I’ve had a sort of opposite experience when it comes to social media at work. As a “millenial”, I spent months and months trying to explain to my colleagues (i.e. my supervisors) why our non-profit organization would benefit from a having a facebook page. This is especially true, because a lot of what we do is based on a network of international artists– and what better way to visualize the network than to see it on facebook. So, while marketing and publicity is in my job description, my colleagues worried that there was something untested about my suggestions. Also, they were nervous about the relative lack of control that we, as an organization, have over, for example, what types of photos our facebook friends post on their profiles, or, the tambre of the language used in wallposts… from the perspective of people who have been working with printed media, striving for professionalism, for years, all of this seemed a bit daunting.

Finally the tipping point came when, about a month after I got the go-ahead to make the facebook page, our executive director’s best friend got HER to make her own page… suddenly, she could see the benefits for herself, and ever since then, it’s been gung-ho, and we’re more in touch with our network then ever before!

I guess my experience is different because, as an arts non-profit, my colleagues really aren’t trained to think specifically in terms of marketing. But for me, it’s not that I haven’t tried to harness my knowledge for professional use– it’s that there’s a culture of reluctance to recognize that in the heirarchy of my workplace.

I am 24 and have some experience with social media but am passionate about it and very keen to learn more.

If companies are going to invest in social media the need someone who understands it, has used it personally or for a company and who is willing to put some time into it. There is nothing worse than a half hearted attempt to get into the SM game and then not maintain you twitter, facebook group, youtube account etc.

Compare paying $40,000 for some advertising campaign for a couple of weeks to a month vs a years salary for someone to build and develop your social media presence – connecting directly with your customers instead of bombarding them with various impersonal media.

Great post, as you say we are all just getting the hang of it and learning how to implement it effectively – hopefully we can become a good case study in the future!