7 Tips for Hiring the Right Social Media Manager
August 1, 2011
Decided you need a social media manager? Jeff Herbst has some pointers for how to hire the right person…
With Facebook valued at around $100 billion, Twitter and LinkedIn valued at around $8 billion a piece, and Google jumping into the social game, it is official: Social media is exploding.
It is no longer possible to ignore or deny the value that social media can have for your company or brand. It allows you to connect and interact with consumers in a genuine way that was never before possible.
It is real, and if you haven’t yet incorporated social media into your marketing strategy, you had better start soon. But you can’t simply jump on Twitter and start tweeting. It takes a comprehensive strategy to make social media work for your company.
Hiring a qualified social media manager is a great place to start. Here are seven tips for making sure you hire the right social media manager to handle your company’s social strategy:
1. Check their previous work
The right social media manager will be able to prove they can walk the walk. Like any other branch of your marketing strategy, social media has some well established success metrics. Facebook Insights provides daily feedback for the performance and growth of your brand’s reach. Facebook’s ad platform comes complete with a robust reporting system that calculates conversions and ROI. Twitter tracks followers, retweets and mentions.
A worthwhile social media manager will be able to point to previous work and illustrate how they were able to accomplish company ROI goals with a comprehensive social media strategy. Ask to see all of their work and the relevant metrics to prove that they have done more then set up a fan page and post the occasional tweet.
2. Ensure they have broad experience
The right social media manager must have broad and varied competencies. Managing social media will be a combination of advertising, community management, customer support, PR, crisis management, reporting and analytics. For this reason, you will want a jack-of-all-trades in the marketing sense. He or she must be able to handle it all, and all at once.
3. Look for traditional marketing experience
You may be looking for a social media manager, but you still want somebody who has a traditional marketing background. In order for them to understand your corporate goals and how social media fits your existing strategy, they should have experience that clues them in to the intricacies of managing a brand outside of social media. In other words, your social media manager must be more than a youngster who spends an obscene amount of time on Facebook.
4. Make sure they have social influence
Perhaps the most important success indicator is social influence. It takes more than regular posts to really develop social reach and engagement. You need a professional who has taken a company or brand and helped it establish real social influence.
Do a Klout check to see what they are made of. If the candidate’s past experience, or better yet their personal social brand, does not show a good influence ranking, they are probably not somebody you should entrust with your social strategy.
5. Are they versatile and current?
As good as a candidate’s previous strategies were, they might not be appropriate for your brand. Social media is, above all else, a dynamic and rapidly evolving industry. The right candidate will demonstrate adaptability and a love for unleashing the next great tactic. When interviewing, ask the candidate what his or her favorite new innovation is and how they would use it with your brand. Ask them about a recent Facebook platform change and what they think of it. Make sure they have a passion for being on the cutting edge and in the know.
6. Are they connected?
Another simple, yet great indicator that a candidate is right for your company is whom they are connected to in the social media world. You will want somebody that rubs elbows with other social media experts and stays in close contact with other innovators in the industry. Peruse their social network profiles and see who they have been talking and working with. As the old adage says, tell me who your friends are and I’ll tell you who you are.
7. Look for social grace
Last but not least, make sure your social media manager is in fact social. At its core, social media is marketing socially. A manger will be interacting with customers daily. Does the candidate come across as friendly and outgoing, or shy and hesitant? Chances are, a candidate blessed with social grace will be a more successful social media manager. After doing your own research, trust your instincts on this one.
Thanks, Jeff!
Jeff Herbst is a marketing strategist for MBA@UNC, the University of North Carolina, which allows students to receive an MBA online from a Businessweek top twenty ranked program. Outside of work he is an avid reader and kayaker.
Localization, Communication and the Corporate Website
July 19, 2011
I invited Emma Bartouche, from Applied Language Solutions, to write a post for us about some of the issues involved in creating multilingual websites.
How Well Does Your Website Travel?
When a leading entrepreneur contacted Applied Language Solutions about website translation, it probably came as a complete surprise to him that his content management system (CMS) didn’t support multilingual content.
Sometimes it is the blatantly obvious details that get overlooked, or it could well be that online marketing is not your forte. But for whatever reason, this is a classic example of this all too common mistake of website localization being an afterthought of the business.
Most businesses worth their salt realize that if your website is to compete with its peers internationally, website translation and SEO are a crucial part of your online strategy. Whether tackling it in-house or enlisting the help of an agency, if you are looking to introduce your website to foreign markets you need to be sure that the money you invest stands you in good stead to compete against the existing competition. Just because one set of keywords performs well in one country doesn’t mean the same words translated into the target language will perform so well. For example a producer of homemade jam might want to use the word jelly in the U.S.
Once you have ensured the CMS and back-end functionality will stand up to the demands of multiple languages and different scripts, the focus needs to be drawn to what’s on the page. As former German Chancellor, Willy Brandt once said:
“if I’m selling to you, I speak your language – If I’m buying, ‘dann muessen Sie Deutsch sprechen’ then you must speak German.”
I could quote a string of high profile case studies where literal translation of a brand’s corporate motto or product name has caused several red faces, but rather than make light of other companies misfortunes I’d rather draw your attention to the issues that need to be considered when emerging into new markets.
You may remember several years ago HSBC commissioned a number of TV ads which showed social faux pas and cultural differences abroad. The examples were humorous, but seemingly innocent mistakes can result in long lasting brand damage, leaving a bitter taste in the mouths of your target market.
To get off on the right foot it is essential you get your on page copy translated by a professional linguist who understands the genre of your brand and/or products; mainly because some markets require specialist understanding of the subject matter. Not to name names but when a popular IT company released its new tablet laptop in to the French market, the last thing the company wanted to be associated with was headache tablets!
To summarize, whether your online knowledge is in the know or just a ‘no’, here is a list of key considerations when branching out:
- Will the CMS support multilingual and ‘right to left’ content?
- Is the on-page copy optimized for the correct keywords in the target market?
- Could the on-page copy cause offence in any way?
- Is the website complying with cultural norms?
Thanks Emma!
Emma Bertouche is a Online Marketing Executive who takes a keen interest in social media, SEO, blogging and other online related topics. She currently works in the language translations market and writes for several websites and blogs. For more information or to enquire about getting your on and off line content translated visit www.appliedlanguage.com
How should CEOs Engage with Social Media
June 16, 2011
A guest post today from Jerry Burrows: if you have a CEO who is keen to embrace social media, how would you advise them?
How Should CEOs Engage With Social Media?
Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos
Source
Forbes’ article, ‘Yes, CEOs should Facebook and Twitter’, provides a sound argument for why CEOs should abandon their traditional prejudices toward social media and hop on the bandwagon.
The idea certainly has the support of “Web 2.0 evangelists [who] argue that social software can be used to boost productivity. They say it can facilitate an open-ended corporate culture that values transparency, collaboration and innovation. Most important, it can be an effective way to build a customer-centric organization that not only communicates authentically but also listens to customers and learns from that interaction.”
Blogs and social media can facilitate that genuine conversation between CEOs and customers–and encourage those customers to become brand evangelists.
If you need one example of how company CEOs can use social media to their advantage, look no further than Tony Hsieh, founder and CEO of online shoe and clothing retailer Zappos. Hsieh’s Twitter following is massive. He has just under 2 million followers–clearly, the man tweets hard. And Zappos is a more than successful enterprise for the 37-year-old entrepreneur: it sells about a billion dollars worth of shoes and accessories a year. (And Tony’s not the only one who tweets; at least 440 other employees do, too.) There’s even a dedicated microsite. So how can you replicate his success? How is it done?
Be Careful
Yes, the goal is transparency, affability, and authenticity. But there are limits to that kind of sharing, too. Be casual, but if your personal life is especially tumultuous, you may want to leave the details out. The golden rule? Don’t speak ill of anyone. No, not your competitors, either. Recall the social PR disaster that occurred in 2007 when Whole Foods CEO John Mackey made comments on various finance forums under a pseudonym attacking rival company Wild Oats Markets, and predicting that it would fall into bankruptcy. The result was a permanent tarnish on the Whole Foods brand image.
Don’t Spam
In an interview with Kevin Morris for Wikinomics, Zappos’s Recruiting Manager, Christa Foley, writes:
“It wouldn’t be in our culture to be salesy/pushy so we’re not using Twitter to promote Zappos just for the sake of promoting Zappos. We’re using it for what I think it was intended, which is a social network that we all enjoy.”
If you want to follow in the successful footsteps of Zappos, make your interactions on Twitter and Facebook as genuine as possible by avoiding spammy language. Use your microblogging platform to post useful links about topics that relate to your industry, reply to questions from inquisitive customers (or direct them to the appropriate source), handle customer service requests, etc. Transparency is key; other potential customers that come across your social media profile will be able to view and appraise your customer service dealings without the traditional barrier of secrecy.
Show Leadership
As the CEO, you’re the face of your company. Remember that you’re also setting an example for the rest of your employees. That means that you should use your social networks to remedy problems and address widely-held customer concerns. No, it’s not the same as indiscriminately airing out your dirty laundry; but it helps to keep your brand’s image fresh and timely. Moreover, don’t be afraid to link to blogs and press releases that quote you as an authority. Encourage others to take actions on a social issue that is important to you.
Celebrate Your Fans
The Zappos brand likes to give their fans recognition for their loyalty. Hold contests and competitions for your followers (maybe something to the tune of how many followers can you get to follow you), call out loyal retweeters, etc. It’ll make them more appreciative, and know that they’re the center of your brand. Ask them for their input and they’ll feel appreciated–turning them into even more passionate advocates in the end.
About the Author: Jerry Burrows is a freelance writer for Tektronix. Tektronix is a leading supplier of test and measurement equipment like a digital multimeter or a pulse generator.
Negative Feedback as Motivation
June 3, 2011
A guest post from Lindsay about negative feedback: something nobody wants, but we all have to deal with at some point. And if your organisation engages in social media, it is more likely that you’ll find out what people really think: negative as well as positive. So: how do you deal with it?
How Do You Deal with Negative Feedback?
Wouldn’t it be nice if all we ever heard were statements of reassurance and encouragement? Imagine a world devoid of criticism, misconception and condemnation. It would be a world full of warm fuzzies and butterflies and shiny happy people. But of course we don’t live in that world. We live in a reality that is often filled with more naysayers than supporters.
It’s how we deal with negativity that defines who we are, as individuals and as a business. Sometimes the critiques are warranted, and constructive. Other times, they are disheartening and destructive. But in any case we all need mechanisms to cope with negative feedback whether it comes from outside sources or inside our own minds. How we process and deal with criticism may in many ways define who we are.
From Customers
Every business depends on their customers to survive. We’ve all heard the expression that “the customer is always right.” But does that apply to when they tell us that we’re wrong? When a customer has a negative experience do you have a system of recourse for an individual to inform the appropriate parties? And is it widely publicized? A hotline number printed on a receipt isn’t always enough to let a customer know you care about what they have to say. When a customer is fired up enough to want to complain about something, they will. And if you don’t offer them a way to do it directly, they will find another outlet, and the internet is all too happy to oblige. From copious review sites, to social media there are plenty for channels for dissatisfied customers to vent. And if it winds up on the web, it may be there forever. With the recent insurgence of integrated local results complete with customer comments, keeping online buzz positive is more important than ever.
While sometimes it’s easier to chalk an unhappy customer up to an isolated incident, that assumption is usually a tactic for burying your head in the sand. If it happened to one person, it’s probably happened before and probably will again. That’s why collecting consumer feedback is one of the most crucial points for any business development plan. Finding out where your strengths and weaknesses are in the customer’s eyes is probably the most valuable insight any company can have. We need that external perspective both positive and negative to determine what areas still need work. If you aren’t readily accepting complaints, and dealing with them in a meaningful way, then you may be ignoring a huge problem. Taking the time to address negative comments is good for improving customer service as well as improving internal functions.
From Employees
No company has blissful employees all the time. We all grumble about the day to day grind and our petty quibbles with the corporate machine. But there’s a difference between meaningless grumbling and legitimate employee unrest. You hear phrases like ‘open door policy’ and ‘anonymous suggestion box’ but how true are these really? Is the boss’s door really open for innovators or just yes-men? Is the suggestion box really anonymous or is it right outside the nosy General Manager’s door? Are you really open to taking negative employee feedback, or are employees who offer constructive criticism viewed as ‘complainers’ and ‘pot-stirrers’? The truth is, many companies don’t have a place for employees to redress their deepest concerns.
Management sometimes has an unfortunate tendency to assume that they know best. But it’s the guys who are knee deep in the trenches that often have the most realistic view of where the biggest problems lie. Employees often have the most precise ideas about how to fix a flawed system. They know where the road blocks are or where efficiency can be improved. But that intel is only as useful as the internal process for collecting it. If all employee complaints fall on deaf ears that just don’t want to deal with ‘whiners’ you may be missing out on the innovation that could revolutionize your business.
From Ourselves
Sometimes the worst negative feedback comes from within. Our own insecurities can be the most crippling cynicism we face. How do we cope when the voices telling us that we’re struggling, are in our own heads? Obviously, math doesn’t lie and numbers don’t sugar coat the news if your bottom line is plummeting. That’s not the kind of negativity I mean. This has more to do with fear. Change is scary, and when it comes to taking the next big step in business sometime the only thing holding us back is our own doubts. Questions like ‘If I try something and fail, can I recover?’, ‘Why re-invent the wheel if what we have now is working?’, ‘If the company grows can we keep the small business culture we all love so much?’. While these are all pretty specific, they represent different areas of running a company that often come up for examination. Whether it’s offering a new product or service, changing an internal structure or expanding the staff these every day challenges can pose major anxieties.
There are always specific issues that we shy away from because they carry risk and taking risks is frightening. But the fact is if you’re thinking about making changes to your business, and you have been taking in regular feedback from customers and employees, you may already know everything you need. Their opinions and views can often drive the changes that your company needs to make, and when you base decisions based on research then it become a lot less terrifying. If the demand is there from your customers, then a new product or service has a market. If tasks are falling through the cracks in the office, that’s a mandate for an organizational alteration. If your people are overworked, then expanding the staff is essential.
Dealing with negative feedback is something every business must face. But deciding how and when to use negativity as motivation is what allows businesses to thrive. So the question of ‘how do you deal with negative feedback?’ is really a question of how do you accept criticism and use it to learn and become better. Sure, we all must filter out the white noise from what is legitimately helpful, but being able to make that distinction is crucial. And whether the negativity is from customers, employees or yourself figuring out what is valid and what can make you better is what truly characterizes a great business with a bright future.
Lindsay is a Corporate Journalist at i-Sight, an Investigation Software program designed to help increase corporate efficiency dealing with internal and external feedback Lindsay has worked as an internet marketer, freelance writer, brand consultant and manager.
Going Social: Internal or External Team?
May 10, 2011
This is a guest post from Carla Sanchez, discussing whether to outsource your social media activity, or to do it in-house. What do you think? Do let us know in the comments below.
Corporate Social Media: Outsourcing vs. Hiring a Team Internally
In the past few years, social media has quickly become one of the biggest online marketing tools available. According to Facebook, their site has 500 million active users, 50% of which log on in any given day. Some estimate that the number of Facebook users will double by the end of 2012. Twitter, the second largest social media site, had 175 million users as of the end of 2010. According to digitalbuzzblog.com, Twitter users send out an average of 55 million ‘tweets’ per day.
With the ever-growing popularity of social media, it is absolutely critical for corporations to develop a social media presence and utilize this medium to expand their customer base and build brand loyalty. The challenge for most companies is determining the best way to go about developing an effective social media marketing campaign. There are generally two ways to set up a campaign; outsource the process to an agency or hire a team internally. There are advantages and disadvantages to both options.
Outsourcing to an Agency
There are some potential advantages to outsourcing corporate social media campaigns to an agency, but there are also some pitfalls to be aware of as well.
Advantages
1. Quick Campaign Implementation
When using an expert agency to set up the social media campaign for the company, the agency can generally set things up much quicker than employees working in-house. This is because a good outside agency or consultant has vast experience setting up these campaigns and knows what steps to take. On the other hand, an in-house employee will most likely require a learning curve to get up to speed.
2. Increased Exposure
A well-established consultant or agency will likely have an existing network that has a wider reach than can be achieved by setting up an in-house campaign. This allows the company to leverage this exposure to grow their own social networks much faster.
3. Potential Cost Savings
An outside agency or consultant can potentially save the company a lot of costs vs hiring an in-house team. When you consider the time and money involved in hiring new employees and training them to the level of understanding how to effectively operate a social media campaign, then paying them benefits, sick time, etc. Not to mention the cost in office space, equipment, and paying employees for ‘down’ time. The costs of hiring an effective outside agency will most likely be less than an in-house team.
4. Experience in the Industry
Perhaps the greatest advantage to using an outside agency is the experience they have in running successful social media campaigns for other clients. This experience allows the agency to implement an overall strategy using an integrated system of social media channels and tools. This is likely to produce far more effective results than using an in-house team that is learning as they go.
Disadvantages
1. Campaign May Not Seem Genuine
The largest potential pitfall to outsourcing a social media campaign is the risk of not looking genuine to your customers. Since the essence of social media is having a two-way ‘conversation’ with your customers, it is important that they believe they are actually talking with the company, and not someone paid to send robotic messages that make no sense or indicate no understanding of the company or the brand.
This is very similar to the problem many companies have with outsourcing their call centers for sales and customer service to third world countries. They do this to save money, but many of their customers quickly realize that they are not talking to people who are truly part of the company, which in the long run damages the brand.
It is the job of a good outside agency or consultant to fully understand the company, the brand, and what they are all about, so that all the content created that goes out to their social networks will make sense, be useful for the customer, and build brand loyalty. However, not all outside agencies are created equal, so it is essential that if a company uses one, they get some references to make sure the particular agency they are considering is skilled in these areas.
2. Outside Agencies Have No Vested Interest
Even a very skilled outside agency is not likely to have the same level of commitment to the company as an in-house employee. Remember, an outside agency is usually managing several ongoing campaigns simultaneously, and if a mistake is made, it costs them a client, but it does not necessarily mean losing their job. An in-house employee running a social media campaign will be much more committed to making sure the messaging is correct, because their job depends on it.
For more details on outsourcing social media, go to SocialMedia Examiner.
Hiring an Internal Team
Hiring an in-house team to run the social media campaign of a company can be challenging and will require a great deal of commitment on the part of the company for it to be successful. As mentioned above, it can be very costly to hire and train an in-house team and bring them up to speed on how to successfully run a social media campaign. The financial costs alone can be staggering, but the time commitment is also an issue. It will often take several weeks to train an employee and bring them to the skill level needed to match the effectiveness of an outside agency.
Even after the in-house team is trained and running the campaign effectively, you still have the ongoing costs of office space, wages, and benefits. Another issue to consider is that many times, when an employee reaches the skill level to run a social media campaign, they may no longer want to stay at their present ‘job’ after seeing the opportunity to make more money using their social media management skills somewhere else.
Even with these potential pitfalls, the importance of the corporate brand is hard to put a price on, and therefore needs to be heavily guarded. Despite the costs and the potential for employee turnover, it is always better to have the social media messaging controlled in-house.
For more information on hiring an in-house social media team, go to Mashable.
What’s the Best Option?
The best option for companies developing a social media campaign will depend heavily on their individual situation. The size of the company and the size of the budget allocated for the campaign are important factors. A good solution for many companies will be a combination of outsourcing and an in-house team. In this scenario, a company may choose to outsource most of the technical aspects of setting up the campaigns and networking strategies, but assign in-house people to control the content and the ‘messaging’ of the campaigns, to insure that the brand is protected.
In most cases, it is a good idea for a company to consult an outside agency to handle at least part, if not all of the initial set-up of a social media campaign. The reality is that most companies don’t have in-house staff with the depth of understanding needed to set up and run an effective campaign. When choosing an outside agency or consultant to work with, it is critical for the company to have them thoroughly researched and make sure they have a successful track record. When the company name is on the line, they can ill afford to leave this important marketing process in the hands of novices.
Thanks Carla!
About the Author: Carla Sanchez is a freelance writer for Omniture. Omniture is the world leader at marketing analytics.
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