In the last few weeks we’ve noticed many brands having interns manage, investigate and pursue their social media presence. This might be because interns are usually young people who “get” the space or the organisation state of mind where “this new thing” is something that sits outside of the normal/traditional media/marketing dept. Although it’s good to start somewhere I don’t believe leaving social media to the interns is the best use of resources for the following reasons:
1. Yes, Interns know how to use facebook but do they know how brands should act on facebook? do they have the experience needed to comply with legal requirements, customer service or negative buzz? Knowing how to do something doesn’t mean you’re good at it and brands should realise it’s not a tech thing, it’s a marketing thing.
2. Interns usually leave quickly. They’ve done their part and left you with an excel spreadsheet with some sketchy strategy. There is no implementation, no buy-in from management and in most cases no one to pick up the project where the intern left it.
3. Interns cant see the big picture. They will usually be working on the “social media stuff” focusing on one platform (probably facebook) without considering other aspects of the business. Social media should be part of your communication strategy and if your intern isn’t part of that team in your business your social media strategy will be lacking.
What are your thoughts? Is an intern better than nothing? thanks to Drew for getting me to write this post.
Frank–agree with all your points. i think the biggest issue is really point #2 since when interns leave so does the knowledge gained. Its hard to build a meaningful social media program if you are starting from scratch every three months.
Cheers,
Drew
by Drew Neisser on January 21st, 2010 at 2:13 am
Great as arms and legs but no way should juniors or even worse interns be left to drive the strategy. Mudt be a senior person from marketing or customer service driving the program through the whole business
by mudge on January 21st, 2010 at 11:46 am
Thanks for the comment Drew. Mudge, interesting you mention marketing and customer service as drivers for social media strategy. Yep, Social media is possibly more a customer service role than marketing. I feel a post coming:)
by Tamir on January 22nd, 2010 at 10:51 am
I’ll probably get snapped at for this, but there is a kind of arrogance with some tech savvy Gen Y’ers who feel that because they interact the social media sites 24/7 this translates as expertise in marketing and promoting via these sites. Absolutely not the case! Completely agree with Drew, being able to post and being able to post constructively are two very different things.
by shoesy on January 28th, 2010 at 4:01 pm
As both an intern and someone fairly passionate about social media… I’d agree.
But it’s not neccessarily the fact they’re an intern. Anyone you bring in temporarily, not knowing what they’re doing and working without a strategy isn’t going to have an amazing outcome.
by Zac Martin on February 2nd, 2010 at 9:24 am