Social Media Manager vs Strategist: Which One Do You Actually Need?

Summary

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Episode Overview

Podcast: Social Media Decoded
Host: Michelle Thames
Episode: Social Media Manager vs Strategist: Which One Do You Actually Need?
Date: January 27, 2026

Michelle Thames breaks down the crucial distinction between a Social Media Manager and a Social Media Strategist, highlighting how choosing the right role at the right time can prevent wasted effort, save money, and drive better business results. This episode is a must-listen for entrepreneurs, brands, and business owners who may be unsure about how to build the right social media team and avoid common hiring mistakes.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Defining the Roles: Manager vs. Strategist

• Manager = Executor:
  • Schedules posts, writes captions, manages comments and inboxes, keeps the feed active.
  • Focuses on consistent activity.
• Strategist = Planner:
  • Designs the content plan, identifies target audiences, aligns posts with business goals, and creates a clear strategy.
  • Makes big-picture decisions that guide execution.

Quote:

“A social media manager executes. A social media strategist designs the plan.”
(Michelle Thames, 01:08)

• Many business owners mistakenly hire for execution (a manager) without having any direction (strategy).
• Merely posting does not guarantee growth or conversions—posting without strategy is “just activity.”

Quote:

“Posting without a strategy is just activity. Ooh, that's a bar.”
(Michelle Thames, 02:25)

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2. The Cost of Skipping Strategy

• Hiring for execution first may appear cost-effective, but actually leads to waste—costly months of ineffective content, restarts, multiple hires, and stagnation.
• Strategy clarifies what to post, where to focus, and what to avoid, making execution much more impactful.

Quote:

“Hiring strategy first actually costs less long term.”
(Michelle Thames, 03:02)

• Execution without strategy amplifies confusion and wasted efforts instead of results.

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3. Blended Roles: When Manager & Strategist Combine

• Some agencies or freelancers offer both skillsets; often, these are separate.
• Be explicit about the scope when hiring—don’t assume a manager will provide strategy.

Quote:

“Now I’m not saying a social media manager can’t be a strategist, but most of the time they’re not.”
(Michelle Thames, 04:15)

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4. Common Hiring Mistakes

Michelle lists the most frequent pitfalls she observes:

• Mistake #1: Hiring based on aesthetics
  • A pretty feed ≠ a strategic feed.
• Mistake #2: Expecting managers to make strategic decisions
  • Clarify what the role actually covers, and ensure contracts are clear.
• Mistake #3: Not knowing what success looks like
  • If you don’t define your social media goals, no one else can deliver them.
• Team Silos:
  • Social and marketing teams must work together; isolating them leads to inefficiency.

Quote:

“A pretty feed does not mean a strategic one, okay?”
(Michelle Thames, 05:45)

Quote:

“The best outcomes happen when roles are clear. And when the social media and marketing team talk together.”
(Michelle Thames, 07:20)

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5. Which Role Do You Actually Need?

• If you’re starting out, pivoting, or not seeing conversions—start with strategy.
• If you already have clarity and systems in place, a manager can help you scale.

Quote:

“If you're early, pivoting or not converting yet, you need strategy. You do not need a social media manager yet.”
(Michelle Thames, 08:16)

• It’s not about titles—timing is everything.
• Always ensure you know what you want a manager to execute before you hire.

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6. Michelle’s Personal Advice & Offerings

• Michelle’s agency helps brands clarify their positioning and content direction before providing execution.
• For ongoing strategy and guidance, she offers the Elevated Empower Collective for women entrepreneurs.
• The episode embeds genuine care:

  “Please, please, I beg you on this podcast, and I’m saying that with love... most people, you don’t even know what you want the person to execute, which makes it such a messy situation.”
  (Michelle Thames, 09:35)

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Memorable Quotes & Timestamps

• “Posting without strategy is just activity.” (02:25)
• “Strategy answers the questions before anything goes live.” (02:28)
• “Strategy prevents wasted effort.” (03:15)
• “…execution amplifies strategy, it doesn't replace it.” (03:32)
• “A pretty feed does not mean a strategic one, okay?” (05:45)
• “The best outcomes happen when roles are clear.” (07:20)
• “If you can't clearly say what you want social media to do for your business? Red flag.” (06:52)
• “If you're early, pivoting or not converting yet, you need strategy.” (08:16)

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Key Timestamps

• [00:45] — Introduction to the episode’s purpose and topic
• [01:08] — Core distinction: Manager vs. Strategist
• [02:25] — Why posting without strategy is wasted effort
• [03:02] — How strategy saves money in the long run
• [05:45] — Biggest hiring mistakes and their consequences
• [07:20] — Importance of clarity and team integration
• [08:16] — How to decide which role you need and when

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Conclusion

Michelle Thames urges listeners to pause and reflect before hiring social media support, emphasizing that clarity and strategy lay the foundation for all successful execution. By understanding and respecting the difference between a strategist and a manager, businesses can avoid wasted resources, confusion, and disappointing results.

Actionable takeaway:
If you’re not sure what to execute on social media, start with strategy—or seek expert help—before you consider hiring a manager.

Final advice:
“Please, please, I beg you on this podcast, and I’m saying that with love... most people, you don’t even know what you want the person to execute, which makes it such a messy situation.” (09:35)

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Transcript

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This is Michelle Thames and you're listening to Social Media Decoded, where we talk about what actually works in marketing, visibility and brand growth without chasing trends or wasting money. Today's episode is one that I really want people to hear before they make their next hire. Because I see this mistake all the time. Business owners hiring the wrong type of support, expecting the wrong outcomes, and then thinking social media doesn't work. So today we're breaking it down. The real difference between a social media manager and a strategist why posting is not the same as planning and how hiring strategy first can literally save you money. This is not about putting one role above the other. It is simply about clarity. Because clarity changes decisions. Go ahead and get your pens and your notepads ready because gems are about to be dropped. Now let's talk about posting versus Planning. Let's start with this simple distinction. A social media manager executes. A social media strategist designs the plan. A manager's role is typically scheduling posts, writing captions, keeping the feed active, managing comments or inboxes that work matters. Consistency matters. But here's the issue I see constantly People hire execution without direction. They say things like I just need someone to post. I'll figure out the strategy as we go. Let's just be consistent and see what happens. No. And what usually happens is this content goes out. Engagement is inconsistent. No clear growth, no clear conversions. Because posting without a strategy is just activity. Ooh, that's a bar. Posting without strategy is just activity. Strategy answers the questions before anything goes live. Who are we talking to? What is the goal of this content? How does this support the business? What happens after someone engages? When those answers are missing, no amount of posting will fix it. None. Zero. Why Strategy saves you money this is the part that people don't realize. Hiring strategy first actually costs less long term. Because without Strategy, you end up paying for months of content that doesn't move the needle. Rewrites, pivots and rebrands starting over when something doesn't work. Multiple hires trying to fix the same issue. And the reason why I'm saying this is because I've worked with brands who spent thousands on content creation, influencers or ads, only to realize later they never had a clear foundation. Strategy prevents wasted effort. It tells you what to post, what not to post, where to focus, where to stop. One strategy is clear. Execution becomes simpler and more effective. This is why I always say execution amplifies strategy, it doesn't replace it. And now I'm not saying a social media manager can't be a strategist, but most of the time they're not. Most of the time you, you hire a social media manager just to post for you without the strategy. Now there are some agencies and freelancers who obviously do that. Together they are a social media strategist and a social media manager. But sometimes that's not always the case. And I just want to be open on this podcast and share my personal stories. Right? I'm sharing from lived experience. Everything that I share on this podcast is from lived experience. Okay, so quick pause. If you are listening to this and you're thinking, okay, I might need strategy before I hire anything else. That is exactly what my agency supports. We help brands and business owners clarify their positioning, their visibility, strategy and content direction so every piece of execution actually makes sense. We also do help you execute if you need that too. And if you're not ready for done for you support. But you want the proximity and and ongoing guidance. Well, that's what the Elevated Empower collective is for. It's for women entrepreneurs who want strategy, access to feedback, perspective and real time support. The links are below in the show notes. If you're interested in working with our agency, you can just send me a email at infothanes. My last name. T H A M E S Media M E D I A Solutions S O L U T I o n s.com all right, let me walk you through the common hiring mistakes that I see. The biggest mistakes I see business owners make when hiring. Mistake number one, hiring based on aesthetics. A pretty feed does not mean a strategic one. Okay, Mistake number two, expecting a manager to make strategic decisions when they weren't hired for them. You gotta make sure too what's in the contract? What are you actually hiring this person to do? There are so many people and the reason I'm saying this is like maybe 50% of people, when they open their mouth they tell me, I just want somebody else to do it. I beg you to think about that differently. I know you want somebody else to do it, but you also have to learn how to do it so that you know that the other person knows what they're doing or else there going to probably scam you, which has happened a lot. We don't want that, that S word, that scam word. You don't want to get scammed, okay? So that is not fair to them. Okay? It doesn't work if they're just a executor and not a strategist. Mistake number three, not knowing what success looks like. Again, going back to what I just said, if you don't know what to do, how are you going to know what success looks like? If you can't clearly say what you want social media to do for your business? Red flag. What metrics actually matter? Red flag. What stage you are in. Red flag. No hire for you is going to be successful if you can't answer those questions. The best outcomes happen when roles are clear. Clear. And when the social media and marketing team talk together. You cannot have the social team in a silo over here while you're doing marketing, operations and everything. It all actually has to work together. And that is another huge mistake I see so many brands making. You don't allow the social media team to talk to the other team. Do you know how many times I've had to pull teeth to get clients to let me talk to their other teams? It is insane. It all has to work together. Okay? The best outcomes happen when everybody works together as a team. So which one do you actually need? Now here's the honest answer. If you're early, pivoting or not converting yet, you need strategy. You do not need a social media manager yet. You need strategy. Strategy, strategy. If your message is unclear, your audience feels scattered, or your content isn't driving action, you need strategy. If you already have clarity, systems and direction, then a social media manager can absolutely help you scale. Now this isn't about titles, this is about timing. And when strategy is done right, everything else gets easier. Like I said, sometimes these roles can be together, but you will have to find a person that actually knows social media strategy and also execution. And sometimes that person does not do both together. My team and myself, I do that together. I know how to execute as well as provide a strategy. But the strategy has to come first. So before you hire your next social media manager, ask yourself, do I know what I'M asking them to execute. Please, please, I beg you on this podcast, and I'm saying that with love. I just know most people, you don't even know what you want the person to execute, which makes it so such a messy situation. Okay, and if the answer is no, you start with strategy. And if you want help figuring that out, explore working with my agency. Or you can explore joining the collective for ongoing strategy and support. And if this episode helped you think differently about hiring and visibility, make sure you follow Social Media Decoded. Hit that subscribe button so that you never miss an episode. Don't forget to this is Michelle Thames, your host. Again, thank you so much for tuning into today's episode of Social Media Decoded and I will talk to you in the next one. Peace.

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