The platform isn’t the strategy. Experience is.
“We didn’t know it would backfire.” That was the post-mortem explanation after a national brand tried to capitalize on a trending meme about workplace burnout. The intention was lighthearted, perhaps even clever, but the execution felt dismissive and tone-deaf. Within hours, employees, customers, and advocacy groups pushed back firmly. The brand withdrew the campaign and formally apologized, but the damage had already been done.
The idea originated from a creative team that was young, enthusiastic, agile, and fully immersed in the fast-paced digital world. The team was not lacking in creativity. However, what they lacked was context. There was no seasoned voice in the room to pause, question, and say: “This may not land how we think it will.” This absence of experience cost the organization more than a bruised ego; it eroded trust.
And that, right there, is the issue too few organizations want to confront: Why do your least experienced people often manage your most public and influential communications channel?
The Disconnect Between Platform Fluency and Communication Strategy
Social media is often mischaracterized as a tool for young people, emphasizing expertise in the latest trends over strategic thinking. The desire for something to be “cool” or “viral” is frequently prioritized above whether it will achieve results and lead to conversions or sales. Organizations have formed teams based on the ability to edit a TikTok video or master a new meme rather than relying on the wisdom necessary to guide messaging in alignment with the brand, mission, and risk.
This isn’t a dismissal of younger professionals; many bring unmatched energy and creativity to the table. However, organizations have allowed novelty to overshadow nuance. When social media is viewed as an executional arm of marketing instead of a core pillar of corporate communication, brands miss opportunities and step into avoidable landmines.
The real problem isn’t that younger employees are managing social accounts. It’s that more experienced professionals aren’t.
Strategic Insight Isn’t Optional, It’s a Necessity
Senior leaders and older employees with extensive careers in communications, public relations, and marketing provide what digital expertise alone cannot offer: a strategic perspective. They have experienced shifts in media cycles, navigated crises, and observed trends that have emerged, diminished, and sometimes resurfaced in various forms. Their contribution is not just knowledge of what works; it includes insight into why it worked, when it did, and how that relates to today’s landscape.
Their instincts are less reactive and more reflective. They are trained to think long-term, aligning each message with broader organizational goals. They have learned to read the room, the moment, and the public mood. More importantly, they understand that a communication tool, whether a press release, a broadcast interview, or a tweet, never constitutes the strategy itself. It is a vehicle, and vehicles only function when someone with a map is behind the wheel.
Metrics that Matter: Moving Beyond the Numbers Game
It’s time to be honest about another blind spot: our addiction to metrics that don’t matter. Impressions, likes, and views are easy to quantify and pursue. However, these surface-level indicators don’t always reflect meaningful engagement or business results.
Organizations that treat social media as a strategic function focus on various outcomes, including:
- Conversions: Are we inspiring actions that lead to measurable results?
- Sentiment: Are we enhancing our reputation and building trust?
- Executive presence: Are our leaders showing up in ways that demonstrate transparency and confidence?
- Stakeholder engagement: Are we reaching the right audiences with the right messages, in the right ways?
Senior leaders instinctively grasp these metrics because they’ve spent decades aligning communication with the outcomes. They’ve seen how reputations are built over time and lost in an instant. They understand what’s at stake.
Ageism and the Myth of the “Out-of-Touch” Executive
One of modern communication’s most persistent and damaging biases is the assumption that older professionals “don’t get” social media. The myth goes like this: younger people are digital natives, and older professionals are always playing catch-up.
It’s a lazy and outdated narrative.
Social media is a tool. Like every tool before it (email, websites, mobile), it evolves. Generational shifts in communication are nothing new. What’s different now is that we’ve allowed cultural biases to influence hiring, team structure, and leadership visibility in ways that undercut strategic outcomes.
Older professionals often possess a vital strength. They know how to integrate new tools into an enduring framework of communication and strategy.
They don’t chase trends because they’ve learned what truly endures. Additionally, they often recognize risks such as tone issues, content sensitivities, or cultural pitfalls that less experienced professionals may overlook. The result is a more thoughtful, more resilient digital presence.
Balance Is the Goal. But Experience Must Lead.
None of this suggests that younger employees shouldn’t have a prominent role in the planning, creativity, and execution of social media. They absolutely should. A thriving social media strategy blends creative energy, trend fluency, and digital dexterity with strategic depth and institutional knowledge. However, balance without structure leads to chaos. Experience must lead.
It’s time to stop defaulting to youth and start elevating those with the experience that encompasses the entire board, not just the next move. This requires rethinking who leads social media strategy. It involves hiring older professionals, not only to support the team but to lead it. Additionally, it means building intergenerational teams with diverse perspectives, ensuring that the strategic voice is at the top, where it belongs.
The Cost of Leadership Silence
There’s another aspect at play here: the lack of senior leadership on the platforms where so much public conversation is happening. Many executives remain digitally invisible or, worse, present themselves through sanitized, ghost-written posts that feel more like press releases than authentic human connection.
Their silence speaks volumes. At a time when trust in institutions is fragile and audiences demand transparency, visibility, and value-driven leadership, the absence of an executive voice represents a missed opportunity. Leaders who show up authentically, consistently, and strategically don’t just represent the brand. They are the brand.
Time to Rethink the Hierarchy
Examine your organization’s structure closely. Who manages your social media? The question isn’t whether senior leaders can lead on social media. The question is whether your organization is bold enough to let them.
It’s time to put your best thinkers in charge, not just the most tech-savvy. What message are you sending when the most seasoned, strategic voices in your company are absent from the digital conversation? In an era where public trust is built on comments, not conference rooms, perhaps it’s time to reconsider who’s doing the talking, and more importantly, who’s being left out.
The future of your brand is being written in real time. Make sure the right people are holding the pen.