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How does social media management at an agency work? Am I crazy?
Posted by on March 20, 2021 at 11:31 pmI’m cross-posting from [r/Marking](https://www.reddit.com/r/Marking/). But I value the input of this sub as well so here I am!
Background:
I was hired to work at a very small creative agency (6 people, 2 of which are owners) to do social media management and digital marketing. We are located in what I would consider a small-ish town, but we are close to a large city and don’t have issues acquiring clients.
I’m a strong graphic designer, with 5 years of corporate experience with digital marketing strategy, content production, and social media. I have the most experience besides my bosses, neither of which have done social media or digital marketing to the same extent as me. One boss heads the video department, while the other heads web design. I was surprised to find that I had no guidance all, as it wasn’t listed as a management position. I’ve done my best to make sure clients are happy and come up with systems that make my job easier.
The problem comes in where they want me to come up with a pricing plan for social media packages. The packages for social media are greatly inflated, because their idea of content creation for social media is a video or series of videos heavily produced and edited professionally – costing clients up to $5000 depending on how long or produced the video is. This amount is usually spread out in monthly payments over a year. But, because my boss believes that they have produced the content, that it should *take me only an hour or two to setup and schedule out 10-12 posts per client a month.*
I’m not involved in the video making process, (even though I have asked), but these videos often do not meet my standards as great content for online consumption. Often they miss the mark in engaging the client’s target audience, and I’m left without the content I desperately need to meet even basic online goals. This make me take much longer doing my job, as I have to ‘creatively’ work with what I have.
I’ve brought up doing affordable ‘microcontent’ (on the go, personal content, quality product/lifestyle photography, and more) for clients to attract mid-sized businesses. But my boss has said that there is no value in it.
So, I’ve talked about it to them a few times, and I’m feeling kind of defeated and belittled. Almost like, I don’t know how to do my job effectively. They think they can offer easy suggestions, but because they have no experience, it often does not solve my problem.
Am I crazy? Is this normal? I haven’t done a lot of agency work since being in a corporate setting. for five years. But things aren’t sitting right with me.
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5 Replies
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byu/JonODonovan insocialmedia -
Where is this company? I have worked at a very very similar place with this mediocre mindset. All agencies dont work this way, any company that his this mentality will never product good work.
Stay till you find something better, that’s all i can say. You seem to have the knowledge, and it is valuable.
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First off, you’re not crazy. I’ve worked for smaller shops led by founders, and it can be a struggle. Having done everything themselves since the beginning, they’re used to their own perspective of how things should be implemented and it can be quite an eye-opener for them to listen to an outsider’s view.
I would try to understand why the owner says there’s no value in micro-content. Is it because they make the most profit from the 5K videos? Is it because their background is long-form video and doing snackable content would require a learning curve that they’re not ready or willing to commit to? You know: ‘When you only have a hammer, everything looks like a nail.’
What’s more concerning is not so much the lack of knowledge about how social media works but the absence of a strategic marketing mindset. Instead of dismissing your claims that micro-content would work better, they should instead A/B test both types, just to see which one performs better. This does not just provide more value to clients, but builds a knowledge base and performance benchmarks that they can use to win more business.
Many small agency founders are to be admired for running their own shops. It’s not easy. But the truly great ones understand that they have to scale at some point, and doing that requires not just hiring an extra pair of hands to do the social media or whatever they’re unfamiliar with, but also understanding that these hands are attached to minds that can bring value to the agency.
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You are not crazy. You can stay till you find something better. Don’t feel defeated or belittled I added you and sent you a chat msg?
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You have valuable knowledge ??
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