What to Consider Before You Hire that Teen to Manage Your Social Media
I came across this article from Cool People Care encouraging non-profits to hire teenagers to manage their social media marketing efforts instead of asking the older employees to learn how.
While I see the benefit of hiring someone familiar with social media to lead social media initiatives it takes time to build an online community that will translate into offline support. In other words, just because I know how to use social media for ME does not mean I will know how to use social media for YOU or know how to build an US.
So before you rush out to the nearest high school and grab a 15 year old with snazziest Myspace page, you should consider the following:
1. What kind of social media tools do you need and why? The wonderful thing about social media is that it allows you to connect with people where they are. Yet the ease of creating social networks means that not every website will yield the kind of support you need. If you are promoting after school programs for teens Myspace may be a great place to start where as NING is great for active online communities that communicate regularly. Who is your target audience and what message are you trying to send?
2. Are they familiar with the mission and will everyone be on board? We have to make sure that teens are part of the team not just there to do work that we feel other people are “too old and out of touch” to do. So take time to familiarize them with the mission and what the needs of the organization are they are better prepared to keep their eyes open to new tools that they may otherwise not be thinking about. And share the new ideas with all staff members—social media is about inclusion so its outcome shouldn’t be a new kind of exclusion.
3. What goals are you trying to accomplish? More volunteers? More advocates on your behalf? How will you measure progress? What I have noticed about many fan pages and groups is that people join them because their friends may be members or they may agree with the cause, yet the organization still doesn’t get much attention because of the sheer number of groups and fan pages that exist in the first place. So map out goals and be strategic.
I am on board with getting young people involved in new ideas within organizations. Let’s just make sure it’s meaningful.
For my IT strategies class, the professor asked us to write a business case for why a government should implement a technology. Of course, I’m trying to pimp some aspect of social media. And this blog post is going to be so helpful. Often businesses (not so much govts) rush out to do the next big thing, but no one ever thinks about how it all fits together.
And that’s where people like us fit it. We know how to work social media, and we are also mature enough to be about business.
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@Monica: With the exception of the Obama campaign Ive seen little usage of social media by govt agencies or officials. We have to show people which kinds of social media tools can help us reach certain goals and HOW. We need to present evidence of existing successes and what would happen if orgs didnt use social media.
Since you are focusing on govt Christa at Cops 2.0 (cops2point0.wordpress.com ) may be an interesting read. She is trying to get law enforcement agencies and people in on the social media action not just in terms of policing the police but in terms of transparency and better community policing. I totally support her idea and encourage you to contact her as well.
Dont forget to give me a shout out in your paper! hehehe….
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Great post. Glad our thoughts got you thinking.
I agree that a random teenager can’t be a blanket replacement for anyone else using social media. However, I do think that Gen Y’s ability to work with and learn social media trumps that of older generations.
Yes – nonprofits must make sure everything fits within their mission and goals. And the ones who are best able to harness the passion of young people and the potential of social media will be the organizations that thrive well into the future.
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Very true: “In other words, just because I know how to use social media for ME does not mean I will know how to use social media for YOU or know how to build an US.”
Not to mention, the mistakes teenagers make. I’m only 25 and I’m still learning about how to handle having a job. My first real job I was almost fired because I cursed at someone. Growing up has a learning curve.
However, the internet is frequently sink or swim. That rude comment, that the hired teen threw out, will be around the internet forever.
Companies really need to think: are these teenagers capable of representing our brand in the matter we want? I would answer, probably not.
I’ve talked to teens (and people my age) and many people just don’t get that what you put on your Facebook profile, etc. can make or break your reputation in the “real world.” If Google can find the stupid things you’ve done then so can the world.
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@Sam: I agree with you on using people who are familiar with technology to lead technology. However I am hesitant to dismiss the contributions of older employees as they may be more familiar with the importance of reputation and community building. The same social media that is heralded for flattening and connecting the world is also known for promoting egotistical and hateful behavior.
@Yael: It’s not that I don think teens are capable but I do think that kind of responsibility needs to be taken seriously by the org and the teen. The ubiquitous nature of social media leads people to treat it as casual and unimportant when it’s the opposite: your internet presence is critically important and should be treated as such.
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The use of interns is a critical subject, especially for smaller businesses and nonprofits who are almost always understaffed but desiring to take advantage of social media to “level the playing field.” I like your suggestions, Allison, and (with your permission!) would like to incorporate them in my Ning network designed for social media interns and their employers (currently in beta testing at http://sminterns.ning.com/.) Having two teens at home, I also agree that most of them aren’t ready to actually be “the voice” of an organization online. But there are SO many other things they can do to help. And they do bring an energy, enthusiasm, and fresh perspective… so anything we can do to help organize, systematize, and give them on-the-job-training will be huge. I believe they will be with us in social media for a looooong time! And it does give employers a way to “real-world test” an intern as a possible future hire.
Thanks for your thoughtful treatment of this topic, and please feel free to visit the related networks I’m building, both the NING platform itself and the website built to promote it at http://www.smintern.squarespace.com. Both are still being developed in terms of content, but are pretty far along in terms of functionality.
Lisa Cole
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ajlovesya Reply:
August 22nd, 2010 at 12:07 am
Thanks for sharing, Lisa and it sounds like you are building a wonderful resource! I would love to be included and thanks for thinking of me.
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ajlovesya Reply:
August 22nd, 2010 at 12:10 am
You might also be interested in this other post I wrote, Rethinking Social Media Internships http://www.allisonj.org/2010/06/21/rethinking-social-media-internships/
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