How to build a killer social team (without breaking the bank)

ello friends! hope you have had an awesome week. i know it’s a crazy time before the holidays so sending some grace and peace to everyone. i’ve been down bad with an on and off stomach bug, working, and watching a mix of crappy TV. If anyone has thoughts on the recent season of the Ultimatum, my DMs are open.

this week’s newsletter is inspired by calls i’ve had the last few weeks with brands needing social support and that is: what does the “ideal” marketing + social team buildout look like?

after being a one person show on some accounts for a short sprint to being on a team like Graza’s where there is now multiple roles to hiring different contractors to fulfill responsibilities, I thought I would breakdown what I think is an ideal social team structure as we head into the new year.

note: this is what I have seen work best in some scenarios and fully recognize some people

We’ll have a little yap about understanding your teams actual needs, what needs to be taken care of and what can wait,

let’s get into it, shall we?

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Building a high-performing social media team for your brand in 2025 doesn’t require an endless budget—it requires a smart approach to resources, tools, and talent.

Here’s how to structure a lean yet impactful team:

1. The Swiss Army Knife Specialist (Full-Time or Freelance)

This is your core team member. Many folks request that this person is in charge of strategy, social media management, influencer management, and creating the content. I truly believe if you have one person to do it all nothing will get done over time as priorties shift. I think having one core person who thinks holistically and hiring around them with specialists can be a solution as those folks turn full time or part-time.

This person:

• Manages your content calendar across platforms. They would be the one saying what they want to post, why, writing the copy, and briefing the support they have such as a graphic designer or content creator who can help the vision come to life.

• Engages with your audience. They respond to comments, insert your brand into conversations that make sense and get OFF your account for visibility, answer DMs, etc. Over time, this role can definitely (and should) split out into a community manager role full-time or part-time. I think if you’re launching it’s important to see whats coming in, what people are asking about and how you can use that data to better inform strtaegy and content early on. As volume of messages scale then it becomes a better indication of bringing on support.

• Collaborate with other teams (sales, product) to align social content with larger business goals.

If you’re trying to hire, I wrote this post last week about questions to ask during an interview.

2. The Data Whisperer/Social Media Strategist (Freelance or Contract)

Data is your superpower in 2025, and this person turns numbers into actionable insights. Plus, if you aren’t using your data to inform your monthly, quarterly or even down to small weekly changes across your content, well that’s a great place to start.

This person helps:

• Analyze key KPIs that your brand focuses on across social channels and handles social reporting

• Help determine what’s working and what isn’t—ensuring your budget is spent on strategies that deliver results

• Helps your full-time hire think through monthly strategy as needed whether around big moments like product launches, brand announcements, or just simple day-to-day advice

• With insights around influencer marketing in terms of helping strategize what people could be good fits for the campaign you’re trying to execute on and why

3. Influencer/Creator Strategist (Freelance or Contract)

In 2025, creators are the backbone of effective CPG marketing, and this strategist is your key to unlocking their potential. They can ideally:

• Research and build relationships with influencers and creators who align with your brand whether for influencer seeding (sending product/gifting), paid partnerships, and more

• Manage product seeding programs to get your products into creators' hands end to end from outreach to follow-up once arrived

• Help strategize key moments that your brand should activate influencers (ex. a special seeding campaign for a product launch or paying creators to help promote your new retailer)

• Negotiate affordable partnerships, affiliate commissions, or usage rights for UGC

• If this person is able to also help manage your affiliate program since they are the ones getting people into the program, that’s a plus.

For example, this is now majority of my “role” (i’ve always been a freelancer for those of you who didn’t know) with Graza mainly focusing on higher-level paid partnerships, helping the paid team with user generated ads, getting usage on content for the organic social team, managing agencies that we use for influencers + content (ex. the Hummingbirds of the world), and handling tools like Superfiliate for ambassador + affiliate management.

4. Creative Producer or Content Creator (Contract or Freelance or Full-Time, depends!)

For context, the biggest unlock ever, especially for Graza, was hiring a contracted (now full-time) Content Producer who helped execute on the strategy for social by helping record tiktoks, do photoshoots, and more. It allowed strategies to be built further out, allowed content to be in earlier, and allowed to us to be flexible in how quick we responded to things online whether a trend or a moment that made sense for the brand.

I think having your swiss army knife be the briefer of content to these folks who love creating makes the most sense. I will stand by that. Sure, that doesn’t mean that your full-time hire isn’t doing any of the content as they might help this person to bring their ideas to life, but knowing that your social is getting the focus it deserves and that things are being created every single day brings a different peace of mind.

5. Graphic Designer

This is pretty self-explanatory. Social media and teams require design. Don’t make people who are not designer by trade design. Plus, this person can help you on other projects depending on their skillset like packaging, email and more.

6. AI as a Team Member

Never thought I would write that tbh. AI tools can fill in the gaps and help you do more with less. Use them for:

• Content generation: Tools like ChatGPT can assist with captions and concepts, breaking down bigger concepts into easy bite-sized pieces, etc.

• Video editing: Tools like Descript make editing accessible and affordable

• Research: Use AI to track trends, compile audience insights, or identify emerging influencers.

Remember: AI won’t replace human creativity, but it can handle repetitive tasks, freeing up your team for strategy and execution.

AHEAD OF THE TRENDS

A quick, snappy ode to the fun things I’m seeing online across creators, social, and brands. Sometimes, it’s a trend. Sometimes, it’s just a tip I want to share about marketing. TL;DR: just cool things I’m loving right now.

Post of the Week: Graza x The Olive Oil Girl. I have to be biased for a sec. If you’re familiar with this trend (i’ve watched too many horror stories) then you might have learned about the olive oil girl. After linking that post in slack, the creative team immediately acted to make her a custom label, film content, and bring the story back to life by hand delivering her some oil seen here. This is once again just another reason why being nimble and flexible is important in a strategy. Structure is great, but realizing when to jump on opportunity that is literally made for you and executing on it is equally important.

Product of the Week: Magna’s Apple Juice Electrolyte + Magnesium Powder. This has been saving me and my stomach all week long and it literally tastes like a healthy Apple Snapple. Apple flavors of things are truly always my favorite.

Brand Campaign of the Week: Puresport. I am a little late on sharing this one, but Puresport put a different spin on their Black Friday campaign and I am obsessed. They sent 500 creators an empty box and urged creators and influencers to fill the box with opportunities for others by adding in excess items they have been gifted by other brands that they might not use. Puresport teamed up with a charity to gift these boxes. We need more of this energy. It is reported that almost 50% of influencers sent them back.

That’s it for this week!

Have a topic you want to see covered or questions you just want answers to? Hit “Reply”. Nothing is off limits!

Want to read past editions for free? Click right here. 

That’s all from me this week.

As always, peace, love, and KPIs.

-KD

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