Social Media is sometimes not given the respect it deserves in some organisations who decide not to utilize content writing services or hire experienced writers.  Often UK organisations think that social media, while useful, is something that can be handled by an unpaid intern.  Students were teens during the social media boom and must know it all.

However, is it risky to hand over the social media accounts to students and expect results?

Early Adopter

The student appears well fitted to the role, after all they are part of the age group that grew up with social media in their late teens.  Of course practice makes perfect and having used it in their social lives it is often assumed by bosses that this grasp of the medium means they require no training and can take over the social media role seamlessly.  A perfect fit, because taking on an intern normally involves a lot of work for an existing employee; it seems social media is almost the perfect role as it gives an intern valuable marketing experience without diverting the attention of anyone else to educate them.

Bad Habits

Does experience in social media mean that an intern knows how to use social media properly though?  1 billion of us are on Facebook, and much of the content that comes through our newsfeed is cringe worthy, not content that would entice us to engage with a top UK brand.   Many also expect their interns to produce content, however the intern is not a skilled writer from a content writing services firm and will not have the ability to produce timely and relevant articles.

Important Relationships

Interns will be interacting with both the customer and with other businesses on social media.  If they aren’t trained properly they could lose customers and potential businesses.  How is an intern that is not trained supposed to be able to communicate the business effectively?  Customer service involves a lot in the way of procedures, if left to their own devices, interns could prove damaging.

ROI

Using social media personally is not the same as using it professionally.  While you may use social media to promote yourself, it is not the same as for a company.  You need to understand what customers want.  Furthermore, you need to understand what social media is achieving.   Where is the return on investment? (ROI) Many marketing managers seem clueless when tasked with producing results from social media so why should interns know any better?  If your output on an intern is zero, then you can expect zero in return.  What is the intern gaining other tha

Teaching Social Media

Seneca College in Toronto is challenging the assertion that you can’t teach students social media.  Their one year postgraduate course focuses on teaching ROI and using metrics to track progress.   It doesn’t bother with teaching students how to use the Facebook homepage or how to pin things to your Pinterest pinboard.

Including Content Writing Services

Perhaps students would be better focusing on an all encompassing course on digital marketing that includes  social media and things like content writing services and search engine optimization to help give them an all round skill set to use for online marketing.  Many students are likely to be arrogant enough to dismiss a social media course as something they already know all about, regardless of its purpose and it seems unlikely to be a feature of all UK universities.