Today, we read an article about how OtterBox’s CEO doesn’t use social media. He is not anti-social media, mind you. He just understands that: “Social media is serious business, and as with many other aspects of the company, I’ve decided to leave it to the experts.” He doesn’t personally indulge in social media posts, but he recognizes that his company must be involved, so he allows those who understand it to handle that department.
So, who should handle your social media? Recently, there has been an online firestorm over who is most capable of handling your company’s social media department.
On July 20, 2012, Cathryn Sloane wrote an article entitled, “Why Every Social Media Manager Should Be Under 25.” Her reason? “The key is that we learned to use social media socially before professionally, rather than vice versa or simultaneously. After all, it is called social media; the seemingly obvious importance of incorporating comforting social aspects into professional usage seems to go over several companies’ heads.”
She goes on to complain that “every time I see a job posting for a Social Media Manager/Associate/etc. and find the employer is looking for five to ten years of direct experience, I wonder why they don’t realize the candidates who are in fact best suited for the position actually aren’t old enough to have that much experience.”
On July 24, 2012, Alex Knapp responded with his article, “Can Only Millennials Manage Your Social Media?” Alex explains why you don’t need to be under the age of 25 to understand the benefits of social media:
“I may be an Internet senior citizen by being the Social Media Editor here at FORBES at the decrepit age of 33, but I think that by growing up
with Facebook and Twitter, Ms. Sloane is actually limiting her view of
what social media can be. I first went online before I was a teenager,
and I have lived through a slew of services. I frequented Prodigy,
Compuserve, UseNet, local BBS’s, discussion forums, IRC, etc. I built
web pages before the turn of the millennium and I’ve been blogging since
2001. From my perspective, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. are all
built on the foundation of prior services. The Internet, fundamentally,
has always been about social communication. That’s what it was built
for.”
On August 10, 2012, Hollis Thomases threw her hat into the ring with an article entitled, “11 Reasons a 23-Year-Old Shouldn’t Run Your Social Media.”
In it, she does, in fact, list the 11 reasons she believes you should not leave your company’s social media responsibilities in the hands of the young and hip: “Just because you don’t understand social media doesn’t mean you should forfeit all common sense and hire your niece, nephew, or any other recent college grad (say, your best friend’s sister-in-law’s kid) because ‘they’re really good on Facebook.'”
On August 15, 2012, Lauren Rothering posted her response, “Why Millennials Should Handle Your Social Media.” She lists five reasons why the younger generation may be more adept at handling social media. She states that despite what Hollis Thomases believes, millennials are creative, trustworthy and mature enough for the job.
We could go on for days with all of the responses on this subject. The bottom line is that you understand social media is important for your company. Perhaps your company isn’t large enough to have an actual department to handle social media for you. Social Sonar can be your social media department. Let us know know how we can help you with your social media needs.
