It happens to everyone in a social media role. You’re working on your content plan for the fortnight and a senior staff member (with probably not much in the way of serious marketing experience) has a random idea for a campaign or is requesting a fairly dull report be posted on your social channels.

You know it won’t work, but they’re in charge and you feel like you can’t say no.

What do you do?

First of all, don’t panic. You’re absolutely not the only person this happens to.

Below are a few tips you can use to handle those unsolicited requests:

Don’t reject the idea immediately.

It might be tempting to just try and reject these requests straight away to set firm boundaries, but this often pushes senior staff to put their foot down and demand it anyway. This won’t help your ongoing relationship with them. It’s better to begin the conversation by saying you’ll have a look and give it proper consideration. Sometimes a good content idea is hidden deep inside a request and you just need to take a good look at it first.

Ask questions

Why is it important to share? What do they want to get out of it? It’s important to get to the bottom of their request and ask them some questions. Maybe there’s pressure from higher up, maybe they’ve been given bad advice previously or maybe they’re genuinely trying to be helpful and give you content. Whatever the reason, understanding the context of the request will help you to better help them.

Come with data to back up your opinion

If you’ve had a look and you know it won’t work, come with reasons why to back up your view. Maybe it’s examples of similar content in the past that had low engagement, maybe it’s data you’ve found online that supports your opinion. Whilst it would be great if senior staff could just trust our expertise, it’s good to have that extra support.

Come with a better/different idea

See the request as a jumping off point. Maybe it’s just the wrong channel they’re suggesting, maybe the idea is right but the content should be adapted. Turning the request into a conversation can help turn it into the best idea it can be. This will not only help that manager see what it takes to create engaging content and learn from it, but they will often appreciate being involved in the planning stage. The final product might be a far cry from their original idea, but they will still feel like they had a hand in producing it.

Work some of their suggestions into the end product

Look for ways you can include some of their ideas into the final product. This will definitely go a long way with them and possibly help you in the future when you need their support on a marketing idea. There will always be things you can compromise on that will keep them happy whilst also ensuring the content you post is engaging.

Show what good looks like

This is more of a pre-step to take which will help you in the long run. Make sure you’re regularly showing senior staff what content is working. Regular reports that not only share what the top posts are but why they were successful is going to help them understand what kind of content you’re looking for and hopefully begin to make suggestions that more closely align with your strategy. Fingers crossed at least!

If all else fails:

If that all fails, you might just have to grin and bear it. One random post featuring a dull report isn’t going to kill your channel. Let’s be honest, it probably won’t be seen by that many people and the ones that did probably won’t remember. There are always going to be battles you need to fight in your job in social media, but some aren’t going to be worth the energy it takes to fight. Pick your battles carefully!

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Let me know in the comments what other tips and tricks you have

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