When I began my first PR internship I inherited a newborn blog. I was initially told to continue the tone of the previous intern blogger, but after reading her handful of posts I was left gagging on “SELL SELL SELL!” marketing messages. I ignored instructions. I instead wrote a post introducing myself as the new blogger and told a funny story about a work meeting we’d had. Then I showed it to my bosses to see what they thought… and it was the beginning of a blog revolution. From then on out the tone of the blog was conversational, engaging, and *human*, peppered with both PR-related updates (like a post when we were reviewed by Men’s Health) and humorous or sobering stories (ie, what happened to us when we got caught in a tornado on our way to a business meeting in Kentucky.) My coworkers and I made friends because of that blog. Together we created an approachable, “down home” online experience that rang true to the company’s image.

I was then 21 years old and am now 23.

My point: You’re right that a company cannot assume that a kid fresh from college is a social media whiz. However, neither can you assume that they cannot be trusted with the responsibility of representing their brand.

Product / knowledge of the company culture are still inarguably vital, and therefore I can see why depending on the nature of the company a more experienced individual would be best. At the end of the day, however, I think that trust is what matters most. Companies need to ask themselves: do they trust this person’s senses of jugment, autonomy, humor, balance, and tact? Is this person a good listener with a quick but thoughtful pen and a sincere laugh? Does this person’s passion for your business shine forth in an infectious and believable way? Would I leave this person alone in a crowd of customers without worrying about how they’d act or what they’d say?

If so, I think they are the appropriate social media spearhead regardless of age.

Just my two cents… or two dollars, perhaps, given how crazy long this comment got.

Thanks for a great post.

I have couple of clients now Twittering:

@TopsAtWarChild is James Topham with WarChild Canada
and, as Dave mentioned;
@MolsonFerg is Ferg Devins with Molson

Both clients of Hill & Knowlton.

I used to lead strategy at Social Media Group where Ford was my client. Its good to be transparent.
It’s even better to see these brands find success in social media space

Humanizing the brand/company has been something that smart companies have been trying to accomplish for a long time. From an image point of view, changing the way customers see you if you’re perceived as a monolithic factory,has been a PR tactic since forever.

We all want to deal with people. We hate not being able to talk to a live person and some companies even have policies against it.

It stands to reason that if you’re going to be among the people in the social media space that you should be a person and not a brand. I do like the hybrid approach of Dell and Molson though. The Richard@Dell and the MolsonFerg Twitter ideas makes it clear that these are company guys. (Molson is a client)

Perhaps because we can’t see each other, people seem to want reassurance that they’re dealing with a person.

That personal touch is something I discuss in my award-winning sixth book, Principled Profit: Marketing That Puts People First, BTW