3 Reasons Your Social Savvy Kid Shouldn't Handle Your Company's Social Media

Having a social savvy kid can come in handy as a parent learning to navigate the world of social media.  I say this as the daughter of a parent who can barely check their own email let alone post to Facebook.  As a small business owner, it may be tempting to tap into your child's social expertise to help you navigate social media for your company.  Before you turn over the reins, I encourage you to take a step back and make sure your savvy kid has what it takes to represent your business well.

There's More to Social Media Than Posting

Being social savvy and understanding social media marketing are two very different things.  There is far more to social media marketing than posting things that get people's attention...that's only one part of the puzzle.  You can post all day to social and get tons of engagement but if your followers never convert to customers how is social helping your business?  Here are 3 more reasons that having your social savvy kid handle social media for your small business probably isn't a great idea.1.  StrategyEffectively using social media to grow your business requires a strategy.  Most kids, even young adults (and some social media managers for that matter), don't know the first thing about building a strategy for social media.  An effective social strategy requires you to create a plan based on your company's goals, manage it and measure it.  Then you need to know what to do if your strategy isn't working.  This type of game plan is best created by collaborating with an experienced social media manager.2.  BrandingWhat you post on social media essentially becomes a part of your brand.  When considering involving your child in your company's social media efforts you need to ask yourself if he or she will be able to uphold your company's brand and interact with your customers the way you would want them to.Some kids, especially those that have not yet had professional work experience may not understand the importance of proper spelling, punctuation and grammar because kids are a lot more casual when posting on their own accounts.  Being too casual could come off as unprofessional and potentially hurt your brand.3.  Customer ServiceIn addition, to the basics of interacting like spelling and grammar, social media takes interaction to another level when it comes to the customer service aspect of social.  Most small business owners don't realize that social media has essentially become a customer service platform.  It is important that whoever is managing your social media accounts understands your company's customer service policies and the customer service expectations that you have an as owner.  Plus you need to make sure that if you get an unruly customer posting your page, it's important that your page manager handles it professionally.So while it's tempting to turn your social media accounts over to your social savvy kid to save money and time, think twice before you do.  There's more to social media than posting if you truly want to use social media to generate business and create a strong digital presence for your company.  If you are serious about involving your child in your company's social media marketing strategy, I encourage you to get them some formal training, work with a professional to create a strategy they can implement and have them work in your business for a while so they understand your brand.