Facebook, Your Business and the Teenager Next Door.

Lately my company has been asked to write a lot of proposals for social media management. I’m not talking about doing some occasional tweeting for people. I’m talking about setting them up from ground zero. I am also talking Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and sometimes setting up blogs.   After everything is setup we start the management portion which involves researching for content and using the voice that the company wants to put out to the public. It also involves training company personal with the thought that they might someday take over the management.

This is obviously an oversimplified statement of what we do, but I’m hearing a very interesting (read: disturbing) statement  being made that reminds me of a time 10 years ago, when we where doing mostly website proposals. So let me ask you web developers how many times you heard the statement “I don’t need to pay for a website, I have a 14 son/nephew/neighbor (by the way, it was always a boy) that can build it for my company.”  What kind of ridiculous thought is this for a business owner. Your are going to hire a teenager to design and build one of your most powerful marketing and promotion pieces?

Most people wouldn’t consider doing that now that websites have proven to be such a powerful tool. But guess what I am hearing about social media?????

So what you are saying is that you want a teenager to be the voice of your company to your clients or potential clients? Of course a teenager can set up a Facebook page and might even be able to skin your Twitter & blog (skin means to customize the look and feel to match your company rather than using a template) but will they do it in a professional way that will show your company in a serious light?

I understand that social media is a new and strange creature to a lot of business owners, but think of it as you did websites 10 years ago? There are more uses for it than what is immediately visible and you can learn to manage it just as you have learned to manage your email.

Social media is a powerful business tool and if you hire then right people to get you rolling you will see an investment on your return. However, if you hire the teenager next door you are going to find yourself a step behind your competitors and in a couple of years you’ll find yourself looking to hire someone to “fix” your social media plan, just as you hired someone to “fix” your old website.