Stop Shrinking Your Role to Fit the Punchline
How we're reducing our own self-worth by leaning too hard into the 'Personality Hire' vibe.
This post was inspired by what I shared on my LinkedIn last week about some of the hard to swallow pills that social media managers need to swallow if they want to have a long lasting career in this field.
Social media marketing is one of the most significant functions in modern business. That’s not a boast or an opinion—it’s just how it is when brands are constantly engaging with audiences online. So why, even after a decade in the field and leveling up to a senior role, do I still feel a little embarrassed when people ask what I do?
It’s something I’ve been grappling with lately, especially when I’m in rooms with founders, engineers, or other “serious” professionals who seem to carry more inherent gravitas. I’ll say, “I work in social media,” and notice that subtle shift. The polite smile that’s just a little too polite, like they’re humoring me. If I were to sum it up into a feeling then it's like being the only one getting carded at the bar, like my role doesn’t quite measure up.
I keep asking myself why this happens—why social media marketing, despite being integral to brand strategy, still feels like it’s perceived as juvenile. I think it’s partly because social media itself is inherently relatable. Everyone has an Instagram account. Everyone and their kids are making TikToks. It’s easy to assume then that anyone could manage a brand’s account too, right? By that logic, I guess I should be considered a chef because I can make a decent avocado toast with some Celtic salt.
The problem isn’t just how outsiders perceive us, though. As practitioners, we sometimes lean a little too hard into that perception. Early in my career, I fully embraced memes as a quick way to build engagement, and to be seen as relatable af. It worked…until it didn’t. Pretty soon, I was known as “the meme girl.” And while humor and relatability aren’t without value, I realized I wasn’t presenting the full scope of my work: the strategic planning, the data-driven insights, the nuanced understanding of audience behavior that actually drives growth. I had flattened my role into a punchline, and people responded accordingly. I wasn’t getting invited to speak at conferences. I wasn’t getting ample job offers via DMs. I got hundreds and thousands of ‘likes’ and that’s cool for the daily dose of dopamine hits for my ego but that was it.
It’s natural to reduce complex roles into digestible snippets. Social media thrives on pithiness. But when we lean too hard into the chaos, we accidentally train others to see us as just that: chaotic. And if that’s all people see, they’ll struggle to imagine you doing anything else.
So how do we shift this narrative? For one, we need to start showing the full scope of our work—not just in the content itself but in how we present our role publicly.
Here are a few ways social media marketers can start demonstrating strategic value
‣ Connect the Metrics to the Outcome.
It’s easy to get caught up in vanity metrics—likes, views, impressions—but if you stop there, you’re missing the bigger picture. About a year back, when Plot was in its infancy, we faced a challenge where we needed to generate buzz for our beta launch despite having minimal brand recognition and a limited LinkedIn following (under 1000).
We decided to invest in a high-fidelity creative video to position Plot as that next-gen social media tool that gets it right from the start. We also leveraged influencers, like Tameka Bazile and Christopher Cox, from the social space to add credibility. To maximize reach, we launched a partnership program with 12 LinkedIn creators who shared the launch, collectively bringing in about 2 million impressions and hundreds of sign-ups.
But we didn’t stop at counting likes or shares. Instead, we positioned the outcome as proof that LinkedIn could be a growth lever for Plot. We analyzed the campaign’s cost against the volume of demo sign-ups and found that our customer acquisition cost (CAC) was surprisingly low. That insight validated LinkedIn as a strategic platform for future campaigns.
This campaign was also a turning point for me personally because it solidified my value as a creative advisor at Plot, focusing on LinkedIn strategy. Eventually, this success played a key role in me landing the Head of Marketing role. This kind of deeper understanding and ability to analyze not only showed the team that social could drive real business results but also helped shape our strategy moving forward. Again, social is just sparking engagement— it’s about finding opportunities that can influence long term growth.
‣ Share the 'Why' Behind the Content
Social media managers often have a strong gut instinct for what will work on social. But relying on instinct alone isn’t enough to get buy-in from leadership. You need to push for experimentation, analyze the results, and iterate quickly. Being nimble is one of our strengths—so let’s leverage it to prove that our actions aren’t just driven by intuition, but by a clear strategic plan.
Here’s an example: At Plot, we knew that TikTok could be valuable for brand awareness, but as a young, scrappy startup with a limited budget, we had to be strategic. Initially, we partnered with Mila Holmes, a contractor who not only specialized in TikTok but was also an influencer in the social media marketing space. She became the face of our brand on TikTok and Instagram, and her presence helped us grow our following and increase brand visibility.
When we analyzed the data, though, we saw that while TikTok was driving awareness (gaining reach, and followers), it wasn’t leading to demo sign-ups like our LinkedIn efforts were. As a B2B SaaS company, brand awareness alone wasn’t enough—we needed a more tangible impact on the business. That insight led us to shift our strategy: we kept TikTok as an awareness channel but moved away from higher-level content creation as the primary focus. Instead, we leaned into proactive engagement by bringing on two interns who can focus specifically on community interactions.
This change in approach revealed something important: the engagement itself was creating more meaningful touchpoints than the content. Comments were getting thousands of likes, signaling that proactive engagement was resonating. This insight led directly to the development of a feature in Plot’s Video Social Listening tool that tracks the lifespan of outbound engagement. Today, that feature is widely used by big brands like Empire State Building, CAVA, and La Roche-Posay because it addresses a real need—measuring the impact of engagement, not just content.
The key takeaway that I’d like you to take here is that our instincts might get you started, but you need to back them up with results and a clear strategy. Experiment, analyze, and be willing to pivot. It was the ability to articulate the ‘why’ behind our shift in TikTok strategy that helped us not only improved our internal approach but also built a product feature that serves the broader community.
‣ Use Your Personal Social to Show off your Skills
If you work in social media, you should flex your strategic chops on your own channels—because not for nothing but one else will see the depth of your thinking unless you put it out there. It’s one thing to be the go-to person internally, but if you want to be recognized as a leader in the field, you have to make your insights visible.
Personally, I’ve leaned into LinkedIn for this because it’s a business-first platform where strategic thinking is valued. Early in my career, I didn’t have mentors within my workplace, so I used LinkedIn to connect with other social media professionals, learn from them, and validate my own ideas. Initially, it was coffee chats and picking people’s brains. Eventually, I started sharing my own perspectives—calling out how social media roles are often underappreciated despite the high expectations and pressure. I was honest about the brutal challenges and shared my thoughts on how to address them.
That’s when things started to change. As I built in public and shared more candidly about the realities of social media work, I not only saw my following grow but also started building a community around those discussions. I even set a personal goal for myself that if I was going to post on LinkedIn, it had to be purposeful. I wanted to build a reputation where my work spoke for itself so I’d never have to apply for a job again. Periodt.
And it paid off. People started reaching out for coffee chats, contract work, and even full time roles. I stopped having to chase opportunities because I’d positioned myself as someone who knows the social space inside out. That visibility became a form of career security which is especially important now, in a time when layoffs are frequent and job stability is uncertain.
So, don’t just do the work—talk about it. Build your personal brand by sharing your insights, and the honest takes on the industry. This’ll not only sets you apart but also contributes to the collective effort to make social media work more visible and respected. If we all make our strategic thinking more public, we’ll collectively elevate the perception of our field. WIN-WIN!
‣ Balance Personality with Strategy
Us social peeps quite often get praised for our creativity and humor—it’s part of what makes our work fun. But leaning too hard into the “funny, chaotic social person” persona can undermine the strategic depth of what we actually do. It’s something I’ve noticed a lot, whether it’s how we present ourselves at conferences (everyone is touting being ‘authentic’ online) or how we post about our work online (don’t @ me..i’m just a struggling smm). We use ourselves as the punchline, and while it feels fun in the moment, it doesn’t necessarily drive the respect we deserve.
Humor and personality are valuable soft skills in this field. They help humanize brands, build communities, and make content more engaging. And I want us to keep that because brand social used to be so buttoned up and polish. But if that’s all we’re showcasing, we risk being perceived as the “personality hire” rather than as strategic thinkers. We’ve got to strike a balance. We need to demonstrate that our instincts for humor and creativity are rooted in a deep understanding of audience behavior, brand positioning, and business outcomes.
One way to do this is to be intentional about how we talk about our work. If you post something lighthearted or self-deprecating, consider following it up with a brief breakdown of why it works. For example, if a meme post blows up, use that momentum to discuss how humor can increase brand affinity or engagement rates. The point is to show that you’re not just being witty for the sake of it—you’re leveraging creativity as part of a broader strategy.
Social media marketing can be both clever and calculated. We don’t have to choose one or the other. Being strategic about how we present our work—both online and in professional settings—can help shift perceptions and make it clear that social media roles are actually multifaceted and valuable.
Leaders building social teams should also push back against the idea that social roles are inherently junior. (Seriously, enough with the tweets after a brand fail that’s like, “oops, sryyy I’m just an intern.) We should look for solid practitioners who balance creativity with analytical thinking. These are people who can make a witty campaign but also measure its impact on brand equity. It’s our job as leaders to acknowledge that balance.
We’re in an era where social media marketing sits at the intersection of creativity and strategy. We just need to break the cycle of presenting our work in ways that reinforce misconceptions. Leaning too hard into meme culture dilutes the more strategic aspects of the job.
To be clear, there’s nothing wrong with being the meme person. Please never kill memes because it’s the best aspect of the internet. But let’s make sure that it’s balanced with insights that demonstrate how those memes are part of a larger strategy. We’re not just good at social; we’re good at leveraging social to drive tangible outcomes.
So, here’s my gentle nudge that I wish to implore on all you social media folks who want a long lasting career in this field: think critically about how you’re presenting your work. Are you focusing too much on being likable at the expense of showcasing strategic value? Maybe it’s time to stop shrinking ourselves to fit a punchline and start owning the complexity of our roles.
If we don’t take our roles seriously, why should anyone else?