Tags: Facebook Marketing, hyder, interns, Kabani, marketing, Shama, social media, Twitter

This entry was posted on Monday, August 17th, 2009 at 7:19 am and is filed under Social Media Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

15 Responses to “Can an Intern Handle our Social Media Marketing?”

1. Rick says:

   August 17, 2009 at 7:48 am

   You talked about high school and college kids doing social media. Do you have any advice for baby boomer age groups that would like to use social media to grow their business.

   Regards,

   Rick
2. Fabulous Photo Gifts says:

   August 17, 2009 at 7:53 am

   Hi – interesting question.
   If the intern is much younger than present manager of social marketing / networking, be prepared for the language to change.

   You might attract a new audience, but loose some existing ‘followers’ – thus is the time when online corporate identity is most at risk I feel.

   Done right of course, it could be brilliant – a master stroke.

   Depends on your product and audience (typical).

   Jonathan
3. Kris Berthelsen says:

   August 17, 2009 at 8:17 am

   I have been thinking about this a great deal lately. And maybe I am looking at this on too small a scale, but social media is about community. Aren’t we defeating the purpose of community, if we are letting interns handle our social marketing. The social media, I think, becomes one sided and automated. It once again becomes difficult for a small business owner to develop relationships with companies who use interns for social media.
   Thanks,
   Kris
4. Christina Smith says:

   August 17, 2009 at 8:53 am

   People fresh out of school bring a new perspective (and in this case, maybe more of an in-depth knowledge of how the technology works). But just as you would think carefully about extending a full-time offer to an intern you should give careful consideration to the individual you choose to represent you on the web.

   A hip, pithy attitude might be something you’re looking to cultivate so it may be the perfect fit for you but like Shama says training is key. Establish guidelines and an online strategy. This not only helps the individual you chose but will help his or her successor in the position. Make sure your intern understands the tone and voice you want to give your company as well as your general marketing strategy, direction and message. Give him or her a point person on your marketing or executive team for advice and consult.

   An extremely mature and goal-oriented intern can handle this level of responsibility but make sure he or she is not shouldering it alone. Would you leave a good chunk of your marketing strategy (since some consumers will only view your web presence and form their opinion of you based only on that) up to a temporary employee? Training is key and so is your choice in people. Choose wisely.
5. Griff says:

   August 17, 2009 at 4:22 pm

   Just the expression “Social Media Marketing” seems wrong to me. Social Media is just that, it’a bout conversations and people and voice and talking. Marketing, generally, is about sending out messages or trying to influence behaviour. The thing about socmed is that’s it’s real people talking about their experiences with a product or brand, it’s NOT about marketing. That said, there are clever ways for brands to engage but the idea of getting an intern (singular) to run the socmed of a business is also ludicrous, to do it properly there needs to be a team, there needs to be specialists – you don’t know how the conversation is going to go, it could be about payments, tech support, supply, warranty, integration with other products, pricing or anyone of a thousand other things…how will an intern deal with that? The conversation is the most important thing your business can get involved in…you want to give it to the lowest paid and least experienced person in the business? Ridiculous! It’s a bit like retail in the UK, all retailers here trust the conversation to the check-out person….need I say more?
6. Shama says:

   August 18, 2009 at 12:11 pm

   Hi Griff-

   You make some very valid points. Of course you need expertise, but often you also need people to monitor and engage with prospects and customers. The bigger strategy of brand engagement and creating solid relationships should rarely be left to interns. However, there are many tactics and techniques that can be carried out by well trained interns.

   To your example, the retailers may trust the conversation to the check-out person, but isn’t the check-out person a key contact for a customer when they shop? They may never see the manager – but their interaction with the check out person may determine if they come back.

   I am not saying that interns should be the ONLY “brand” agent – but that there are many things an intern can do successfully to represent the brand.
7. Shama says:

   August 18, 2009 at 12:13 pm

   Christina:

   Very well said! I may do a future episode where I focus on how to hire good interns.
8. Shama says:

   August 18, 2009 at 12:14 pm

   Hi Kris -

   Good question! I definitely DO NOT recommend automating social media. That being said, I think interns can serve as brand agents – cultivating relationships on behalf of the company, and sharing value. The key here is to find the right intern and train them well.
9. Shama says:

   August 18, 2009 at 12:15 pm

   Hi Jonathan -

   Well put. So much (if not all) of social media depends on the product and audience.
10. Shama says:

    August 18, 2009 at 12:16 pm

    Hi Rick,

    Absolutely! Feel free to look at the right sidebar for popular posts. Most of them have to do with social media. Your age or generation really doesn’t matter.
11. Stephen Wade says:

    August 18, 2009 at 3:42 pm

    I love interns. They’re great for Starbucks runs.

    Give interns the responsbility that best fits their development within the company and industry.

    For example, if I had an intern in my (window treatments) marketing department I would give them the following responsibilities:

    1) Monitor Google Alerts, Twitter RSS Feeds, etc. for conversations our company can add value to. If they can contribute with the knowledge they have, they should do it. If not, forward the discussion or question to me, and I’ll answer it. Then they should reference my response when they see a similar discussion in the future.

    2) Promote our company’s content across the web. One of the most laborious tasks I have is submitting my blogs to relevant LinkedIn Group after relevant LinkedIn Group. The time I would save from having an intern do that in my stead would allow me to write an extra bit of meaty content each week. More Meaty Content = GOOD.

    3) Cultivate conversations around our distributed content. This actually takes priority over butting into other people’s conversations (see #1). Once I release an article, I want to discuss my thoughts with others. I want to facilitate healthy conversations about vision casting or construction techniques or whatever. A well trained intern can do just that.

    4) Compile data on market trends. It seems like I spend a good two hours a day (or night) compiling information I get from Google Analytics, Twitter RSS, Google Insights, etc. so I have good, readable metrics to make marketing decisions from. Having this task taken care of would save me an extra 10 hours a week!

    I’d go on, but I feel like I’m posting a job on CareerBuilder right now.

    These are just suggestions for using interns. I’d love to hear everybody’s thoughts on this!

    Stephen Wade
12. Griff says:

    August 18, 2009 at 4:13 pm

    Ok, let me calm down! The analogy of retailers leaving the conversation to check-out folk is meant to be a point, not a solution, my point being that most people ONLY engage at the check-out, I’d guess in excess of 90%. This is not the company engaging in conversation, this is “have a nice day” or “thanks for shopping with us”, ie all the decisions have been made, no further opportunity to converse or to start to create an engegment that might bring you back next week. A brand being on Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn is NOT engagement, it’s marketing or “being in the right places”, there’s a next step, which some will take and some won’t. Look at Seventh Generation, there’s a lot to do before you can be part of the conversation!
13. Shama says:

    August 18, 2009 at 5:23 pm

    Stephen – Fabulous!
14. Shama says:

    August 18, 2009 at 5:25 pm

    Hi Griff,

    I agree with you. Engagement isn’t just marketing on FB, etc. There is a lot more to it. Your points are valid.
15. Roberto says:

    August 21, 2009 at 11:35 am

    Your right, interns are a great choice; they are young, proactive and are accustomed to being social. But, yes, training them is a must. Thanks Shama!