They're influential — and invisible. Inside the high-stakes world of celebrity social media managers

Yahoo

5 days ago

When The Kelly Clarkson Show won a Daytime Emmy in December 2023, Kelly Clarkson wanted the news on her personal Instagram fast.
'Hey Jake, do you mind getting this up for Kelly tonight?' someone from Clarkson's team texted her personal social media manager Jake Updegraff, along with the approved message.
Updegraff, who was in the middle of a Friday-night holiday gift exchange with friends, quickly jumped on it. He logged into Clarkson's account, because, yes, having a celebrity's password is just part of the job. The message itself was standard — a thank-you to the Daytime Emmys and a shout-out to her team.
But something about the post was unusual once it went live. It turns out Updegraff forgot to delete the internal note that preceded the approved copy. It began, 'Hey Jake, do you mind getting this up for Kelly tonight?'
Updegraff had put his phone on Do Not Disturb after he finished the assignment. He didn't realize the mistake until hours later, when a flood of missed calls and texts hit.
'My heart dropped,' he recalls.
The gaffe made headlines. 'BECAUSE OF JAKE: Kelly Clarkson baffles fans with Emmy Award message blunder as they beg for a 'Jake reveal' & say 'he deserves a raise,'' read one headline.
Clarkson, for her part, found it hilarious. In the comments section of her own post, she thanked Updegraff for 'simply killing it ... I have never laughed so hard!!'
"That just shows you the kind of person she is," Updegraff says. "She could have easily been like, 'You're fired.' That's what I thought was going to happen."
Moments like this reveal just how close — and high-stakes — the job of a celebrity social media manager can be.
If you've ever wondered whether your favorite celebrity is actually the one hitting "post" on their social media accounts — their selfies, their beauty routines, an oddly relatable meme — the answer is: Maybe.
Or maybe it's someone like Updegraff, one of the many digital ghostwriters and content strategists working behind the scenes. Their job? Curate every pixel of a celebrity's personal brand online — on their verified account, in their voice, as if they posted it themselves.
It's not a new role in Hollywood, but it's one that has evolved significantly. Today's celebrity social media manager is part brand strategist, part confidant, part crisis manager — and, most important, an invisible architect of influence.
It's a high-stakes, high-speed job that requires precision, patience and a sixth sense for timing. And while the work is mostly behind the curtain, the impact is often front-page.
I spoke to four social media managers — two on the record, two anonymously — who've run social media accounts for some of the biggest names in Hollywood. They revealed what celebrities are like on the other side of the apps, how the culture of posting has changed since the early Instagram era and why, as the people running the show, success often means leaving no trace.
While it may seem second nature now, there was a time when celebrities wanted nothing to do with Instagram. When the platform launched in 2010, few saw the value in sharing glimpses into their private lives, especially while they were still figuring out how to make the most of 140 characters on Twitter.
'When we first started publishing for celebrities, not only did they not really think about social media to any great extent, they were very cynical about it,' says Patrick Mulford, former chief creative officer and later CEO of theAudience, one of the first agencies to manage celebrity feeds. 'They already made a lot of money. This was kind of fractional compared to what they'd make on a movie.'
Founded in 2011 by Ari Emanuel, Sean Parker and Oliver Luckett, theAudience offered full-service 'ghostposting,' where the agency would craft content that is then published on a star's social media channel. It counted stars like Hugh Jackman, Emma Watson and Charlize Theron as clients.
'We managed a good 40 or 50 big stars,' Mulford says. 'Only about 10 were really engaged. The rest didn't even realize we were posting for them.'
When I ask who was disengaged, he politely declines to give names but says his company found ways to work around the challenge. For example, they would build posts from scratch — using image libraries or stock photos to create the illusion of activity when stars weren't available or willing to share personal content.
Mulford says stars' early hesitation with Instagram came down to privacy and image control. But over time, celebrities like Chrissy Teigen, Will Smith and the Kardashian-Jenners changed the game. He cites these stars as ones who leaned into the medium, embracing personality-driven posting and helping reset industry expectations.
Their successes — coupled with the rise of influencer culture — rewrote the rules. Suddenly a strong online presence wasn't just helpful; it was vital. Social media became a brand engine, and behind every glossy post, there needed to be someone pulling the strings.
Enter the celebrity social media manager. What started as a nice-to-have role quickly became essential. As celebrities embraced social media as a tool to shape their personal brands, the expectations grew — not just from their teams but also from their followers. Stars were expected to be 'authentic' and always on. Fans didn't just want promotional posts; they wanted birthday shout-outs, behind-the-scenes glimpses and unfiltered moments — all while maintaining a level of polish and control that only a professional could provide.
The real challenge became finding someone who could manage the pace, protect the brand and disappear into the background.
Today Instagram feels like the one platform stars have to be active on. It's the digital front door to both a celebrity's brand and personal life, where a single post can launch a product, spark a headline or shift a narrative.
For one social media manager who worked closely with two A-list stars, a key part of her job wasn't the content strategy or the caption copy — it was knowing how to disappear. She asked to remain anonymous due to NDAs she signed with both celebrities, so we'll call her Sarah.
'The most important quality of being a celebrity social media manager is the art of being invisible,' she told me. Her job required her to be with one actress almost 24/7. 'When I'm in the glam room, when I'm in the hotel room getting my content, she doesn't even feel my presence — but I'm always at the ready. I'm getting what I need, but I'm never in the way.'
Sarah started as a personal assistant to a television personality, eventually running that star's personal and business social accounts before moving on to an A-list actress.
"There's a lot of perks to the role," she tells me. " When I traveled, I got to stay where they stayed. They're staying at the f***ing nicest hotels, I get to stay at the nicest hotels. We're flying first or business class. The best part, bar none, is the exposure to their worlds — not from a gossip level but just being able to attend events and go to the premieres and get all the perks.'
But with those perks came pressure and unpredictability. "The hardest part is the emotional roller coaster that comes with [the job]," she says. "Every day is a different emotion and a different hurdle, but you also learn to be super empathetic to what they deal with. There's somebody needing something from them 24/7. They're never alone. And I think you forget that they're people too.'
That emotional proximity gave her a front-row seat to something else: just how involved celebrities actually are in crafting their online images. Far from being hands-off, many stars are invested in what they post and how they're perceived. They care about the tone of the caption, the order of the photo carousel and the filter used on pictures. For them, every post is a piece of the puzzle: a carefully calibrated extension of their public persona. And they expect the people running their accounts to not just understand the vision but to execute it flawlessly.
Quickly learning that the job required emotional intelligence as much as creative instincts helped Sarah be successful. For the A-list star, she knew all personal socials were "the front door into all her business verticals."
"I was with her every single day, traveling the world with her, in her home," she says.
But with proximity came pressure. The closer you are to a celebrity, the more disciplined you have to be.
'Where people in this job really struggle is they make their presence too known,' she said. 'They try to insert themselves into their lives too much. The people who are successful in a celebrity's life want nothing in return. I don't need to be in the video. I don't care if my socials grow. I just want to do a good job and make sure she's comfortable and happy.'
I spoke to another woman, I'll call her Kate, who also asked to remain anonymous as she's still running all personal and business social accounts for a major multi-hyphenate celebrity.
Like Sarah, she assumed the star she worked for might be more hands-off. After all, said star should be busy running an empire. 'I come from a news background, and I was like, she's one human being — how much work could there possibly be?' Kate says. 'But with her in particular, she's omnipresent. She's constantly doing stuff.'
Kate manages a small team who assist her with drafting copy, pulling selects from photo shoots, scrubbing through shared albums for raw content, and posting across platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and X. She's in direct contact with the celebrity daily, reviewing captions, approving content and texting about trends.
While Kate's client is unusually open — 'shockingly so for a celebrity at her level' — she's also extremely hands-on. 'She'll say, 'Swap photos seven and nine.' She has 800 other things to do, but she still wants to see everything before it goes up.'
Waiting for approvals across time zones can stall content for hours — and the back-and-forth is round-the-clock. 'She's stunning, obviously,' Kate says. 'But there's a f*** ton of editing that goes into even her [photos].'
Still, the star's involvement is part of what makes her feel real to fans — even when it's not technically her posting. 'Sometimes I'll DM someone and say, 'Hey, this is Kate from [celebrity]'s team. She saw your comment and wanted to send you something.' Meanwhile, she didn't. But it makes their day. And my boss loves that — she wants to uphold that reputation because she really is very fan-first,' she explains.
That kind of quiet, careful work might be the norm for this job — but it's not the only way to manage a celebrity account.
Although some social media managers live in a world of day-to-day maintenance and approval loops, there's a more strategic side too — building campaigns that go viral and making headlines. For Updegraff, who also works with clients like Pentatonix and Alicia Silverstone, his work is about creating the moments fans (and press) can't stop talking about.
Updegraff helped launch Alicia Silverstone's TikTok account in 2021 — and turned her debut into a full-blown cultural event. It was Updegraff who had the idea to re-create the "As if" scene from Clueless for her first-ever post, complete with a cameo from her son Bear.
'She gained like two million followers in 24 hours,' he says. 'It was insane.'
The idea came together quickly, but strategically. Silverstone was collaborative, even asking if he thought the 'As if!' moment was the film's most iconic scene. 'I knew we could make a splash,' Updegraff says. 'We posted it on a Friday. And it was everywhere.'
Silverstone's willingness to lean into nostalgia and share glimpses of her personal life — like including her son — has made her and Updegraff a successful team.
Another win: the 'That's Not My Name' trend, which he and Silverstone also kicked off together. 'That one was pretty big,' he recalls.
Updegraff says his job is part creative director, part executive assistant. He pitches ideas, films content, edits videos, builds UGC campaigns and posts each one across a dozen different platforms. 'People don't realize how much time it takes just to post,' he says. 'It's the same piece of content, but you have to format it 20 different ways.'
Not every celebrity wants to get personal, and that's fine with him. 'If you're not comfortable [with an idea], I have 12,000 more,' he says. 'But I'll gently push you if I think something's worth the risk.'
He's always encouraging stars to be more vulnerable but never in a way that feels forced. 'Authenticity wins,' he says. 'You just have to know what's real for each person.'
While all the social media managers I spoke to came from different backgrounds and approached their roles differently, they all believe one thing: The job is misunderstood.
'People think it's just posting,' Updegraff says. 'But it's emotional labor. It's creative strategy.'
To be successful, all four say it isn't just the skill or the access that makes it possible — it's the trust that allows them to operate in the background without disrupting the spotlight.
In a culture where everyone is watching — fans, brands, press, Reddit threads — the most important thing might be making it all look effortless.