Status Update: Millennial Staffers Can Update Your Social Media Plans

A few problems I have with your thinking, Ben.

1) If you don’t want young professionals to be speaking with clients or producing message, why did you hire them? Shouldn’t you have confidence in your entire staff? Also, what does this say to your clients? The key to agencies and companies finding success is having a wide array of talent. Why would your staff to be cut from the same mold?

2) It’s not the job of younger professionals to build up your profile. That is your job. You don’t want these folks to speak with clients, but you’re fine with them building up your profile? Doesn’t make sense.

3) Just because someone is young, that doesn’t mean they know social media. Just because they grew up with Facebook and the likes, that doesn’t mean they know strategy. There’s more to social media than simply creating and updating.

4) Social media is NOT a space that is good for “testing things out”. Social media needs to be treated like any other tool. It needs a strategy and a purpose. You don’t throw everything against the wall and hope something sticks.

I’m very concerned with your thinking and rationale behind hiring a young professional. There are a lot of talent young folks in social media AND traditional PR. Don’t base your assumptions on age, base it on talent.

Contrary to the comments above, I actually tend to agree more with Ben’s point of view. While I don’t think that young staffers should take sole ownership over executives’ social networking profiles, it’s completely valid to say that they’re equipped to help get them started (busy, traditional-minded execs could use a little social media hand-holding).

Big takeaways from Ben’s article above:

1. Young employees have a valuable point of view when it comes to using social networks. It’s worth listening and taking these thoughts into consideration.

2. Assign proficient members of your organization to monitor your company’s online presence.

We’re experiencing a tremendous shift within the communications landscape today. Somewhere between the old rules of PR and marketing and the new practices in the social media world will emerge a hybrid. My prediction is that will come when digital natives mature as professionals in the workplace and mature in such a way where they’re empowered to utilize their social prowess in a way that generates measurable business results.

@mary — Millennials make up individuals born between 1980 and 2000. There are a significant number of us who have been out of college for several years now so I don’t think Ben was really referencing teenagers, but rather twentysomethings in the workplace.

Also, keep in mind that given the recession, there are lots of recent graduates who are occupying intern-level roles.

@ben — “It’s not the job of younger professionals to build up your profile. That is your job. You don’t want these folks to speak with clients, but you’re fine with them building up your profile? Doesn’t make sense.”

Point taken, but it’s not an executive’s job to spend hours a day on social networking sites either. There’s a balance that can be achieved and that really involves a team effort.

Hi Ben,

I’d like to comment on one point you made in regards to young team members building up the profiles and networks of senior staffers.

I own a small agency and I can’t imagine tasking my staff with building up my profiles. I thoroughly enjoy learning about social media, and sharing thoughts with others. As our senior strategist, I’m the best qualified to share my own personal thoughts on our industry, which I believe is what my followers are looking to me for. It would be a disservice to my community if someone else was manning my Twitter stream or updating my Facebook status. I also engage in social media because it’s imperative that I understand the nuts and bolts.

I’d rather encourage my junior staffers to build up their own profiles, and to nurture their own identities. They are an incredibly savvy staff, and our entire company looks much better when we can all engage intelligently in the conversation. Our clients appreciate our collective involvement as well.

Rachel Kay

Hi Ben,

I’m a little confused here and I’m concerned about your point-of-view on social media as well as young professionals. I really hope that you are singing a different song for your conference.

1) Social media is not about “testing things out.” It’s about integration and just like anything else requires a tactic and a goal. It’s not a trend or a test-dummy. It’s not like going to the ice cream shop and seeing which flavour you like the most. It’s a tool with various facets to it. Just like anything else.

2) Also, I believe you are contradicting yourself here:

“Senior professionals who (ahem) remember mimeographs and Betamax are probably less savvy in the social media space. Tapping on these new professionals may seem like a gamble. You don’t want them speaking to clients, let alone producing messaging.”

I’m a little confused. If I’m understanding right, young staffers are internet savvy but they don’t know enough about the PR the industry? Hence, you cannot trust them to produce print message, but rather only online ones?

You’re making it sound as if all young professionals are good for is getting their bosses their latte drinks and updating a Facebook page.

3) On that same note — just because someone grew up in the age of technology doesn’t mean they know anything about social media and vice versa. Someone who isn’t a young professional but a person on the front lines of “PR 2.0″ is Brian Solis. His blog is even called PR 2.0. He throws your arguement completely out of the window. And the thing is, he is not an exception to the rule. He is the rule because I agree with Kasey, don’t base hiring someone on their age — base it on how talented they are.

I don’t understand why Gen-Y workers and senior members of staff cannot work together. You’re making it sound as if there is a battle brewing in the office and Gen-Y is the cause of it.