10 Things My Horrible Social Media Boss Wants Me To Do

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At some point, everyone has an encounter with their bosses. If luck is on your side you might be one of those less fortunate individuals who gets a humble boss but not everyone gets that lucky. This is a piece on my Social Media boss who unlike those rare humble bosses out there has not been kind to the team and me. He might boast about his so called illustrious advertising career but when it comes to digital, his credentials do not support the talent needed to run a team of digital advertisers.

Working in a digital advertising industry has always been a fun experience for me; the thrill of being in an industry which is promised to dominate future of advertising is always exciting but with all its perks comes things that annoy you the most. Bosses are supposed to be the people who get on your nerve but having a boss in social media industry is one of a kind. So if you are going to enter digital industry soon, don’t be surprised if your new boss expects these things from you. Don’t complain that we did not warn you. 

Run a spammy contest

We all have come across those annoying contests on social media which promises us ‘prizes’. Internet is full of such contests and posts. It gets more annoying especially when your boss expects you to come up with such ideas which are bound to fail and annoy others.

Post a 'Happy Monday' update

It’s a universally accepted fact that Mondays are boring, sad and depressing yet your boss wants client’s brand to stand out from the rest and compels you to come up with a happy Monday post for social media. In spite of having no real connection between the brand and content, my boss wants me to post such updates.

Post a 'TGIF' update

Yes, every person on Internet knows that it’s Friday tonight and everyone is equally excited about it. There are certain brands for whom such updates are suitable including restaurants, alcohol, multiplexes etc. Certainly it is not recommended for every other brand on social media but my boss cannot hold his excitement and expects us to execute it for every other brand.

Asks me to lift images from Google images

So Mr. Boss boasts about how the agency is the most creative of the lot, and how? Every content created is original that being said, later shamelessly asks me to lift images from Google and use it. This is further disguised under being just a “reference”.

Asks me to ignore complaints and expects them to die down

Today most of the customers complain about the brand on social media prior to contacting the customer care of the brand. In such a situation, it is ideal for the brand to respond to customer’s complaint on social media, but my uber cool boss think it is ok to ignore such negative posts which according to him are doomed to die down without creating any impact

Ask me to like/share clients post

So my agency works for a client, whose product/service is the last thing on earth you would care about, and yet you are asked by your boss to like/share the client's post on your personal profile because according to him, if our team starts sharing the content it has a better chance of going it viral since people on our list who might be interested will have a look.

Asks me to get more Likes for the brand on Facebook

According to my boss more ‘Likes’ on Facebook means the brand is doing well. His expectation from us is to bring more such ‘Likes’ on Facebook without chalking out any concrete content strategy

Work from home on Sundays

As if inhumane amount of hours spent during week were not enough, I am asked to work from home on Sundays too, just to cover up for lack of his planning and execution during the entire week.

Promise everything to client even if it is not relevant and make me do it

Just to keep the client happy, my boss promises deliverables way beyond client’s budget and requirement and expects me to deliver it for the brand. Even if it is irrelevant to the brand and makes no sense to the campaign.

Seed content from within the team to make a topic trend

So the client’s campaign is underway on Twitter and is heading nowhere, but your boss has a backup plan to save the campaign. No, its not to come up with an alternative plan instead seeking your team to seed the content to make the topic trend.

Any instances you have faced? Want to share? Jot them down in the comments below.