Why the “AI social media manager” isn’t coming for your job

[shaownhasan]

When it comes to AI social media tools, I’m optimistic…and this is coming from someone who regularly thanks her Google Home to keep it happy.

Rather than replace social media pros, the adoption of AI in marketing has the potential to make human creativity and strategic thinking more important. The more monotonous tasks AI can take on, the more you can focus on growing your strategy, and business, and do more of what you actually like. Imagine that.

On Unread, Sprout’s social team talked about the benefits car owner data and fears of AI, like job replacement. Watch the video below to hear their takes on AI and how we use it at Sprout:


Let’s get into why AI likely won’t be taking your role, and how using AI in social media can help you focus on the impactful part of your role—and less on the busywork.

The role of social media manager has always been relatively future-proof—last year, it was the third most in-demand marketing position. And social media marketers have always had to evolve how they work. In the 2010s, that meant creating an Instagram strategy. In 2021, it meant gutting your social strategy to prioritize short-form video. Today, it means adding AI to your social media skills to keep all the plates spinning.

To help explain why AI is not about to take your job, I talked to Jeff MacDonald—Social Strategy Director at Mekanism and AI optimist. “I don’t think social media managers should be concerned about AI taking their jobs,” Jeff explains. “To me, all AI is going to do—if you know how to use the tools right—is help you accelerate your work and decrease how long typical tasks take.”