Social and Digital Have Been Treated Like Sidekicks for Far Too Long
Why the Industry Is Overdue for a Structural Reset
For the better part of a decade, social and digital roles have existed in the shadow of traditional communications. They were grouped as extensions of marketing, treated as executional channels for advertising or used as distribution tools for PR. They sat at the end of the strategic chain, asked to “push the campaign live”, "add the link to Stories" or just “post the press release”.
And for years, the assumption was that real strategy happened elsewhere; and social and digital were only there to amplify it. That mentality dictated hiring, resourcing, budgets and how much influence people in these roles were allowed to have. Social and digital teams have been expected to deliver strategic impact while being treated as operational support. It was a flawed [yet understandable] setup from the start a long time ago, but it is time the industry left that setup behind...
The Data Is Unambiguous
Recent research on news consumption backs this shift. The 2024 Reuters Digital News Report shows that people now reach news primarily through social media platforms rather than going directly to news brands. Using that same dataset, DataReportal’s 2024 Global News analysis quantifies the change. Around 29% of adults say social media is their main gateway to online news each week, compared with 25% who rely on search and only 22% who go directly to a news website or app, [and we all know the advent and impact of A.I on those...]
In other words, even when the story originates on a traditional outlet, the path most people take to reach it is platform-led. Social feeds and recommendation systems have become the front door to news and public information, not a secondary distribution channel.
When behaviour, information and public sentiment have shifted this dramatically, it makes little sense for the people running these channels to be treated as peripheral.
The Work Is More Complex Than It Looks
A major reason social and digital are undervalued is that their complexity is often invisible to senior leadership. Decisions that seem simple from the outside require deep technical and behavioural understanding from the inside.
What looks like a simple post on a feed is usually the end result of a long chain of work. Social and digital teams sit at the centre of that chain and are expected to coordinate with almost everyone. Some examples:
Images and Banners Are Not “Upload and Go”
Platform standards shift constantly. A cover image that looked perfect in a presentation can crop a logo or headline once LinkedIn, X or YouTube adjust their layouts. Different devices compress and display assets differently. Social teams must brief designers on safe zones, file types, aspect ratios and hierarchy, then review every version before upload. One missed detail can hide a government crest/emblem, distort a campaign message or clash with accessibility requirements...
The Same Audience Behaves Differently on Each Platform
Most people use several platforms but act differently on each. They may look for news on X, formal updates on LinkedIn, entertainment on Instagram or TikTok, long-form content on YouTube and service information on WhatsApp. Social practitioners must understand these behaviours, shape the content strategy accordingly and then work with design, copywriting and video teams to adapt assets. Tone, length, framing, subtitles and calls to action all shift by platform. This is strategic and editorial work, not simple reposting. The same person will comment on LinkedIn, passively scroll on Tiktok, and share memes through DM's on IG...
Video Safe Zones and Formats Are Easy to Get Wrong
Vertical video now dominates obviously, yet many institutions still commission horizontal, broadcast-style edits, and social teams are then asked to correct them. They must brief editors on multiple aspect ratios, UI safe zones for text, subtitles, platform overlays and different lengths. A single thirty-second asset can require numerous exports for Reels, Stories, Shorts, in-feed placements and website use. If social specialists are not included in the production briefing, they inherit the problem at the very end...
The Rules and Tools Change Constantly
Algorithms, content policies, verification systems and advertising rules are in continual flux across LinkedIn, YouTube, X and Meta. These shifts affect reach, sentiment, targeting and even compliance. Social teams are expected to monitor updates, test new features, avoid penalties, tag correctly, manage community responses and adjust caption tone while keeping brand and legal teams informed...
Across all of this, one truth stands out... many social and digital professionals are hired on relatively low, junior salaries and given job titles that appear operational, yet the work they do spans strategy, community management, design coordination, copywriting, editing, analytics and live reputation management. The industry still positions them as sidekicks, even while relying on them to hold the entire digital presence together.
The Strategic Role Social and Digital Now Play
Beyond operations, the strategic influence of social and digital is undeniable. They are now the first space where:
• misinformation emerges • crises escalate • reputations form or collapse • public sentiment becomes visible • communities mobilise • feedback appears transparently • political, commercial and cultural narratives take shape
Social teams are often the first to detect an issue and the first required to respond. The work combines data interpretation, behavioural insight, tone calibration, cultural awareness and rapid decision-making. No other communications discipline requires this mix of skills!
The Overlap Problem No One Talks About
Part of the challenge is that the industry has never clearly defined where marketing ends, where PR begins and where social and digital fit in between. These disciplines have expanded, converged and adapted at different speeds, and the result is an environment where responsibilities often blur.
PR teams handle narratives and reputation. Marketing teams drive campaigns and commercial outcomes. Advertising agencies focus on creative and paid amplification. Social and digital teams sit in the middle... expected to execute all of it.
Every discipline now touches audience behaviour, content, data and storytelling. That overlap is not inherently negative, but it has created confusion about ownership and unfair assumptions about who “should” handle what. When a deadline tightens, a brief changes or an asset needs adapting, the work reverts to social and digital by default rather than by design.
This is not because other teams avoid responsibility, it’s because industry structures were built in a pre-platform era and have not kept up. Social and digital absorbed the gaps, design tweaks, copy alignment, video reforms, community responses, real-time sentiment checks because they were closest to the audience and the tools.
The result is a role that is wide, complex and disproportionately demanding compared with how it is traditionally scoped or resourced. The issue is structural, not personal, and it is precisely why the perception of social and digital as “executional” has persisted far longer than it should have.
Why the Industry Must Catch Up
Along this reality of many organisational structures still treating social and digital as executional, lots of teams remain understaffed, job descriptions blur technical expertise with administrative tasks, senior roles in the field are limited, training is inconsistent, and career progression is unclear, and let's not forget the wide disparity in retainter and services fees!
Most importantly, strategic decisions are often made without the people closest to the public conversation.
This gap creates risk, and slows organisations down. It undermines credibility and it prevents the industry from fully harnessing the insight that social and digital professionals generate every day.
Moving from Sidekick to Strategic Partner
Elevating the field requires a fundamental change in mindset. Social and digital must be recognised as disciplines that:
• influence narrative direction • shape public engagement • inform strategic decisions through real-time intelligence • strengthen reputation resilience • drive measurable outcomes
This means giving practitioners a seat at early strategic discussions, investing in their development and acknowledging their work as a core part of organisational success.
Where the Work Really Lands
Everyone in the industry recognises the value of PR and marketing in securing visibility. They help the CEO land the front page, the prime headline interview, the double-page spread in a business magazine or a feature on a news channel. That is important work and it will always matter.
What happens next is telling... the moment the coverage is released, the first request is rarely about the print run or the broadcast rating. The CEO wants the specific page as a PDF or carousel, the full television segment as a file and the best clips and sound-bites edited for their channels. They want the interview posted on LinkedIn, turned into a short for Instagram or TikTok and pinned to their profile.
Who handles that part… Social and digital.
They are the ones who take the earned media win and translate it into formats that actually reach the CEO’s real audience. They brief design to clean up the page, coordinate with video editors to cut vertical clips, write platform-specific captions, choose thumbnails, tag correctly and schedule strategically. The headline may be secured by PR, but the long-tail impact of that visibility is managed by social and digital teams every day.
This everyday scene says more about the real centre of modern communications than any organisational chart.
A New Centre of Influence...
The communications landscape no longer resembles the one in which social and digital were considered add-ons. The industry has evolved, audiences have moved and influence has shifted decisively.
Social and digital are not sidekicks. They are the centre of gravity in modern communications. The organisations that recognise this will shape the conversations of the future. Those that do not will continue to speak into a world that has already moved on.
