Comments on: Should Interns Run Your Social Media Program?

By: Social Media: Plan Smart. Implement Smarter. | Spin Sucks

Social Media: Plan Smart. Implement Smarter. | Spin Sucks — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 17:02:13 +0000

[...] just as important as the plan development. How often have we heard tales of companies that delegate social media management to an intern – only to later regret the decision? Interns are wonderful additions to the team, but they [...]

By: Eggs, Chicks and Chickens | The Media Marketing Co - Digital Marketing Agency

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 12:27:03 +0000

[...] Those folks over at http://www.spinsucks.com feel just the same, and you can read their take on it here http://spinsucks.com/spin/should-interns-run-your-social-media-program/ [...]

By: Understanding PR 1.0 Before You Can Consult on PR 2.0 | The Fight Against Destructive Spin

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 12:05:15 +0000

[...] What we didn’t discuss on the podcast, but what I’ve been thinking about since we recorded (we always record on Monday nights), is this is becoming the age old question about whether or not you let interns run your social media program. [...]

By: The Fight Against Destructive Spin » Blog Archive » Social Media Interns: The Pros and Cons

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:03:01 +0000

[...] earlier this year, as well as was interviewed about it by The Big Money. You can see the blog post here, along with A LOT of comments from interns who were doing social media work for the [...]

By: Lesley

Lesley — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 18:36:54 +0000

Today, I was at a distinguished speakers event featuring James Hoggan, President of Hoggan & Associates – one of the top PR firms in Vancouver, B.C. and I posed this exact question to him. He agrees that students should not be in charge of social media campaigns, and that it was pretty hard to find a young person who had conservative thinking, etc. to fulfill the role.

After the speech, another PR professional – Don McLauchlan – approached me and told me about how JetBlue’s social media team pounced on an incident. A guy just got off his plane and found that his luggage didn’t make it with the plane, so he tweeted about it. Within a minute and a half, JetBlue’s twitter team picked it up and told him to go to the JetBlue office on the third floor of the airport (this is after they determined which airport he was at). Once he arrived at JetBlue’s offices, he received a personal apology from the office manager there as well as a $100 credit to use towards any future flight.

Don’s point to me was that if am intern was in charge of overseeing Twitter, they would not have had the power to make decisions like “Let’s get the office manager there to apologize to him and give him a $100 credit.” Decisions like that MUST come from above, or from empowered employees who have been properly trained. Empowering employees is one thing… Letting interns make decisions like that… A whole other world.

By: Jill Maremont

Jill Maremont — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 16:06:42 +0000

Gini- very insightful article, thanks for sharing. I think it’s fine to have an intern running your social media campaigns but like everything else that an intern works on, direction and supervision is key. In my opinion, the overall branding message always comes from the top and micro marketing should be monitored on a daily basis.

By: Brooke Beason @brookebeason

Brooke Beason @brookebeason — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 16:22:38 +0000

Mary – love your message about giving interns freedom. Though you are right on target about many experienced interns now-days, some with masters degrees, I believe majority of them (Gen. Y) enjoy this freedom and trust put before them. I know personally and from fellow Gen. Y colleagues this drives us to give our employer even more. Whether that be time, effort or creativity. Thanks for the insight!

By: Kelly

Kelly — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 14:15:09 +0000

Gini – back to your question on what happens when an intern goes back to school and the voice changes – Brooke hit the nail on the head. The voice should not change because it should be the voice of the company, not the intern. However, in a realistic world, we know the core messages may not change, but tone may change, phrase use may change, etc. with each person who posts. Many students in my area are struggling to find any position, so the opportunity to stay on handling the social media is something that many will jump at, even if unpaid. Experience is key in nailing that first job out of school and building that relationship with an organization could open doors internally or at the very least show loyalty and commitment to the organization where they are currently residing.

By: Gentry Lassiter

Gentry Lassiter — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 02:47:46 +0000

I agree with Mary – it depends on the intern. I am a current intern at the Chicago chapter of a large nonprofit and have seen that there are interns who understand a great deal about social media and there are those who are just beginning to learn about it. Regardless of whether an intern has a profound understanding of how social media strategy works and experience, I think it would overly risky to allow him or her complete discretion over organizational social media strategy.

Interns might have a great knowledge of social media tactics, but we are still developing experience in overall strategies. Experienced employees should have the final say in how such strategy is carried out and should closely watch what’s happening online. I’ve had social media ideas shot down and adopted, but I feel good about all of them because my employer explained to me why she thought they would be appropriate for our purposes – and learning opportunities are why we accept unpaid internships.

By: Mary Fletcher Jones

Mary Fletcher Jones — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 01:32:15 +0000

Oh, I don’t know. I think it depends on the intern. I have been fortunate to have had some amazing interns. I let them handle client work. I let them blog, I let them create videos. The more I let them do, the more they surprised me with the excellent caliber of their work. But I paid them well and treated them like family.

Also remember not every intern is straight out of college. Plenty of interns have years of experience and college degrees and sometimes masters degrees to bring to the table. I myself was an experienced intern when I was changing jobs many years back. So, hell yeah, I’d let them run my social media program, if I felt they were qualified

On the other hand, I know PR professionals with 35 years of experience who don’t know a thing about Facebook, blogs, or Twitter. Or marketing for that matter.

Can’t draw generalizations. Everyone is an individual and has their own set of unique talents and you have to use your best judgment.