Climbing the Ladder: Social Media Roles from Coordinator to Principal

As the digital world matures, so do the roles within social media teams. What started as a “someone just post on Facebook” job has transformed into a nuanced, strategic, and layered profession. Whether you’re just starting out or aiming for a senior leadership role, understanding the differences between a Coordinator, Advisor, Senior Advisor, and Principal can help you navigate your own career—and hire the right people, too.

Social Media Coordinator

A Social Media Coordinator is the engine room of any digital communications team, with a strong focus on execution, scheduling, and community engagement. Typically with 0–4 years of experience, they’re responsible for bringing campaigns to life—creating and scheduling content, responding to comments and messages, monitoring analytics, and ensuring everything goes live as planned.

Coordinators are often the first line of defence on the frontlines of customer interaction, making them essential to brand tone and online presence. This role requires creativity, strong organisational skills, adaptability, and an ability to stay calm under pressure when the unexpected happens online.

Social media roles often serve as a stepping stone: 71% of junior professionals go on to expand into broader digital marketing, PR, and strategic communications positions within 2–3 years. – Digital Marketing Institute

Social Media Advisor

A Social Media Advisor plays a pivotal role in bridging strategy and execution, with a focus on content planning, channel strategy, and brand alignment. With 4–6 years of experience, they take things a step further by shaping social media direction, ensuring that messaging aligns with brand tone and voice, and collaborating across departments to meet broader business goals. Advisors are tuned into platform trends, audience behaviours, and performance metrics, and they know how to adapt content to maximise reach and engagement. They act as trusted guides, balancing creativity with strategic insight to ensure campaigns are not only well-executed but also purpose-driven and impactful.

A 2020 study from the Institute for Public Relations found that while 70% of social media professionals aim for promotion, only 40% believe such advancement is possible within their organization - Institute for Public Relations

If you are considering hiring (or promoting) to a Senior or Principal, these roles demand strategic thinking, cross-functional leadership, governance, and crisis management.

Senior Social Media Advisor

With a focus on strategy development, cross-team collaboration, and managing high-risk issues, a Senior Advisor operates at a leadership level within the social media function. Typically bringing 6–8 years of experience, they move beyond day-to-day content delivery into driving the bigger picture—developing and implementing social strategies that align directly with business goals.

Senior Advisors often lead on major initiatives, manage crisis communications, and oversee complex campaigns with multiple stakeholders. A key part of their role is enabling others: upskilling teams across the organisation, training comms and customer service staff on best practices, briefing executives for live events, and helping embed a social-first mindset across departments. They ensure social media expertise doesn’t stay confined within one team but is shared, scaled, and used to lift the business as a whole.

Only 27% of companies provide social media training to employees engaging on behalf of the organisation—leaving nearly three-quarters unprepared for platform risks and reputation management - Case IQ

Principal Advisor – Social Media

With 8+ years of experience, the Principal Advisor operates as the strategic backbone of an organisation’s social media and digital communications efforts. This role goes well beyond content—it’s about setting vision, managing reputational risk, and influencing policy and decision-making across the entire business. Principals understand how social media interlinks with customer service, HR, marketing, legal, public affairs, and executive leadership. They lead on governance, tone, crisis frameworks, and compliance—ensuring that all communication aligns with both organisational values and public expectations.

In a rapidly evolving digital landscape, Principal Advisors must also stay ahead of the curve: interpreting the implications of AI-generated content, navigating algorithm updates, recognising misinformation threats, and understanding emerging regulations. Their work doesn’t just support the comms team—it shapes cross-functional strategy and helps futureproof the organisation's public presence.

81% of employees believe socially active CEOs make better leaders, while 79% would prefer working for such companies. - Impact

Each level plays a vital role in a healthy social media ecosystem. You need hands-on creators, strategic advisors, and big-picture thinkers to balance creativity, community, and compliance.

When done well, social media is not just posting—it's public presence, trust building, and real-time reputation management. Whether you’re growing your team or growing your career, understanding the differences between these roles can help you build better outcomes, stronger strategy, and safer, more effective communications online.