How to Convince your Boss to Invest in Social Media Orchestration

tl;dr:

Social media management isn't as easy as pop culture makes it sound, and convincing your boss to invest in the tools you need to do your job right sometimes feels like a Herculean task. You need to be able to deliver ROI, know how to talk about the value of what you do, and truly understand the needs and priorities that executives have in order to do it right. Scaling social media management into social media orchestration is an even bigger task, and it's not one you should be responsible for alone. But, to get the support you need, you may need some help. And that's why you're here!

Let's play a quick game.

I'm a marketing copywriter on a blog for a SaaS company. You're a social media manager. (If you're not an SMM, this isn't for you; go read this instead.)

I'm going to guess what's holding you back in your day-to-day, and every time I get it right, you take a shot make a tally mark on a piece of paper.

1. Content overload: You struggle to meet the constant demand for consistent, high-quality content across multiple platforms. 
2. Time management: Juggling content creation, scheduling, engagement, and reporting without adequate time or resources. (Your workday is 12 hours, right?)
3. It's just you: You're the only one doing social media at your organization, and nobody seems to understand why that's a problem.
4. Fragmented tools: SharePoint, Google Docs, separate tools for publishing, analytics, building reports, handling customer support, and advertising. Three different planner boards and the remnants of somebody's failed new agile strategy. Powerpoint! Why do we do this to ourselves?
5. Agency management: Sometimes it starts to feel like you're not even their only client...
6. Cross-department collaboration: You have difficulties in aligning social media strategies with other departments like PR, sales, customer service, and HR. Don't even get started on legal.
7. Inconsistent branding: Other people just aren't doing it right. The other offices aren't doing it right. The colors are all wrong. Why are we using those words? We're a DU company, not a SIE company!
8. Measuring ROI: Is any of this even working? Are they investing enough in paid? Do I even have value at my company?!
9. Algorithm and platform changes: Why. Are. They. Always. Changing. The. System?! 
10. Crisis management: Handling negative feedback, crises, or PR incidents in real time without proper support because the CEO said something when they thought their mic was off.
11. Budget constraints: Limited budget for paid media, advertising, and premium tools to expand reach and manage platforms effectively. We're always the first expense to get cut. See #8.
12. Content saturation: Cutting through the noise of oversaturated social media channels to reach target audiences. 
13. Customer service: Is this really even my job? Yes, yes it is! They didn't tell you this during your social media degree? Your customer service team needs you more than they realize.
14. Analytics and reporting: I don't think I can even make a joke about collecting, analyzing, and presenting data in a way that demonstrates social media’s value to your stakeholders.
15. Trend adaptation: Keeping up with fast-changing trends, platform features, and emerging channels. More importantly, convincing your CMO that TikTok isn't just for teens.
16. Growing complexity: Managing an increasing number of platforms, content types (videos, stories, posts), profiles, and formats effectively. 
17. Data security: You mean you didn't mean to promote that Bitcoin scam?
18. Artificial intelligence is hard: It's really not as easy as "just get the robot to do it..."
19. They pay you like an intern. I have a master's degree, damnit!

That was fun, right?

If your list has more than 10 tally marks on it, you need a social media orchestration strategy, not just a social media management strategy. To do this you need the right tools in your toolkit, and to do that, you need to get your stakeholders on board ASAP!

what are You doing about it?

When you’re a social media manager who’s passionate about what you do, you know that social media could transform how your company approaches its digital communications strategy.

I really don't believe that it should totally fall to you to shift your multinational corporation’s strategic approach to social media, or teach a thousand people how to post. We've already established that you don't have the time for that. And, if you work at a big company with hundreds or thousands of employees, it's going to feel like screaming into a void. 

If ten years as a social media manager and content strategist has taught me anything about tools, software, money, and people, the biggest hurdle always seems to be stakeholder management, and in particular, convincing your boss. Or your boss's boss!

However, you often have first contact with the very tools that can make a difference. You usually have the best handle on how social media works and what it's capable of. There's probably nobody else...

Despite the challenges, you’re in a great position to sell social media orchestration to your boss and simplify your own workflow in the meantime, and I want to help give you the tools. Let's get into it!

1. Understand Your Boss’s Priorities

I'm a content strategist, and I've been a social media manager. In both these fields there is no bigger challenge in our day-to-day than stakeholder management. Even if you have a good relationship with your boss, it's still not usually easy.

Social media orchestration looks complex. It's not, really, but as an emerging concept it's not always easy to explain, especially to people who spend 90% of their day flitting from executive meeting to executive meeting to shareholder coffee break. If you'd like a straightforward explanation of what it is, check out our Social Media Orchestration Manifesto.

Before you can get into the specifics of selling social media (or anything, really) you need to align your pitch with what your boss cares about most.

Different executives have different priorities:

• Marketing VPs may be focused on improving reach, brand positioning, and lead generation. 
• Sales directors will be keen on social selling and how better orchestration can lead to more qualified leads.
• CEOs or CFOs will need to hear about ROI, revenue growth, and efficiency gains.
• HR execs care about finding talent quickly and affordably
• PR and communications directors will be focused on selling the brand itself.

Social media orchestration can address all of their needs; it pertains to critical business goals like customer service efficiency, brand growth, and cross-departmental communication, which executives find valuable.

2. Frame Social Media as a Strategic Asset, Not Just a Channel

Social media is no longer just a marketing channel! And you know as well as I do that it hasn't been for a while. Most social media managers are hired by marketing teams (because they don't really know where else to put us, right?), so it's easy to see why people think of social media as a marketing-specific tool—and why we often identify this way ourselves.

Executives are wary of new software or strategies unless it’s clear how they add new, tangible value.

To convince your boss, start by highlighting the massive growth and reach of social media.

As of 2024, there are over 5.07 billion social media users worldwide, accounting for 62.6% of the global population. Globally, people spend around 2 hours and 20 minutes on social media daily, translating to 14% of their waking hours​.

You work hard every day to provide your communities not just with content that informs and entertains, but also as a first line of direct communications with your customers and communities. Unless you have numbers to show the people with the credit card, your mission is not complete.

By positioning social media as a critical, multifaceted business asset, you show that your company needs a comprehensive approach—one that’s more than just posting and tracking likes.

Sometimes, this starts by really believing in the value of your work. Talk about your socials not just with pride, but with a sense of that value. Every time social media comes up, reinforce how important it is. Make the little things feel big.

Change public perception one loud conversation at a time. It will travel up the ladder.

3. Emphasize ROI: It’s More Than Just Numbers; It’s Efficiency and Growth

Executives need to know that your proposed investment will yield measurable benefits!

Here are some key points to highlight to your bosses:

• Time saved through automation: Time is money and there are ways that you can help streamline operations, reduce manual posting, reporting, and large volumes of customer interactions. This frees up time for strategic tasks that can drive business growth, and for the fun part: making cool content.
• Better customer engagement and response rates: Customers now expect real-time responses from brands. With well-done social media orchestration, customer service, marketing, and sales can align in a unified pipeline to provide faster and more consistent responses to inquiries, complaints, or compliments.
• Multi-departmental benefits: ROI isn’t just about marketing outcomes. With SMO, your company’s HR team can better use LinkedIn for talent acquisition, your sales team can engage with prospects directly, and your customer service team can handle complaints more effectively.

Unite these efforts and see how your company benefits from unified messaging, better brand consistency, and a more cohesive strategy across all touchpoints.

4. Present the Cost of Not Investing

Fear of missing out (FOMO) can be a compelling motivator to executives. Make sure to illustrate the risks associated with not investing in a social media orchestration system:

• Inefficient use of resources: Your team might waste time managing multiple tools, manually gathering analytics (from individual, native analytics systems?! Ew!), and handling ad hoc customer interactions.
• Inconsistent brand messaging: When social media isn’t coordinated across departments, brand messages can become inconsistent or even contradictory, confusing your audience and just sending a poor message. It also becomes harder to ensure quality and compliance.
• Missed opportunities: Social media provides real-time insights and trends in your industry. Without a comprehensive system in place, your company may miss out on key data that could drive informed decision-making.

Painting a picture of a fragmented, outdated approach will help your boss understand the urgency of social media orchestration and the tools that make it feasible.

5. Use Case Studies to Paint a Real-World Picture

Sharing examples of other companies that have successfully integrated SMO can be an effective way to persuade leadership. Consider these examples:

• Rheindigital: Rheindigital faced challenges in managing and analyzing social media data for their diverse client base. Consolidating all social media metrics into a single platform was difficult, and presenting data in a visually appealing, easily digestible manner sometimes hindered effective communication and reporting. Comparing performance metrics across platforms like Facebook, Instagram, X, and LinkedIn was time-consuming. Additionally, Rheindigital needed a way to identify trends and sweet spots across different formats and time frames to improve clients' social media performance.

• Carrefour: A pioneer of mass food distribution, the Carrefour Group has 12,225 stores in more than 30 countries. Attentive to its customers and committed to providing better food for all, the Carrefour Group wanted to digitize the public communication of its stores by taking as a guiding axis a localized commitment to its Facebook presence. Which included 900 separate pages. Find out how they used social media orchestration to do it. 

• HDI: HDI struggled to leverage their sales partners as brand ambassadors due to the time-consuming tasks of content planning, branding, and managing Instagram’s visual demands. Using Facelift's Amplify, they streamlined content sharing, and leveraged many of their employees to quickly and easily distribute tailored, on-brand posts. The tool’s success led to widespread adoption beyond sales, significantly enhancing HDI's social media reach and brand visibility. 

6. Provide a Step-by-Step Plan to Start Small

Sometimes, leadership hesitates to invest in new social media strategies and tools because they feel too big and complex. To counter this, break it down into achievable steps:

1. Audit your current social media strategy: Identify gaps and inefficiencies in content creation, posting, analytics, and departmental collaboration. What are the challenges you're facing, and if you can identify them, what are your boss's painpoints?
2. Show quick wins: Take a look at your recent successes and report these wins to your boss as evidence that social media has a positive ROI.
3. Outline a scalable plan: Present how an orchestration platform like Facelift can grow with the company’s needs, from small team improvements to organization-wide strategy. 

7. Offer a tangible solution

One of the most effective ways to convince leadership is to state what you want directly and clearly. If you're struggling with the social media management challenges I listed at the beginning of this article, you need a tool to solve them. Facelift is such a solution. Social media orchestration is what we do - we invented the concept.

Suggest arranging a demo of the Facelift platform for them. You can even set it up yourself and invite them along. Seeing the benefits in action—such as improved analytics, better workflow, and efficient customer service—can often ensure that someone takes note.

Facelift solves *all* of these painpoints

It's a product pitch, yes, but I'm going to readdress the painful list again and maybe it'll be one you're glad you read. I know it hurts, but bear with me.

Look at how we can take the pain away:

1. Content overload: Facelift's Orchestrate provides a central hub for planning and scheduling all of your content. You can even make most of it right there in the tool, but when you can't, we integrate with Canva and other 3rd party tools. 
2. Time management: Facelift lets you do your planning, strategizing, scheduling, creation, analysis, community management, reporting, and more in just one place.  (Your workday is 12  5 hours, right?)
3. It's just you: You may be the only social media manager by title, but now your entire organization can get involved in sharing, creating, promoting and collaborating on social media with our advanced user controls, and our one-of-a-kind Amplify, which helps use your colleagues to boost your brand.
4. Fragmented tools: I've already said it - Facelift does all of these things in one single place. It all stays synchronized and simple.
5. Agency management: Two doors open before you:
    
   1. Let the agency go. You've got this under control now and can probably save thousands in fees. 
   2. Bring them on board! With unlimited user seats and complete security and access controls, you can even make their lives easier, all while working under one roof!
6. Cross-department collaboration: Getting your whole company involved with your social media ensures a greater likelihood of buy-in, better relations between departments, a better-unified brand strategy, and more, thanks to tools like Amplify.
7. Inconsistent branding: Facelift ensures consistent branding by providing a centralized content library with pre-approved assets for all teams to use across social channels.
8. Measuring ROI: Is any of this even working? Well, now you can find out! Facelift's Analyze uses some of the most advanced data software on the market to let you know what's really going on. And if you need an even bigger boost, take a look at Facelift Data Studio.
9. Algorithm and platform changes: We can't keep them from changing, but we constantly innovate our platform to make sure it complies with the latest changes to all major social networks, keeping your workflow as simple as possible.
10. Crisis management: One central place to manage all your messages and comments, Facelift's Engage makes it easier to stay on top of things when your socials get dicey. You can also read this. 
11. Budget constraints: When you can clearly demonstrate ROI and show how social media has impacted your business's goals, you may find that the money starts to flow. It's magic!
12. Content saturation: One place, tons of collaboration, and ease of access to your digital assets means staying on top of the latest trends with rapid content and timely engagement.
13. Customer service: Once again, Facelift's community management tool, Engage, helps you react in real-time to the needs of your followers - something they expect more than ever before.
14. Analytics and reporting: Both Facelift's Analyze and the much more advanced Facelift Data Studio provide everything you need to create world-class social media reports.
15. Trend adaptation: Facelift integrates with most of the world's major social media platforms, and we're always innovating to stay on top of the latest trends and emerging technology. 
16. Growing complexity: Orchestrate keeps it all in one place! Facelift does the work so you don't have to.
17. Data security: Facelift's servers are hosted in Germany and none of your data is sold. We comply with the highest standards in data protection, help you adhere to the GDPR, provide 2-factor authentication, have powerful user controls, and generally prevent headaches.
18. Artificial intelligence: Facelift AI provides automated solutions that greatly simplify your creative, analysis, and planning needs. No need to pay for yet another AI writing tool!
19. They pay you like an intern. We can't actually promise anything here, unfortunately, but if you manage to orchestrate a strategy that really demonstrates your worth to your team and organization, I imagine you stand a good chance of getting a raise! Facelift can help you do that!

Social media orchestration is the Future—Don’t Get Left Behind

Social media orchestration is not a trend. It's not a strategy (per se). And, it's here already. Orchestration is the natural evolution of social media from a marketing channel to a comprehensive business asset, and so much more. It is the reality that social media managers (and their bosses) now find ourselves in.

SMO directly or indirectly solves everything on that long and ugly painpoint list at the top.

By speaking to your boss's priorities, framing social media as a strategic tool, and highlighting the numbers that make social media orchestration worthwhile, you can effectively make a case for investment in a system that will change your life without having to become your company's only social media evangelist.

Your boss wants growth, efficiency, and a competitive edge. And you want less stress, more recognition, a better collaborative environment, and who knows - maybe even a raise! It’s time to orchestrate your social media and elevate your strategy across the board.