engagements for your brand. Then also results from brand campaigns and social initiatives.

Track your results. Track your performance. Then bring them to boss man and get that promotion. Big results = big promotions.

Social media reporting is a career hack for social media professionals. As it is an opportunity to showcase your wins, KPI’s (that were crushed), insights, opportunities, and much more. In order to step into bigger roles, I highly recommend making social media reporting a priority. This is a time to let your results shine.

Whether it’s weekly, monthly, or campaign related - you need to make social media reporting a priority. If you’re embarrassing your competitors across core social media KPI’s in competitor benchmarking - make a deck and report on it. If you exceeded follower growth by 30% MOM, report on it.

Then share it out with leadership and cross-functional team members. Bonus points if you put time on their calendar to walk them through it.

Social media reporting is the biggest hack into moving up the ladder in the social world.

P.S. If you want to learn more about creating exceptional decks for social media reporting, check out this issue here.

As social media professionals, it’s easy to get stuck into just “doing social”. However, one thing that I believe helped me A LOT from moving from Senior Social Media Manager to Director of Social was this: I regularly stepped out of my job description.

I routinely designed social assets. I launched an entire content creator program when it technically should have been launched by our influencer team, and I regularly led brand campaigns.

I’m not asking you to burn yourself out and do others’ jobs. But if there is an opportunity to step out of your job description - jump on it. Then crush it, provide reporting on your incredible results, and get ready for that promotion.

You have to be your biggest hype-man (or woman) as a social media professional. When you generate strong results, shout it from the rooftops. When you have a post “go viral” - share it with your team members and your leadership team in slack. When opportunities arise to speak up and present in big meetings, go for it.

Champion your work. Speak to your work.

More wins and more visibility among leadership is essential to stepping into bigger roles. Especially in social media.

This is beyond social media professionals, as this is one of the biggest and best career advice I can give.

Be a joy to work with.

Be someone that others get excited to work with. Be someone that people can rely on. Be someone who brings a certain energy to the team. Do this…and I promise that it will take your career to a whole new level.

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

📲 Are you looking to scale content creation? 👀 I’d highly recommend checking out Slate - the content creation tool made for social teams. Slate is also used by some of the biggest brands in the world. Learn more and book a demo here!

🗣 Make a submission for a social pro shoutout! Every week I want to amplify the voices of social media professionals and feature a LinkedIn post by one of you. If there’s a post that you found helpful on LinkedIn with regard to social media, you can submit them here.

📱 View the archive. View our archive and previous issues that hit on 2026 social growth tips, shareability, career hacks for social media professionals, and more here.

🤔 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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