A TikToker named Amanda (@socialmediamanageramanda) says that she was subject to an awkward and humiliating conference call in which her boss questioned the value of his social media manager. She also says that she gets paid significantly less than the average social media manager, which according to Indeed, ranges from $35,0300 to $90,900 a year.
In her clip, Amanda re-enacts the “awkward” scenario in which her supervisor wonders aloud whether or not the social media manager brings any value to the business. The video has garnered over 680,000 on TikTok as of this writing.
@socialmanageramanda Enjoy this masterpiece of the reenactment of having to explain what I do as a social media manager #socialmediamanager #socialmedimanagers #zoommeetings #zoommeetingsgonewrong #clienthorrorstory #reenactment ♬ original sound – Amanda | Social Media Manager
“OK I’m gonna re-enact a call that I just got off that was so incredibly awkward,” Amanda says.
Acting as her manager Amanda begins to recreate the video conference call she was just on. “Hey everybody thanks for hopping on you know I really appreciate it hope everyone’s having a good Friday. Uh, I just wanted to uh before before we start to check in with Amanda and just uh you know see what she’s been up to this week see what she’s been doing.”
The social media manager then transitions to her “character” in the video.
Amanda: “Um, so just tell you, you know, what I’ve been working on this week?”
Manager: “Yeah, yeah for sure that’d be like really helpful yeah if you could just do that.”
Amanda then lists all of the deliverables she accomplished during that time frame.
“Yeah I can definitely do that. Um so I created and published all the company’s social media posts across 5 different platforms, which was a total of 40 posts this week which was a lot. I also work with the other departments to figure out ad copy for the advertising campaign launch. I also collaborated with the other departments to come up with some blog posts. Um, I wrote 4 different blog posts for a total of 3,000 words. I also responded to all comments and DMs and then I created a updated social media strategy, in-house social media strategy, and yeah that’s what I did this week,” she concludes.
Even after her detailed response, Amanda’s manager isn’t impressed. “Huh, okay I’m gonna be honest, I don’t even understand why we even pay you I don’t even know what you really do and why it’s helpful to the company I feel like you know if you’re not making money then like what’s the point?”
The social media manager further demonstrates her value to the company by breaking down the way that the business operates. She explains that social media plays a large factor in the way the company makes money. “Um, okay, your company literally relies on social media to get leads so if you’re not posting on social media, then you’re not gonna get any leads,” she says to her manager.
But the manager doesn’t seem to see her point. “Yeah but I like I just don’t see how you’re like an asset to the company. Like we’re really looking for like assets to the company.”
Amanda tries again. “Okay I think I see the problem here, um, I’m a social media manager. I’m not a sales representative I don’t do cold calls or anything like that. You hired me to to um help with brand awareness and post them on social media and creating graphics and doing graphic design, um and creating blog posts, um, and that’s exactly what I’ve been doing.”
Manager: “Okay but like have you even like reached your quota?”
The social media manager seems dumbfounded at this question. Since she’s not a sales representative, quotas don’t pertain to her.
“I’m a social media manager, I don’t have a quota. I don’t do sales,” she reiterates.
The manager then opens up the discussion to include Amanda’s colleagues. “Does anybody think that this is like valuable for the company? Like do you guys think that like we need a social media presence in order to like succeed?” he asks.
A third person, presumably a co-worker, chimes in with their own two cents. “Yeah so I just feel like if Amanda got hired to create brand awareness and like post on social media, and that’s what she’s doing, then that’s good.”
But the manager remains unconvinced. “Okay yeah I’m gonna have to like circle around and see if we even have the budget to keep a full time social media manager. I just like don’t know if we have that like you know to give you that salary.”
Amanda corrects the manager and reminds them that she isn’t even a full-time employee. “I’m not a full time employee. I’m a contract employee. I don’t get a salary and you only pay me $1,500 a month. So, let me know if you can afford that.”
Viewers in the comments were united in their stance that Amanda was being under appreciated and underpaid by the company. Unfortunately this isn’t uncommon among workers on TikTok. One person pointed out, “I don’t think $1500 is nearly enough” for the work that Amanda listed in the clip.
Another agreed, writing, “You workin for free GF that’s 5K worth of work you just explained”
A third TikToker suggested an easy way for the social media manager to demonstrate the value she brings to the company. They said, “I’d LOVE to see their lead source report prior to your services vs now.”
Many commenters simply told her to get away from the company as soon as possible. As one person said, “GIRL. RUN. been there, done that. ESPECIALLY at that price babe.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to Amanda via email for further comment.
