“Although it is now cheaper to launch an initiative leveraging Web 2.0 technology – it requires qualified and passionate people to make them successful.” – David Armano (as quoted on Ann Handly’s 50 Social Media and Marketing Predictions for 2009).
How true is this. You’ll notice that the most successful people on Twitter or the most successful bloggers are the ones who get giddy about what they are writing. The love this stuff. They live and breathe social media and want to help others live their passion. This is an important idea for PR agencies to take notice. You can’t automatically turn the Web development guy into your agency’s blogger. Or your best writer may not be your best Twitter. A social media campaign doesn’t automatically mean your senior account executive or your new college-grad hire is right for the job.
Pick a person who gets excited about social media. Form a team of people who want to learn. Social media requires too much effort and attention to others to try to force someone into this role. You’ll have much better luck with those who get giddy about blogging.
However, just because someone spends half their day on Facebook, they might not be able to successfully run a campaign for one of your clients. You have to balance the passionate with the managerial skills needed to make the PR campaign a successful one.
