Of course, sensationalists everywhere are pouncing on the opportunity to pen ridiculous headlines pointing to the demise of this role. Why? It’s all because of a new study by recruitment website Indeed.com showing that growth in the number of social media manager roles slowed over the past year. In other words, after meteoric growth, we’re finally starting to see a slow down. Really?! Who could have ever predicted that anything experiencing rapid growth would eventually slow down? It’s a mind-blowing phenomenon, I know. But try and stay with me.
Dripping sarcasm aside, let’s talk shop for a moment. Have you been on Facebook or Twitter lately? Have you read the kind of stuff that the average Joe and Jill post all day long? And you think corporate America is going to agree to letting those same folks speak on behalf of the organization? You’ve truly lost your mind if you think that trend is gonna tip anytime soon.
I’ve read articles that suggest everyone uses the phone and email now, surely social media will be the same way. Uh, wrong. The larger an org gets, the more specialized the roles get. Yes, that includes answering customer phone calls and replying to customers via email. And guess what? Those departments have managers! And—just in case you’ve forgotten—posting on behalf of your company is nothing less than making a public, written statement. No company is ever going to turn that responsibility over to every single employee.
Social media as a method of communicating to customers is not going away. And the more engrained it becomes in our society, the more we are going to want skilled, specifically trained personnel handling that job. It’s simply the way the world works.