Stop shoving social media down your employees’ throats

It’s time to step up and address one of the great myths pervading the social Web—that decentralizing social media marketing and pushing it down to employees at every level of the company is a best practice. This is a philosophy that sounds good, but is often detached from practical reality.

I have been immersed in the social Web for more than three years. It’s a big part of my job. I teach about it. I consult about it, and of course I write about it. And here is a conclusion that I can confidently make: Social media marketing can be very, very difficult to do successfully.

So why do so many people insist that we should be shoving social media down the throats of every employee? This is like forcing me to do accounting; it would not be a good fit. Not every person has the right mindset, ability, or openness to succeed with social media, but that doesn’t mean they can’t still fit in your company.

A hiring problem?