Before I get into this, let me quickly share how I ended up in content as a career.

I didn’t choose content on purpose.

I changed my major seven times in college (started off pre-med…lol) and eventually landed in marketing because of my professor, Dr. Nicholson.

I owe a lot to the people around me who pushed me into it. Friends who saw something in me before I did (Alex and Thomas).

I started a blog in 2016 out of boredom and having no friends when I first moved to Seattle. That turned into podcasting because I liked talking more than writing. Then my friends told me I had to get on TikTok because it was “where I belonged.”

Content has genuinely changed my life for the better. It opened doors, created opportunities, and gave me a way to think, build, and connect in public.

Fun fact: I met my wife because of content. I DM’d her first, we met for coffee in LA, and the rest is history…two kids later.

That’s probably why I care so deeply when I see content misunderstood.

Because most content problems don’t come from laziness, lack of talent, or bad platforms.

They come from role confusion.

Content is not one job

One of the biggest mistakes I see founders make is thinking “content” is a single role.

From the outside, it looks simple.

“It’s just social media.”

“It’s just videos.”

“How hard can it be?”

Even though it’s clearly hard enough that they feel the need to hire help in the first place.

So they hire one person and expect everything to fall under that role.

That’s where things start to break.

To be very clear, this isn’t about any of my current clients. If anything, they deserve credit. They understand the scope, respect the responsibilities and are thoughtful about how and who they hire.

This is about a pattern I’ve seen repeatedly across my career.

The Content Responsibility Stack (Most founders collapse this into one role)

Here’s the simplest way I’ve found to explain how content responsibilities actually break down.

Here’s the mistake most founders make.

They collapse this entire stack into one hire.

When that happens, strategy gets diluted, execution burns out and performance gets blamed for problems it can’t fix.

Strategy: Head of Content

Owns direction, narrative, and alignment.

If this layer is missing, everything below it feels random.

Planning: Content Strategist

Turns ideas into systems. Channels, formats, themes, timing.

If this layer is weak, execution feels chaotic and reactive.

Execution: Social Media Manager

Publishes, manages community, maintains consistency.

If this layer is overloaded, burnout is inevitable.

Amplification: Paid Media

Scales what already works.

If this layer is blamed for bad creative, spend gets wasted.

(This is where your paid-content rant fits naturally.)

Engagement: Community / Affiliate / Influencer

Builds depth and loyalty.

If this layer is ignored, brands mistake awareness for trust.

A real example from my own experience

When I was at SuckerPunch, I was the Head of Marketing.

My founder had no real understanding of what my role actually entailed. What drove him crazy was follower count. Specifically, Instagram followers.

I hired a Social Media Manager who was fantastic. She even had a TikTok video go viral with over 400k views. We grew the Instagram account from 4k to 13k organically.

Still, every conversation turned into:

“Why aren’t we growing faster?”

“Why don’t we have more followers?”

Then the scope creep started.

Why can’t she run the affiliate program?

Why can’t she do paid ads too?

Why doesn’t she just create more content?

She was already posting six times a week, managing community, and executing on social strategy.

I’m honestly surprised she stayed. The only reason she might have is because I shielded her from a lot of that pressure.

At one point, fake followers were even bought to push the account over 10k, then quietly ignored.

That experience stuck with me. Not because it was unique. But because it’s incredibly common.

Social Media Managers are burned out for a reason

Many of my friends who are SMMs openly talk about burnout.

They’re expected to:

• Be online constantly

• Know every trend immediately

• Respond to comments and DMs within minutes

• Create content daily

• Be creative and strategic

Even something as simple as responding to a comment is thoughtful work. They’re not responding as themselves. They’re responding as the brand.

That’s why this job is so hard. And so often thankless.

It’s also why I’ve never wanted to be a Social Media Manager myself.

So let’s clarify the roles

Head of Content

Think modern-day Creative Director.

This role owns the narrative, messaging, and alignment across all content. They decide what matters and why. They are not in the weeds posting every day.

Content Strategist

Typically focused on specific channels. They study trends, formats, and competitors, then translate insights into plans. They ladder into the Head of Content to execute strategy.

Social Media Manager

Execution and community. Publishing, engagement, maintaining presence. They can create content, but when creation overtakes observation, creativity suffers.

Paid Content / Performance

This is a different job entirely.

Paid managers are often blamed for targeting or bids when the real issue is weak content. They sit at the intersection of creative and performance, managing ads, budgets, optimization, and testing.

Even when the content isn’t good, they’re still expected to make it work.

When this happens, it’s usually because there is no strong content owner, or the content strategist is too junior to speak up and say, “We need better creative.”

Community, Affiliate, Influencer Managers

Highly tactical roles focused on one lever. These are operators, not strategists.

The virality myth that needs to die

What drives me crazy is when founders say:

“Just make it go viral.”

No. You make it go viral.

Virality does not equal customers. It equals awareness, maybe. And even that is fleeting.

Going viral once sets an unrealistic expectation that it should happen again and again.

The last company that truly went viral and built a business off it? Dollar Shave Club. And the algorithms have changed a hundred times since then.

Viral sounds cool. That’s about it.

If you only had $0–$5k per month

Here’s my honest advice.

Don’t invest your money. Invest your time.

Build a community.

Show up as a founder on platforms where your people already are. Instagram. TikTok. Reddit. Twitter (I refuse to call it X). YouTube.

Talk to people. Understand their problems. Add value without selling.

Have real conversations.

A loyal community creates loyal customers. Loyal customers don’t miss subscription payments. They become your best ambassadors. They defend your brand when others don’t.

Use some of that money to reward them. Giveaways. Recognition. Access.

Community compounds in ways ads never will.

The real takeaway

Most content doesn’t fail because people aren’t working hard enough.

It fails because no one was clear on what job they were actually hiring for.

Clarity fixes more content problems than any platform, algorithm, or trend ever will.

Chase Coleman

Founder of Social Playbook

Notes on content, creators, performance, and building Social Playbook.

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