Evening the playing field -- one tweet at a time

Evening the playing field — one tweet at a time

17 December 2009 589 views Comments

The nice thing about social media is how it evens the playing field. Online, it’s not about how many years you’ve been in the business but rather how well you engage.

It’s no secret that I’m young. I’m in my early- to mid-twenties, with one year of full-time salaried agency experience (+ my year and 1/2 of internship work). I haven’t been working in PR for 15+ years like a lot of people here in town. However, because of social media, I’m still able to excel as an “expert” in the field. (For the record, I still don’t think anyone is a social media expert yet. I just didn’t know how else to word that : P)

Gen Y’s have a unique advantage right now. Because there’s so much focus on new media (which has only been around for a few years), the playing field is even. It doesn’t matter if you’ve been working for 1 year or 15, there aren’t too many people that have much more than a few years’ worth of experience in social media. A lot of us have been able to come straight from college and into the social web and excel.

Additionally, social media “expertise” isn’t gauged by how long you’ve been doing it but rather by how well you’re able to engage online — your social media “klout” if you will.

And the thing about social media is that it’s SO public. Anyone can scope you out on Twitter, Facebook, etc. and gauge how you’re doing everyday. Are you providing value to your audience? Are you building a community? How well do you engage others? It’s not longer about just “taking someone’s word for it”. Now, if anyone is curious about your social media “expertise”, they can see for themselves. IMO, it bring a whole new level of credibility to business — at least those in the social sphere.

It’s also because of social media that I personally have had the opportunity to do speaking engagements and to be quoted in local news outlets as an “expert”. Sure, I may look young (and I am). However, if I’m doing a better job engaging my audience and that of my company and my clients, then I may be more qualified — despite my age and lack of full-time experience.

Now, I’m not trying to piss of those of you who have been in business for much longer than me. There are, of course, many scenarios where you are more qualified to speak, be quoted, etc. The point of this post, is to draw attention to the very unique opportunity Gen Y’s have right now to stand out and embrace the trend.

Aside from the fact that we all graduated during a terrible economic time, I think social media is the silver lining. It opens so many doors and opportunities. I’m grateful that I’m able to experience this new technology as it continues to grow, and I am excited to see what the future brings!

What about you?

Brittany James

I agree that as Gen Y we have the upper hand because of social media. As myself and many of my classmates are interning one of our main tasks is to set up Facebook fan pages and Twitter accounts for not only the company but also introduce clients to world of social media. Sure the economy isn't at its best but since we grew up on the computer we know so much more about them than people with 15+ years in the business. I can only hope that employers really do see this as an invaluable skill come the next few months as I start looking for jobs.

jodycollins

I'm a giant nerd in general, especially when it comes to my field. Working in design and printing for 17+ years, I've grown accustom to watching trends, and how people here in Knoxville apply said trends. What I keep seeing are agencies / etc. who have been doing PR / Media Relations / Marketing for 15+ years [to quote you] that have no idea what they're doing when it comes to social media. Or, they're trying to apply old school methodology to social media, which most of the time just doesn't work.

I think part of the problem though, when it comes to "experts", is two fold: 1] people who tweet about their shoelace breaking, who consider themselves an "expert"; 2] upper management's utter lack of knowledge, when it comes to social media applications, making them hire people who are not necessarily qualified for the job. The first part is pretty self explanatory. On the hiring front, its amazing to see people get hired, who have no true knowledge base / real world application thoughts, just because management is clueless. I will have to disagree slightly [in a perfect world everyone would understand social media] with your assessment that people can look at an "expert's" history. I think a lot of people still just take people's word for it. But in a silver lining [which sadly seems to be sparse in my comment :)], I think that will change in the near future once more employers / companies are able to fully understand social media.

All that said, I think Pyxl is doing a bang up job handling real world social media applications.

Nicole VanScoten

Thanks for the comments, Jody!

You make some really good points. I too have seen a lot of agencies say they know all about social media, but then when you take a look at their own accounts, it's clear that it is not the case. I guess this is a problem with anything new...a lot of local businesses do just take someone's word for it (or look at total year's experience) and thus get duped into paying big bucks for a far-from-great social media plan. Hopefully, like you said, as time goes on this will change.

Thanks for the great compliment :) I'm sure the rest of the Pyxl team will be pleased!

allenkristina

I agree with you, social media is definitely the silver lining for Gen Y in this economy. I found my full time position post-grad this year working in social media, and I love it. Growing up during the age of MySpace, you and I have been engaging online for a long time, however that doesn't mean we necessarily know strategy. I'll admit when I first took on my position, I knew little about corporate social media strategy. I knew how to engage an audience, but aside from that I had to learn on the job. Luckily, I was able to do so and here I am almost nine months later still gainfully employed!

Social media knowledge gets us in the door, willingness to learn and grow keeps us in our seat.

Nicole VanScoten

VERY good point, Kristina! While we are mostly all very good at using the tools, there is a level of strategy we must learn in order to succeed with them in the business world. Like you, I was lucky enough to have great teachers here at Pyxl who were experienced in strategy and could teach me the ropes. I really enjoy social media because I think it's a nice mix of fields -- PR, marketing, strategy etc. :) Great quote BTW...so true! Thanks for the comment!