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Hey fellow SMMs, Sr. Social Strategists & Global Social Media Directors: 

 

I have led Riskonnect’s Global Social Media program for a full year now and have a team of 3 direct reports that we call our ‘Social Team’ but since we’ve never seen social media as a stand-alone role at Riskonnect, I still have the title ‘Digital Marketing Manager’ even after a recent raise in 2024. 

I’m up against the fact that there really has not been a social media career path at Riskonnect, since I’m the first SMM to truly lead a team there and to have more of a focus solely on social media (also serve as a project manager for our Digital Marketing team and I manage our email newsletter as well). 

My director is wonderful -- truly -- the best -- but doesn’t see any need to change my title since title changes are typically a fledged out thing with an actual promotion affiliated with that update. 

 

For me it feels like ‘Digital Marketing Manager’ really doesn’t reflect the fact that I manage a social media program that covers North America, the UK, Australia, and a Riskonnect India LinkedIn page (I manage an India-based agency to create content for us for that additional page). We post 3x a day Mon-Friday and also use an employee engagement tool that I manage as well and have seen some incredible results both last year and this year. 

Does it feel out of touch for me to bring up the idea of a title change to ‘Sr. Manager - Global Social Program’ with my director, since my raise evaluation already took place in March 2024? 

For context, my Social Team has actually become more successful since I came on board a year ago. We have great communication, release and create a ton of content each week, and those who have been a part of my Social Team have had good things to say to my director about what it’s like to work with me. 

Can I ask the underlying goal of a title change? Is it so people internally know what you do or is it more to attract future job opportunities? Things like that matter in how you present and make your case. I’ve rebuilt team structures, brought teams under mine, etc. a few times in my career which led to adjusted titles that are more relevant to the new broader structure. Each time I’ve built a case for why we want to make the changes, roadmaps, etc. Title changes depending on how big or formal a company is may be a pretty big ask vs just a simple swap like a small company may be open to. Changing titles may also mean changing salary bands, and who knows social media may be lower than digital marketing. All of these things are really important to consider based on what goes on within your company and how HR functions. 

Review time would have been the ideal time to have a conversation about it. It sounds like your boss may not be supportive but they just might not understand the value. Having a title that matches your function isn’t necessarily a value there should be reasons why it matters, etc. My advice would be to start building a growth plan for you and your entire team. What does a next step look like for everyone and what would more fitting titles look like? Don’t just think about your title, if you’re a team leader you need to consider how this effects everyone which makes you look like more of a leader. This plan could be something you work towards for your next review especially if it involves any promotions. It sounds like social is a part of your job but you still have some other tasks as well so maybe a Social and Digital Marketing Manager type of title would make more sense to them when the time is right. 

Final thought, it isn’t bad to have a broad title. Especially if you’re thinking about future jobs and that is the motivation behind this. Social technically is “digital marketing”. What matters more is the meat of what you did at the job not necessarily the title. 

Update: I’ve decided based on feedback to leave my title as-is since during my review I did bring this up and it wasn’t something that my director felt there was jurisdiction about. 

 

One of those things where my role on LinkedIn can have more data and information to describe, since my current role makes me seem like an all-in-one start-up marketer vs a project team manager. 

There’s flexibility in LinkedIn… nobody from HR is going to call you out for not using your “official to their corporate system” title on your personal LinkedIn page. You should feel empowered to have the latitude to adjust the title to reflect your role. It’s that title “headline” that’s going to interest those reading your profile to stop scrolling and read through the details of your success. Make it your own! 💪

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