Be a mentor. this thought occurred to me while watching a vid on Todd Adrilik’s blog titled, The dumbest generation, don’t trust anyone under 30. While it was a compelling piece about how anyone under 30 might be more inclined to be lazy and check on their social networks and do nothing else- I would like to think that there is a tremendous opportunity not only for them to lead us even further into the digital age but also for us, as digital marketers, to do the same. Lead them, and show them now, how to do it right.
You see, at some point all of that digital knowledge you have, those social media experiences in your head, needs to be transferred to others. Just telling people about how great it is, is one thing, but showing them, and taking people under your wing to guide and mentor, and to teach and explain, is something completely different and much more valuable.
Ok, so for those of us in the social media bubble, we get it. Now go out and instead of telling people how great social media is, show them how great it can be.
Put your social media mentor hat on and make an even bigger difference.
Direct Marketing Observations 
Isn’t information sharing what social media is all about? We each become smarter because of our collective intelligence. I think that, just as with blogs, only a small portion of people actually take an active role in driving things forward. Leaders are emerging, like Tim O’Reilly, see http://radar.oreilly.com. I know that I am doing my part, in my corner of the world, to spread the word about the power of this movement. Once more people begin to read the success stories, they will take action themselves.
I totally agree with you about the concept of mentoring. Newcomers could really benefit from the hand-holding and the information that comes from a knowledgeable resource.
In the website box for this comment I’ve linked to one of my own posts that talks about the need for mentorship. I wrote about it in the context of creativity, but I believe it applies to social media in general.
Interesting. In our agency, we actually measure (to some degree) and make part of our annual review process how we are mentoring our people. I call it duplication – where I work to duplicate myself in those that I have influence. They mold it to make it their own (believe me we don’t want true duplicates of Justin King’s out there), but mentoring and counseling is critical to our business, and we take that same attitude with Soc. Media.
Your link to the “dumbest generation” while yes a little extreme has some merit. The new generation of millenials is definitely different. But, just like us, they have unrealistic expectations and need to be taught and mentored, and more then anything they need someone to invest in them – just like we did. This next year, we have plans to hire a lot of college grads and will have a pretty robust intern program. From this past years “class” what I have seen is a generation of excellent ideas and they are teaching us quite a bit about different modes (and pace) of communication.
Thanks for the insight!
@Justin, give your company or whoever thought that up, credit. Often we tell people what they should be doing but we don’t “show” them. Thank you for a great and timely response.