This interview with Unilever’s out-going marketing head Simon Clift in the FT makes fascinating reading. Clift believes there’s a ‘lost generation’ of marketers out there, aged between 30-45, who either haven’t grown up with exposure to social media or haven’t had exposure to it through their children, as older marketers may have. As a result, Clift says, PR is best placed to benefit from the social media age.
I find this an intriguing point as the people who I have learned MOST from in social media have come from Clift’s ‘lost generation’ age bracket. Obviously, with Clift’s standing in the industry what he says comes with authority and is said with a great deal of thought, but speaking personally I just don’t see it.
I look at some of the great social media marketers that I’ve interviewed for RunMarketing and – hopefully I won’t upset anyone here – they’re all pretty much 30-45 years old, the likes of Jenni Lloyd, Roger Warner, Stephen Davies, Kelvin Newman, Josh Feldberg and others.
I think 30-45 is actually the best age to be in social media. Why? Because you’ll already have the background from your 20s in the industry so know how to apply proven marketing principles to emerging social media platforms, as well as have the experience to counsel clients on how to make the most of those platforms. This client counsel is something a fresh graduate could probably not do alone, even if s/he does spend two hours a day on Facebook.
I do agree with Clift that PR is best placed to benefit from social media as, after all, it’s a reputation game. All in all, a healthy social media and PR mix is required to really engage in the Web 2.0 era – whatever age you are!
