I recently read a post by Hollis Thomases where she lists 11 reasons why you shouldn't allow a new grad to manage your social media accounts. Of course, as a 23-year-old I was immediately drawn to the title. My initial thoughts were, "Hey now! I'm 23 and I'm good at my job!" But, honestly, Hollis makes a lot of good points. These are the ones that really stood out to me:
"They may not have the same etiquette--or experience. Your recent college grad may have experience with Facebook and Instagram, but make sure you check out the substance of his or her updates and posts..."
Hollis is right. Knowing how to use social media doesn't mean someone really knows how to use social media. The social media norms that govern business/professional use is completely different from those that govern the personal use of social media. If you do decide to work with a 20-something you need to be sure that the person you hire has experience and has even made a few mistakes to learn from.
"No class can replace on-the-job training. Social media for business is really so many things wrapped into one: marketing, customer service, public relations, crisis management, branding. How deep is the experience of a young person in delivering any of these things?"
Again, true. In 2010, as an intern at the Center for American Progress, I went through a Twitter training with social media guru Allen Rosenblatt. He even told me, "I know you think you probably already know all this. But you don't." However, this class/training is certainly not what made me the qualified professional I am today. 2 years of learning and doing, and even messing up is what got me here. I am literally contstantly learning. Reading new posts. Analyzing new infographics. Bookmarking new sites.
"They may not understand your business. You are handing the keys to your social-media kingdom to a newcomer, but there's plenty that he or she needs to understand beyond the social tools themselves. What are the nuances of your products or services?..."
Social media is only an extension of what you already do with branding. In order for a person to successfully manage your social media accounts they need to understand your business, your brand. If you wouldn't trust a new grad to manage your marketing department as a whole, or even effectively contribute to new campaigns and brand management, I'd say you probably don't want them at the helm of your social media
"Communication skills are critical. Communication is critical to solid social-media execution. Before you let a young hire take over your company blog posts, take stock of his or her writing skills. Also: Many young people have not yet learned the "art" of communicating..."
Now this one is very true. I didn't realize how good my communication/writing skills were until I realized how bad everyone else's was. I received resumes for the communications/social media position that was available at my nonprofit and I was, well let's say, underwhelmed at the skill level most young people had. The bad part isn't that they had bad communication and writing skills, it's that they thought they had really good comunication and writing skills.
From my experience, most 20-somethings don't have the skills to effectively manage social media accounts the way they should be done. I have to say that Hollis's post is right. You shouldn't let a 23-year-old run your social media. Unless, of course, that 23-year-old is me. :)
If you have some extra time, I definitely suggest taking a look at the full post here.
"They may not have the same etiquette--or experience. Your recent college grad may have experience with Facebook and Instagram, but make sure you check out the substance of his or her updates and posts..."
Hollis is right. Knowing how to use social media doesn't mean someone really knows how to use social media. The social media norms that govern business/professional use is completely different from those that govern the personal use of social media. If you do decide to work with a 20-something you need to be sure that the person you hire has experience and has even made a few mistakes to learn from.
"No class can replace on-the-job training. Social media for business is really so many things wrapped into one: marketing, customer service, public relations, crisis management, branding. How deep is the experience of a young person in delivering any of these things?"
Again, true. In 2010, as an intern at the Center for American Progress, I went through a Twitter training with social media guru Allen Rosenblatt. He even told me, "I know you think you probably already know all this. But you don't." However, this class/training is certainly not what made me the qualified professional I am today. 2 years of learning and doing, and even messing up is what got me here. I am literally contstantly learning. Reading new posts. Analyzing new infographics. Bookmarking new sites.
"They may not understand your business. You are handing the keys to your social-media kingdom to a newcomer, but there's plenty that he or she needs to understand beyond the social tools themselves. What are the nuances of your products or services?..."
Social media is only an extension of what you already do with branding. In order for a person to successfully manage your social media accounts they need to understand your business, your brand. If you wouldn't trust a new grad to manage your marketing department as a whole, or even effectively contribute to new campaigns and brand management, I'd say you probably don't want them at the helm of your social media
"Communication skills are critical. Communication is critical to solid social-media execution. Before you let a young hire take over your company blog posts, take stock of his or her writing skills. Also: Many young people have not yet learned the "art" of communicating..."
Now this one is very true. I didn't realize how good my communication/writing skills were until I realized how bad everyone else's was. I received resumes for the communications/social media position that was available at my nonprofit and I was, well let's say, underwhelmed at the skill level most young people had. The bad part isn't that they had bad communication and writing skills, it's that they thought they had really good comunication and writing skills.
From my experience, most 20-somethings don't have the skills to effectively manage social media accounts the way they should be done. I have to say that Hollis's post is right. You shouldn't let a 23-year-old run your social media. Unless, of course, that 23-year-old is me. :)
If you have some extra time, I definitely suggest taking a look at the full post here.
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