By Queen Nwabueze
Some of us, communications elders – yes o, people with long bios, LinkedIn badges and grey hairs of experience passionately argue that the job of managing a company’s social media should be left to interns and office assistants. That it’s beneath a communications head with “15 years experience” to be the one posting content online.
Sorry, come again?
You mean the same corporate social media pages that the whole world sees first, even before your CEO’s LinkedIn? The same platforms where a single wrong tweet can wipe out shareholder confidence and trigger a PR crisis faster than NEPA takes light? You mean that one?
Honestly, this argument shocked me more than when I found out sachet Milo is now ₦250.
Let’s be clear: Your company’s social media page is not a dumping ground for bored interns. It is your first press conference. Your first media briefing. Your first shareholder update. Your brand’s digital heartbeat. And in this our internet-hardened Nigeria where screenshots are faster than NTA apologies, every post is a potential court case. So, you’re telling me the person managing that should be “small Precious” who just finished NYSC and is still calling you ma in every sentence?
Let’s stop this silly ego war. In fact, let’s break the table.
Being a Head of Comms doesn’t mean folding your hands like a village chairman while an untrained intern is out there crafting tweets that could get you dragged by TechCabal, Pulse, or even the dreaded Twitter NG tribunal.
No serious comms director says “I don’t do social media.” That’s like saying “I don’t do phones” in the 90s. It’s your job. Just like media relations. Just like press releases. Just like crisis communication.
You’ll double-check a press statement ten times before it goes out, but you’re okay with an intern posting “Happy Independence Day from all of us at Zenith Bankz” with a Canva template that has four fonts and zero brand colour?
Let’s talk risk.
Do you remember Access Bank’s infamous tweet asking followers to share their account details? Or that time a Nigerian telco posted a racy meme trying to be edgy and got cooked for three days straight? Or that hotel chain that accidentally posted a tweet saying “una dey mad” to a customer and later claimed they were hacked?
You know what all those had in common? Poor oversight.
Social media is not “just social media.” It is corporate communication in real-time.
Imagine if you left your press conference in the hands of a random receptionist. Would you? No. So why treat Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn like akara stands that anyone can manage?
Let Me Tell You a Story
When I was managing social media in one of my old jobs, the MD would review every single post. Not because he didn’t trust me, but because he understood the weight of what we were doing. He would say: “Social media is where people meet our soul before they meet our business.” And he was right.
After a while, I earned his trust, and he stopped breathing down my neck. But it took consistency, excellence and understanding the brand’s tone, goals and reputation. That’s not something you give just anyone because they know how to use Instagram filters.
In this age of screenshooting, a brand cannot afford to “post and pray.”
You think you can delete it before anyone sees it? My dear, the internet is faster than you. That small gaffe your intern posted at 10:01 am? Someone in Obosi has screenshotted it by 10:01:02. And by lunchtime, it’s in a WhatsApp group with the caption: “See what this big brand is doing now. SMH.”
Meanwhile, you’re somewhere in your corner office sipping cappuccino and saying “I don’t handle social media.” Na wa!
It’s Not Just Posts. It’s Positioning.
Let’s even leave wahala. Let’s talk strategy.
A good comms head knows that social media is not about posts, it’s about positioning. How your brand is perceived. How you handle complaints. How you break news. How you interact with regulators, media and your own staff. It’s about how you make your company visible and valuable in a world where everyone is online.
So tell me why someone who hasn’t read the brand manual, doesn’t know the tone of voice, and hasn’t attended one management strategy session should be the voice of your entire brand?
Does that make sense?
Let’s talk Nigerian reality.
This is the land of vibes and virality. Where one tweet can bring you customers and another can shut your doors.
Ask any SME founder who tweeted a wrong price and got dragged. Or any bank that tried to joke during fuel scarcity and got threatened with boycott.
You want to entrust that kind of power to an intern with no training? My dear, you’re not running a business, you’re playing Russian roulette with reputation.
This whole “I’m too senior to post” energy is not about protocol. It’s about pride.
Because the same people who say social media is not their job are the ones who will jump on CNN to give a hot take about digital transformation.
True leadership is not about doing only what looks “executive.” It’s about protecting the brand with all you’ve got including your keyboard.
Train Interns, Don’t Abandon Posts
Look, I’m not saying interns can’t post. But train them. Supervise them. Build them. Guide them.
The best teams are those where interns learn by watching seasoned pros in action, not by being thrown into the fire with a caption template and vibes.
If your intern is running the brand page solo, and you’re not checking what’s going on, you’re not building capacity, you’re building crisis.
Let’s Stop This Mentality Before It Destroys More Reputations
Social media management is not beneath the Head of Communications.
It is integral to the job.
It is your digital microphone.
It is your brand’s personality on public display.
It is your customer care line. Your press office. Your crisis command centre.
So please, if you’re a comms lead reading this and you still think social media is beneath you, I hope this article slaps you with love and resets your PR senses. Because in today’s Nigeria, a brand without digital discipline is a brand waiting to be dragged.
Social media is not “entry-level.” It’s “everything-level.”
It is not “just posting.” It is communicating. Convincing. Calibrating.
And if you leave it to chance, don’t be surprised when the internet leaves your company in shambles.
So, pick up that phone, review that content calendar, and please, stop leaving the fate of your brand in the hands of someone who still thinks Threads is a sewing shop.
Grit. Grace. Strategy. That’s how we move.
Na who dey manage your page, na im dey manage your peace.
