Four reasons why you shouldn’t hire a High School kid, intern, or board member, run your social media (and what to do if you already did…)

I hear this all the time from budget-minded non-profits and small business owners: Social media is so simple, and these kids are on their phones all day anyway, let’s just hire them to do it! I get it. While using volunteers or entry-level marketers to do your posting may seem like a cost-effective plan to ‘get it out there,’ here are four reasons to reconsider that strategy:

1.) First of all, it’s not “just posting.” And if it is, that’s why it’s not working.

In the non-profit and small-business world, social media is just one piece of a communication strategy that is thoughtful, complicated, and thorough. You may be evoking sometimes heated or emotional responses, and the agency response should be equally nuanced. For non-profits, a careful analysis of your audience must be done constantly, with communication occurring where your audience is comfortable- be that by social media, email, or phone, with an understanding of where to communicate what. Links to giant PDF’s do not belong on social, and neither do QR codes without corresponding links- social is the land of bite-sized simplicity and engaging content.

For a small business, social media is where you tell your stories with an eye on search engine optimization, the Google My Business algorithm, and all the technical backsides that drive traffic and sales. Your social media is an investment, not a hobby, and you’re in steep competition with everyone else in the newsfeed. In addition, your content should always be paired with advertising. Managing the Meta Ad Manager in a way that doesn’t spend $20 for one click is a science- if you want 100 clicks for that $20, and you want those clicks to lead to a sale, you need a professional.

2.) Posting for personal use versus posting as a business page are two very different things. A professional understands marketing strategies, audience targeting, content planning, and platform algorithms- they create a structured approach that aligns with your businesses goals.

3.) Typos and technical errors. Nothing will crush your reputation faster than a board or staff member who wants to help out but doesn’t have an eye for detail, on an intern who doesn’t understand where hashtags go (or which hashtags to use). In addition, when you have board members or staff posting, the system of checks and balances is out of wack- you may have the general public pointing out mistakes and it’s awkward when mistakes are made by a person in a position of power. Proof-reading should be done behind the scenes, and under a chain of command that starts with a professional.

4.) You risk total shutdown. The final reason to take this decision seriously is that major mistakes can be made, and they’re expensive to fix. I cannot tell you how many of my clients come to me with hacked pages, negative reviews, URL’s being held hostage (i.e your business name is picked up by someone else who tries to sell it back to you…), and trademark infringements. Did you know that anyone on the internet can claim your Yelp page? Or that having multiple people manage a Facebook business page from different computers will flag it and cause a shut-down? If the person who’s posting doesn’t understand two-factor authentication and Meta business manager, May Day, May Day!! Protect yourself: pay a professional to manage your communications.

Have you already added this person to your business page? Or perhaps your new to the business or non-profit and you see names you don’t recognize? The first step is to remove the names of all non-professionals from your FB, IG, and Meta Business Manager.

Please read my newest blog on cyber security for small businesses for directions on where to go from here.