Recently, there’s been a flurry of articles, blog posts and general web-based rants arguing about how old a social media manager should be. Starting a few weeks ago with Cathryn Sloane’s controversy-inducing “Why Every Social Media Manager Should Be Under 25,” continuing with Deb Ng’s “On Being Over 40 and Working in Social Media,” Hollis Thomases’s “11 Reasons a 23-Year Old Shouldn’t Run Your Social Media“ on Inc.com and, last week, BostInno’s rebuttal by Lauren Landry, “11 Reasons Why You’re Wrong About the 23-Year-Olds Who You Say Shouldn’t Run Your Social Media,” it seems like everyone with an internet connection is either questioning or defending our generation’s ability to manage a brand’s social media presence.
I’ve read many good points from both sides of the age gap, but all this arguing about how old a social media manager should be has left me with a sour taste in my mouth. Instead of talking about what really matters, we’re focusing on a war between the generations and making gross generalizations about 20-somethings. Hardly productive.
What I’d like to suggest we argue about instead is not how old our social media managers should be (or really, how old any of our employees should be, since age discrimination is actually illegal), but how to hire the right people. I’m no HR professional, but to me, that part seems pretty simple.
So without further ado, here are my 3 commonsense suggestions:
1) Hire someone with not just the knowledge to do the job, but the enthusiasm, too.
For a social media manager, this means you’re hiring someone who not only knows the mechanics of running a Facebook page or writing a blog post filled with valuable content, but someone who cares enough about the subject matter to make geeky hashtag jokes, spend their Saturday mornings catching up with the latest industry-related articles, or download tons of new apps to their smartphone because they wanted to check out Pinterest, Instagram and Path as soon as they heard about them. It’s this employee who will care about your brand’s social media presence for more than the required 40 hours per week, and it’s this employee who will help you create innovative, cross-platform strategies when your marketing plan is in need of a jolt.
2) Hire for culture fit.
Hire someone who will fit your company like a glove: they’ll make a positive impact at the office and be able to represent the best qualities of your brand to the outside world, too, both on- and offline. This person won’t just be comfortable in their own skin, but in your company’s skin. Employees who fit well with your company culture can be great brand ambassadors, and are more likely to be loyal in the long term, as well.
On the flip side, I think we’ve all seen what a coworker who’s a poor culture fit can do: bring down office morale, create conflict or even present a bad image of your brand when they’re outside of working hours. Hiring a social media manager — or software developer or CEO or account manger — whose off-the-clock interactions reflect poorly on your company is a risk your brand shouldn’t be taking…no matter their age.
3. Hire someone whose judgment you trust.
Ultimately, if you don’t trust your employees with your company’s brand, what can you trust them with? A 23-year-old can be just as deserving of your trust as a 45-year-old, and vice-versa, especially if you’re using personal and professional connections to find that person in the first place. Choose someone who comes highly recommended, if you can, and don’t send over that offer letter until you’re confident they’re someone you can trust with the future of your business.
Your social media manager should be someone you trust with both your brand and your business, and someone who understands that the success of one is highly dependent on the other. Trust them to run your Twitter account; trust them to exercise their best judgment in cleaning up the mistakes they make along the way. (Hey, none of us are perfect!)
So instead of arguing about whether our latest few birthdays have made us obsolete in the social media world, let’s focus on hiring and keeping those employees who fit our job requirements, our brands and our companies overall. Age — like a college GPA or how many Twitter followers you have — ain’t nothing but a number.
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