Jul 26

7/26/2012 2:40 PM 

They were back room propeller heads that became boardroom corporate heads almost overnight. It was the Dot Com era of 1990s and pegged as a new dawn of business for a new generation.

The older generation didn’t understand the technology and the “new world” would be lead by the young, or so they thought. Remember that bubble bursting as the Dot Com era imploded? Plenty of entrepreneurs and investors certainly do.

What the new guys on the block failed to grasp was that while the game board was changing, the rules were still the same. 

I once called on a Fortune 100 company with a Web site proposal. My contact informed me that his boss had decided he was going to let his nephew build the corporate Web site. He had, after all, just graduated from a leading university with a degree in computer science. He explained they were going to “give him a shot” to see how successful it might be before investing money it.

How, I asked him, if they were giving the reigns to an amateur, were they going to know if it had been a success? He laughed and admitted he really didn’t know. When I asked him if they would let a college graduate with a marketing degree run their global marketing he just said, “no.” 

All these years later and I’m still not convinced the lesson has been learned.

I read a blog this morning suggesting all Social Media managers should be under 25-years of age because they’re the ones who grew up with the Internet and understand it best. I read about it in a great blog, Six Pixels of Separation and you can read the original article by a young woman by the name of Cathryn Sloane who wrote it in her blog.

For now let’s just call it a bold statement by an aspiring writer with, well, we’ll say intestinal fortitude. As somebody who has made his living as a writer for the last 30 years, I’d love to sit next to her ten years from now and watch her laugh at what she wrote. Any time I need a little humility I go re-read the way I saw the world in my 20s.

I’m not against her ideas, per se and love that she’s bold enough to throw it out there.  Good on her. While I agree with Mitch Joel at SPOS and his analogy that using electricity doesn’t make you an electrician, my concerns go deeper.

I’m concerned that business owners, already looking for a reason to do Social Media on the cheap, might use her words as an excuse to do just that.

The result? Unsuccessful campaigns that aren’t quantifiable or accountable and leave the business owner an open gate for a hearty “there, I told you it wouldn’t work.”

The game board has changed – again – but the rules are still the same. It’s not about the tool your using; it’s about the strThey were backroom propeller heads that became boardroom corporate heads almost overnight. It was the Dot Com era of 1990s and pegged as a new dawn of business for a new generation.

The older generation didn’t understand the technology and the “new world” would be lead by the young, or so they thought. Remember that bubble bursting as the Dot Com era imploded? Plenty of entrepreneurs and investors certainly do.

What the new guys on the block failed to grasp was that while the game board was changing, the rules were still the same. 

I once called on a Fortune 100 company with a Web site proposal. My contact informed me that his boss had decided he was going to let his nephew build the corporate Web site. He had, after all, just graduated from a leading university with a degree in computer science. He explained they were going to “give him a shot” to see how successful it might be before investing money it.

How, I asked him, if they were giving the reigns to an amateur, were they going to know if it had been a success? He laughed and admitted he really didn’t know. When I asked him if they would let a college graduate with a marketing degree run their global marketing he just said, “no.” 

All these years later and I’m still not convinced the lesson has been learned.

I read a blog this morning suggesting all Social Media managers should be under 25-years of age because they’re the ones who grew up with the Internet and understand it best. I read about it in a great blog, Six Pixels of Separation and you can read the original article by a young woman by the name of Cathryn Sloane who wrote it in her blog.

For now let’s just call it a bold statement by an aspiring writer with, well, we’ll say intestinal fortitude. As somebody who has made his living as a writer for the last 30 years, I’d love to sit next to her ten years from now and watch her laugh at what she wrote. Any time I need a little humility I go re-read the way I saw the world in my 20s.

I’m not against her ideas, per se and love that she’s bold enough to throw it out there.  Good on her. While I agree with Mitch Joel at SPOS and his analogy that using electricity doesn’t make you an electrician, my concerns go deeper.

I’m concerned that business owners, already looking for a reason to do Social Media on the cheap, might use her words as an excuse to do just that.

The result? Unsuccessful campaigns that aren’t quantifiable or accountable and leave the business owner an open gate for a hearty “there, I told you it wouldn’t work.”

The game board has changed – again – but the rules are still the same. It’s not about the tool your using; it’s about the strategy you’re putting behind it. You don’t have to be 25 to know that younger users are leaving Facebook for Twitter. You also don’t have to be 40-something to know that women from the ages of 40 to 65 are the largest growing Facebook demographic or that Pinterest is not only the fastest growing social tool ever, but that it has great business value.

What you have to know is how to use them together, in conjunction with your traditional marketing materials. What’s more, Social Media done well, starts with looking at whether it works on a campaign by campaign basis because believe it or not (gasp) Social Media is NOT the right fit for every company or every campaign.

The Bottom Line
Like it or not, we all know you get what you pay for and when it comes to sales and marketing it’s hard to put a price on experience – not with the tools – but with the strategy.  When looking to hire somebody to help with your Social Media ask them how much influence they can expect for their investment. I’m not talking just in terms of sales – which can be tricky to quantify. Ask them what you can expect in the growth rate of their followers/fans, the amplification of your message and the number of Influencers or brand champions you’ll create. Don’t just ask them about the followers they can get, ask them what they plan to do with those followers once you have them. How do they plan on keeping their attention over the long haul?  
 
Growing a strong Social Media presence isn’t about enlarging your marketing spend. It’s about working with a knowledgeable team to determine where your spend is working, and where it’s not, and then reallocating budget. 
ategy you’re putting behind it. You don’t have to be 25 to know that younger users are leaving Facebook for Twitter. You also don’t have to be 40-something to know that women from the ages of 40 to 65 are the largest growing Facebook demographic or that Pinterest is not only the fastest growing social tool ever, but that it has great business value.


What you have to know is how to use them together, in conjunction with your traditional marketing materials. What’s more, Social Media done well, starts with looking at whether it works on a campaign by campaign basis because believe it or not (gasp) Social Media is NOT the right fit for every company or every campaign.


The Bottom Line
Like it or not, we all know you get what you pay for and when it comes to sales and marketing it’s hard to put a price on experience – not with the tools – but with the strategy.  When looking to hire somebody to help with your Social Media ask them how much influence they can expect for their investment. I’m not talking just in terms of sales – which can be tricky to quantify. Ask them what you can expect in the growth rate of their followers/fans, the amplification of your message and the number of Influencers or brand champions you’ll create. Don’t just ask them about the followers they can get, ask them what they plan to do with those followers once you have them. How do they plan on keeping their attention over the long haul?  
 
Growing a strong Social Media presence isn’t about enlarging your marketing spend. It’s about working with a knowledgeable team to determine where your spend is working, and where it’s not, and then reallocating budget.