Should You Let Your Kids Help With Your Social Media Marketing? - Turbify Resource Center - Get the information you need to succeed online

You don’t get social media. You know it’s important to your business, but you’re simply not a digital native. Heck, you might not even be a digital immigrant. Your kids, on the other hand, are Snapchatting, ‘Gramming, and Tweeting like pros, so you’re considering letting them help your business with its social media marketing endeavors.

Good idea or classic #fail?

Table of Contents

Why Being Social Media Fluent Does Not Equal Being a Marketer

Sure, your kids (whether they’re 8 or 18) live and breathe social media. But take a look at what they’re posting. Probably some silly videos, cryptic code (BRB, IKR, and LOL being just a few of the foreign words you don’t get), and a lot of self-inflated posts and selfies. Consider: is this really the messaging you’d want for your small business? Unless you’re targeting tweens, probably not.

Simply being active and adept at social media does not make your teenager a marketer. There’s entire worlds in between her duck face selfie and the marketing content you need to share on your LinkedIn profile. You need to be aware of messaging and branding, something she’s not well versed in.

How Important Is Your Brand?

If you value your brand and its reputation online, you will not hand the social media keys over to your kid. Sure, it seems easy. After all, free labor saves you money, and it’d give her something to do this summer. But if you care about how others view your brand online, it’s not in your best interest to let someone who can’t even legally vote control your communications.

A Better Option

News flash: it’s gonna cost you. But it’s well worth the investment to hire a social media consultant or firm to attract more customers and boost your brand online. Or you can take the time and energy it takes to learn how to manage social media for yourself. However, I’m willing to bet that, down the road, you won’t have time to keep managing it so you might as well hire it out now.

Related Articles

How Your Kid Can Help

Before you toss the baby out with the bathwater, there are ways your child can help with your social media. The first is helping you understand how to use it. Is your child a Twitter pro? Ask for tips on how to tweet, use a social media platform, and schedule posts. Even if she’s not managing your accounts for you, she likely can provide insight that can help you do more with your own efforts.

It’s tempting to go the cheapest and easiest route when it comes to something you’re not comfortable doing yourself, but ask yourself: Would you really save money if it damages your brand in the long run?

About Susan Payton

Susan Payton is the President of Egg Marketing & Communications, an Internet marketing firm specializing in marketing communications, copywriting and blog posts for the software industry. She’s written three books: DIY Press Releases: Your Guide to Becoming Your Own PR Consultant, 101 Entrepreneur Tips and Internet Marketing Strategies for Entrepreneurs, and has blogged for several sites, including The Marketing Eggspert Blog, as well as CorpNet, Small Business Trends, Chamber of Commerce, and ScheduleBase. Follow her on Twitter @eggmarketing.