Like many agency leaders, you need great people running social media for your accounts, whether they are paid or social. So you hire someone who seems to have great content on their social channels, knows a lot about the functionality of the various social networks and bam, you’re set.
Except.
Except.
You Want More! Here’s What You Wanted:
A Planner
An Analyst
A Strategic Thinker
You also (fingers crossed)hoped for—
An experienced professional
A team member ready to face clients
Maybe promotable?
…With a transferrable skillset to other areas of the agency
But That’s Not Happening!
How did it all go so wrong? Here are three contributing factors to consider.
Contributing Factor Number One: Screening and Hiring
Have you compared job ads for these positions? The requirements, pay and job requirements are all over the place. The capabilities language is often very subjective and difficult to navigate.
Ask yourself some questions.
- How can I help a candidate demonstrate their strengths?
- What skills are absolutely necessary?
- Do we have a way to determine skill level?
- How do you screen for critical thinking?
- What industry experience is translatable for your candidates?
- Is the budget realistic?
Contributing Factor Number Two: Generational Differences
The headlines are all over the place—we have 5 generations in the workplace. And how the heck can we all work together? Usually followed by some stereotypes about tech ignorant older workers vs. flaky younger workers. But these are all stereotypes, not ways of working.
But the fact of the matter, most of the social media junior level people you’re hiring are younger. Period.
Two resources can help frame this challenge into a workable solution.
First, Purdue Global has a great infographic to outline the working styles and mindset of the different generations. You can find it here.
Second, there’s a lot of people and organizations who are doing meaningful work in this area. One of them is Megan Gerhardt, PhD, a professor of management and director of leadership development at the Farmer School of Business at Miami University. She and two colleagues have done considerable research around this subject and have published Gentelligence: The Revolutionary Approach to Leading an Intergenerational Workforce. It should be required reading for agency owners. Check out the website based on the book.
Contributing Factor Number Three: Expectations
The third contributing factor to the disconnect in your junior social media team is expectations. The differing workstyles are a struggle. Planning timelines, content deliverables, meeting pace and pulse are all expectations that they may or may not understand, much less brand voice and customer service needs. It’s possible there’s a problem with understanding the culture of the workplace and nothing is written down to guide them along the way.
There are two possible solutions to these contributing factors which we will examine in our next post. Training and resources can help smooth out the bumps in the road for your junior communicators. Stay tuned – or send us your questions or concerns about your workplace!