How much is your "BRAND" worth?

I have to admit - I"M SHOCKED! This past week I was talking to a lady in charge of social media marketing for a software company about who they were using/hiring to be in charge of their social media strategy and planning.  With my background in corporate strategy, naive Blaine thought they were actually talking about "real strategy" instead of which social media "tools" they should be using.  Boy was I off base...

Turns out they are looking for $40/hour people - maybe an $80,000/year position to take the lead and develop a social media strategy and execution.  I just about fell out of my chair!  So my question was pretty simple, "I guess your Brand and reputation are worth less than $100k - at least you've put a price tag on it."  When you have someone at that level in charge of the messaging to your customers, prospects, partners, advisors, vendors, etc., is that who you feel understands your business well enough to entrust your Brand?

Your Brand is what you live and what you engage about with your audience - it's that simple.  It isn't slogans and signs, it is the dialog and the message that your audience receives.  Putting this message in the hands of someone who doesn't really understand your business nor the strategy or markets you are trying to reach is simply committing "marketing suicide".  We are just starting to see more cases of this hitting the air waves - and there will be more.

Just because someone understands the "Tools" of social media does not give them permission to "own your brand" through the messages that are being sent.  If you are the CEO or Owner or someone in charge, I would challenge you to ask some tough questions of your management team in this area.  Just because someone knows facebook or twitter or LinkedIn or a host of other tools doesn't mean the understand your business and your customers.  STOP risking your Brand - it is worth more than $40/hour.