No filter, just a tough job

Tagging. Collabs. 50 retakes. Social media management isn't as glam as it looks. Here's an IRL BTS of how it all gets produced

- Noor Anand Chawla

A good day for a social media manager includes creating fun, quirky content that's approved with little to no feedback, says Cassandra Richards of ARM Worldwide.

Behind that one-minute Reel you just saw on Instagram is hours and days of work. Even a 10second promo - the cheese-pull bread at that secret new restaurant, that slow-glide of a new lipgloss, the drone video of Himalayan sunrises - doesn't come easy. What looks floaty and magical often involves three planning meetings, 4am calls, five checklists, arguments with stylists, light and pacing checks, hours of editing and well-timed uploads.

The work doesn't end there. There's tagging, troll hunting, legal tussles, finding out that the photographer costs more than accounted for, and, oops, realising that overnight, Instagram's algorithm (and all the views) is now focused on something else.

Social media work looks breezy, feels glamorous. It's anything but, say the people in the business. Cassandra Richards (27) from the agency ARM Worldwide; Priyanshu Goel (22), senior talent manager at IPLIX Media; and Prakriti Madan (28), founder of 24 Media offer a BTS peek, without the soft filters.

Starting points