Someone, who obviously is not thinking clearly, suggested that social media managers need to be under 25 in order to really understand social media marketing. I have always believed that age should not be a factor in hiring someone to do a job it should be determined by who the hell can do the best job. However, I did write an article that said “interns make coffee and should not be the voice of your brand on social media” which brought a lot of comments. The fact is that social media marketing is too damn important to leave to anyone who is inexperienced in marketing and branding.
Social media is NOT a tactic, it’s not just developing a Facebook page, it’s a way of thinking about consumers, customer and most of all marketing. Ms. Evans starts out with the basics of social media and then takes the reader on a journey to understand what social media is all about. She talks about giving up control and transparency and then continues to discuss how social media is integrated into the whole marketing plan.
In the chapter on “Interns make coffee not social media strategy” Ms Evans the author of a book on social media marketing says:
- Interns don’t really know your brand
- Interns don’t know your ethics of brand philosophies
- They have no real vested interest in your brand
- They might know Facebook, but do they really understand and know marketing?
- Can they relate to your target market?
- This is a great list of why companies should not be using interns to develop and execute social media strategy and she then quantifies this list with “would you let an intern plan a major PR event ?”
For a more in depth response see the post here on A Response to: Why Every Social Media Manager Should Be Under 25 they list more reasons why you should not hire someone by age or restrict any job to age but rather by experience.
I realize that people sometimes write BLOG headlines to generate traffic, but Cathryn Sloane’s post is nothing short of stupidity and is an indication that some people don’t understand that social media is supposed to drive business objectives not just get touchy feely with visitors. I don’t know who would hire Ms Evans but I can assure you that I would never hire her and would not consider just based on her stupidity alone.
Social media managers should have knowledge about all the tools used to promote businesses or products effectively. I think age should not come as an important factor. What is essential for a social media marketing manager is his expertise, knowledge, passion for his work and innovative ideas.