When Pizza Hut put out a job offer for a Twintern to manage the brand's Twitter page this summer, it was big news. A pretty big departure from typical intern work, it also showed the brand's desire to be a part of the social media sphere. And so far, their Twintern, Alexa Robinson, has been doing a good job, increasing Pizza Hut's followers from 3,000 to almost 14,000 and making quite a few posts per day, including a popular free food promo.
But other companies that have taken a similar Twintern approach haven't always had such good results, a post on The Big Money points out.
As more people join Twitter, its marketing potential is becoming more obvious to businesses. Pizza Hut is not the only company that has tasked an intern with diving in. The trade-off: With the assignment comes a branded megaphone and the power to produce a public relations disaster.
The question is should a brand take Twitter seriously enough to hire an experienced professional or is the intern approach a fair way to go? Gini Dietrich, who runs a Chicago public relations firm, takes the experience side.
Understanding what Facebook and Twitter are is different from understanding what they should be for your specific brand, she explains. "By letting an intern determine this, you're putting your brand and reputation in the hands of someone who has no experience."
Whether they use a pro, an intern or a combination, Twitter is important enough to be on a brand's radar. In fact, there are a...
