Should I hire an Intern as my Facebook Page Manager?

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As I sat there drinking a glass of water, he clearly said, “I will have my 16-year old son manage it for me”? That was the response by a local restaurant owner after having presented to him the benefits of having a marketing professional manage his social media and specifically his Facebook Business Page.

Although today’s youth is very active and knowledgeable of the Facebook platform, the negatives could outweigh the positives when it comes to hiring an intern (in this case a family member) as your Social Media or Facebook Page Manager. Depending on your industry and the purpose of your campaigns and community conversation, investing in an expert will most likely pay off in the long run for your business.

Social Media strategies involve consumer psychology, emotional states, human interaction, and fragile complexities of trust. One would argue that this is a task for an experienced and knowledgeable person and not someone who has no vested interest in making the time commitment for your business.

Although an intern might have an understanding of how conversations happen on Facebook and be quick to respond to inquiries, some of the reasons you should not hire an intern to manage your social media or Facebook Business Pages are:

1. Time Commitment Running your social media management and marketing is a 24/7 job and requires the time to produce your results. Someone who is hired part-time or on a temporary basis can not properly monitor your social media to the fullest.

2. Lack of Knowledge and awareness Most of your interns do not understand KPI’s or metrics. Understanding that each business has it’s niche, an intern most likely will not be able to run a targeted advertising campaign on short notice ie. a restaurant running a deal for a slow night or a local gym running a grand opening. A good understanding of your audience is your key to running efficient social media and marketing campaigns.

3. Not the Voice of your Brand or Business A person’s personality is reflected in every post, tweet or interaction via your social media platforms. If there is constant turnover with interns, that voice will keep changing. Unless you want your customers to think you are Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, it is in your best interest to have someone assigned to this task consistently and focused on meeting your social media goals.

Although interns or family members come with a cheap hiring price tag, It will not allow you to put your best foot forward in terms of competing with other businesses in your industry. If it comes to having to keep it in-house, the best alternative is investing in a great online marketing educational program for them, like the one at Wealthy Affiliate.

Please feel free to leave any questions or comments below.

http://localproexpert.com/should-i-hire-an-intern-as-my-facebook-page-manager

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Recent Comments

3

Enjoyed your post, especially the title.

You could also ask 'Why would anyone work for me for free and promote my company?'. The whole intern notion is now a scam to get bright young folk to work for free. Companies dangle a carrot of a job after the internship but this rarely materialises. I have spoken with many interns who are initially excited to join a top marketing agency to work on their social media projects. They work for perhaps 3 months without even their expenses being paid and then are thrown out to be replaced by the next batch. Something of value is not free. However, there is a better side to the intern idea where companies will take graduates for a year, train them, pay them and mentor them. These are called Graduate Programs' not internships.

Sorry, bit of a rant but we must help prospective interns into real work, not yet another version of slave labour. I am sure we will now hear of many interns who have gone onto great jobs but not to my knowledge during the economic downturn.

Do we have any experienced interns on WA who have given up with internships and turned to WA?

Happy Christmas!

Thank you

Great blog.

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