Across the Table: What’s the Update?!

A Social Media Manager vs. a Social Media Executive on client requests, misconceptions, and what really happens behind the screen.

If you've ever thought social media work is just posting a photo, adding a caption, and waiting for the likes to roll in... well, this one's for you.

Between the perfectly timed posts, campaign reports, strategy decks, endless revisions, and the occasional "Can we make it viral?" messages, there's a lot happening that clients never see.

For this edition of Across the Table, we sat down with Shehan Rathnayake, our Social Media Manager, and Sandul Thenuwara, one of our Social Media Executives, to swap stories from agency life. Some are hilarious. Some are painfully relatable. And a few might just change the way you think about social media marketing.

Let's get into it.

What's the funniest client request you've ever received?

Some questions stay with you forever.

For Shehan, it was the time a client wanted him to run a recruitment campaign that would only target "beautiful ladies."

"True story. One client wanted me to run a recruitment ad only for beautiful ladies. He was hiring for office assistants, so they had some conditions. Unfortunately, I couldn't find that button in Ads Manager."

If only Meta had a filter for that.

Sandul's answer came from a completely different direction.

"The funniest was having to explain ads and digital marketing to one of the directors. He was in his eighties and only knew Facebook. That's when I finally understood the frustration my mum had trying to teach me simple maths. Sorry, Mum."

Sometimes digital marketing isn't about campaigns. It's about becoming an unexpected teacher.

What's one thing clients think takes five minutes but actually takes hours?

Almost every marketer has heard the dreaded sentence - "It's just a small change."

Well, the problem is that it is rarely a small change. 

"Sometimes this small change can be the change of the entire campaign," says Shehan.

One tiny tweak can affect messaging, targeting, visuals, approvals, scheduling, performance tracking... and suddenly everyone's back on a Google Meet trying to figure it out.

Sandul knows the design side of that story all too well.

"Adding elements to an already approved post sounds simple. But then we have to move text around, rebalance everything and make sure the layout still works. That obviously takes time."

It's a bit like pulling one thread from a jumper. You only meant to fix one thing. Turned into one big mess, naturally.

What's one thing clients do that actually makes your job much easier?

This was actually a surprising answer, because it doesn’t involve bigger budgets. Or bigger teams, from Shehan’s POV (I guess?)

Sandul says clear feedback changes everything.

"Giving comprehensive and precise changes."

No guessing or interpreting. Just a clear direction, because we don’t want to be solving feedback puzzles in the middle of a hectic work day. Nor can we mindread (We’d love to, though - will probably make work so much easier)

Shehan's dream?

"Quick approvals. I hate following up." Such a real answer - kudos to that. Sometimes the fastest campaign optimization is simply someone replying to an email.

What's the best piece of feedback you've ever received from a client?

The best compliments usually aren't about likes. Or impressions. Or follower growth. They are the little things that make you feel appreciated for what you pour your heart and soul into.

Shehan remembers one client telling him something much bigger than any metric-involved feedback.

"That I literally saved his job."

Then he adds:

"Also, one promised me lunch when I'm around... hey client, this might be a good time for that." 

Sandul's favourite feedback came after presenting creative concepts.

"The higher-ups loved the design ideas and the reel directions."

Creative work is subjective. Hearing that your ideas landed exactly where they needed to is always satisfying.

Shehan's Side of the Table: Life as a Social Media Manager

• The biggest misconception about social media management? 

According to Shehan, there are actually two.

"One is that digital marketing means social media. The second is that social media management is just posting content on Facebook and Instagram, and success is measured by likes and comments."

Reality is a little more complicated.

Strategy, customer journeys, paid advertising, audience research, analytics, testing, SEO, content planning, community management... social media is only one piece of digital marketing.

Likes and follows are just one metric among many.

• What's one thing you wish every client understood before approving a social media strategy?

One thing Shehan wishes every client understood before approving a strategy is that no strategy guarantees success.

"There's a famous saying: 'A strategy isn't a guarantee. It increases your chances of success.' Even the best strategy needs time, data, testing and optimisation before it starts delivering."

That's the part people often forget; that marketing isn't a light switch. It's more like steering a ship. You make adjustments as you learn what the water is doing.

• If you could sit every client down for a 5-minute reality check, what would you tell them?

If Shehan could sit every client down for five minutes, this is what he'd say.

"Everything you've said 'no' to... your competitors might already be doing."

He explains that agencies spend countless hours researching trends, testing ideas and developing campaigns. Sometimes those ideas get rejected simply because they feel unfamiliar.

But innovation usually looks risky before it looks obvious.

"Every time you say no to an idea, remember someone else might be willing to take the risk."

• What's the funniest misunderstanding you've had with a client?

Agency life also produces moments nobody could write. One of them still makes Shehan laugh when he remembers it. 

One client regularly called one of Shehan's female colleagues "Machan."

He had absolutely no idea she was a woman. If you know, you know (well, you’d know if you’re Sri Lankan!)

• What separates a good executive from a great one?

For Shehan, talent matters, but adaptability matters more.

"Don't be afraid to fail, and learn to adjust."

He believes mistakes create the best learning opportunities. And sometimes confidence means walking into a meeting without knowing every answer.

"You trust yourself to figure it out."

That mindset doesn't just build better marketers. It builds better problem-solvers.

Sandul's Side of the Table

When "story" means two completely different things, sometimes communication gets wonderfully confusing.

Sandul once explained to a client that content could be shared as a Story.

The client then asked him to explain how he writes one.

"Turns out he thought I meant an actual story with characters, a struggle, love interests... the whole nine yards."

• What's the funniest last-minute request you've received just before a post was due?t

Last-minute meetings can be unpredictable, and for Sandul, this one took a turn nobody expected.

"The client wanted to get his son on the call because he was apparently an expert at Meta Ads."

Naturally, Sandul was intrigued. How was his son an expert on Meta Ads?

"He re-sold Gucci bags that he imported to Sri Lanka."

Funnily enough, Sandul still hasn't found the Meta certification that covers luxury handbag imports. Maybe it was limited edition.

• Have you ever had a client suggestion that sounded strange but actually turned out to be a great idea?

Not every unusual request is a bad one. Sometimes, they tend to make a lot more sense than we give them credit for.

“One time a client wanted us to make a visual change to a text where they wanted to make it circular. Now it would’ve been a small request but making that change made the text look weird so that was extra work for the designer. That being said, the post actually looked way better.”

• If clients could spend one day doing your job, what do you think would surprise them the most?

What would surprise them most? His answer came instantly.

"The amount of time I spend on Pinterest."

Turns out inspiration doesn't just appear. Someone has to go looking for it. And for executives, this means long hours of research and looking for inspiration that naturally becomes part of the job. I guess this is why execs are chronically online.

• "You're a software engineer... right?"

People have some interesting ideas about what social media executives actually do. Sandul's favourite misunderstanding comes from home.

"My mum keeps telling people I'm a software engineer."

Close enough, hey?

• What's one thing you wish managers knew about being an executive?

Behind every content calendar is a long list of invisible work. Research. Planning. Creative briefs. Concept development. Revisions. So much invisible labour that happens behind the scenes.

Sandul puts it simply.

“Sometimes things really do take time. I’m sure none of the execs love to have a ton of work that just keeps piling up like a dirty laundry basket. But sometimes coming up with briefs, reel plans etc.. really does take a bit of time.”

• If you had complete creative freedom for one client, what kind of campaign would you love to create?

Every creative has a dream campaign. Sandul already knows his.

"I've always wanted to create a noir, gritty, black-and-white detective story campaign."

I think it’s safe to say that we’d all be very interested in seeing that campaign come to life.

Final Thoughts Across the Table: Author’s Notes

After listening to both Shehan and Sandul, one thing became very clear to me: social media isn't difficult because of the algorithms. It's difficult because it's about people.

People who change their minds halfway through a campaign. People who have brilliant ideas. People who reject brilliant ideas. And people who trust you with a business they've spent years building.

Yes, there were plenty of moments that made me laugh. The mysterious Meta Ads "expert." The client who thought Instagram Stories needed side characters and a love interest. The mythical Ads Manager button for recruiting only "beautiful ladies." Agency life clearly comes with its own comedy series.

But underneath every joke was something more interesting.

Shehan spoke a lot about responsibility. About strategy taking time. About having the confidence to make difficult decisions and the patience to let good ideas grow. Sandul, on the other hand, reminded me how much of this job is invisible. The hours spent researching, scrolling through Pinterest, rewriting briefs, refining ideas and making changes that no one outside the creative team will ever notice.

What struck me most was that neither of them talked much about followers or likes. They talked about trust. About adapting. About keeping promises. About doing justice to someone else's brand.

Maybe that's the biggest misconception of all.

Good social media isn't just about making content that people stop scrolling for. It's about understanding people well enough that they want to stay.

And perhaps that's what this conversation was really about - not the funny client stories, but the very human work that happens behind every post we see online.