Senior marketers don’t get to where they’re at by ignoring a changing world. Even those skeptical of social media see that Facebook has nearly a billion active monthly users and figure there’s probably a place for Mr. Zuckerberg’s website in their marketing plan.

Perhaps that’s why, according to a new report from Econsultancy, 73 percent of senior marketers in companies with annual revenues under $150 million (and 66 percent whose company’s revenues exceed $150 mil) view social media as integral to their marketing strategies. Why is social media such a critical component? Econsultancy found that 64 percent of senior marketers believed one of social media’s top roles was as a branding and awareness channel. Sixty-nine percent of marketers reported that social media has a measurable impact on web analytics and PR efforts as well.

@NeilAndrewJames

Like all other members of the human race, I have not yet managed to obtain immortality and escape the curse of aging. But despite my youthful vows that I would never lose touch with the bleeding edge of culture like my parents’ generation did, my grasp of it somehow slipped away. I constantly find myself returning to Acronym Finder to decipher a seemingly random arrangement of letters sent to me by a junior staffer. Websites that end in anything other than dot-com, dot-net or dot-org are viewed with skepticism and mistrust. And this One Direction outfit passes as legitimate music? Please.

I’m not the only one out there conscious of their cultural mortality. One of the consequences of the perceived disconnect between how my generation sees the world compared to millennials has been the rise of the notion that anybody over 35 is fighting a biologically uphill battle if they have aspirations (or the charged responsibility) of managing a corporate social media presence. After all, today’s youth have never known a world where technology and communication were unbundled – they are truly the only sherpas capable of navigating the ever shifting terrain of digital communications.

That you can’t possibly function as a social media manager without the blessings of youth is a myth in need of serious debunking according to a new article by Dan Wilkerson for Marketing Pilgrim, How Old Should Your Social Media Manager Be? Wilkerson astutely notes that generational familiarity with technology is far less important than the demonstrated ability to manage customer service workflow and appropriately defuse crisis situations.

Wilkerson is careful to point out that while you don’t need to be young to be a community manager, the wisdom of ages is not an accurate predictor of whether an individual will flame out. Although the examples of interns who have publicly embarrassed their employers on Facebook and Twitter are well documented, the stewards of the highly visible N-Control and Kenneth Cole social media missteps were committed by more seasoned, polished marketers.

@NeilAndrewJames