What social media management actually involves
Job adverts describe social media management as posting. That is the visible tenth of it, and treating it as the whole thing is why so many accounts start well and stop in week five.
There are four jobs here. Naming them is the difference between a calendar you can hold and one that quietly becomes reposting.
The four jobs#
| Job | What it produces | Who usually owns it |
|---|---|---|
| Planning | A calendar somebody can work from | Often nobody |
| Production | The photos, video and copy | Often nobody |
| Publishing and community | Posts out, replies back | The person hired |
| Measurement | Which posts moved something | Often nobody |
Why production is the one that breaks#
Publishing is quick once the asset exists. Making the asset is the part that eats the week, and it is the part nobody schedules. A calendar full of slots with no filming day attached will be filled with whatever is available on the day — which is how a brand ends up posting stock photography.
Put filming and editing in the diary as a recurring block before you agree a posting frequency. The frequency should follow the production capacity, never the other way round.
What a realistic week looks like#
- One block for planning and writing, roughly two hours.
- One block for producing assets, half a day, batched.
- Short daily passes on comments and messages, fifteen minutes each.
- One monthly hour to look at the numbers and decide what changes.
The test for whether it is being managed#
Ask who is responsible for each of the four jobs by name. If the answer for planning, production or measurement is "we all sort of do it", the account is being published, not managed — and it will drift towards whatever is easiest to post.
Frequently asked questions
Is social media management just posting?
Posting is one of four jobs. Planning, production and measurement decide whether the posting is worth anything.
How many hours a week does it take?
For one brand on two platforms, plan for a day a week once production is included. Less than that and something gets dropped.
What is the first thing to fix on a stalled account?
Assign production. Almost every stalled calendar is a calendar with no filming time in it.
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