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.
The Network and the Corporate Audience
June 22, 2011
What do you think about The Network?
No, it’s not the latest dark cyber-thriller, but the newly launched newsroom on the Cisco site.
Unusually, it was launched with a YouTube video with cartoon characters and explosions; I don’t know of any other corporate site section launched on YouTube, do you? (If you do, please let us know in the comments below!)
There’s lots to like:
- The design is crisp and clean, and there is a range of good integration of social elements: Facebook, Twitter and Flickr, and a list of links to coverage of Cisco elsewhere. There’s even a widget showing news that can be embedded on your own website, should you want to. And comments are enabled.
- The topics covered are appropriate to the company, and there is an impressive list of contributing writers – each with a bio, links to their own online spaces, and a list of the articles by them available on this site (with dedicated RSS feed available).
- There’s a Topic Page Manager, who is named, and their Twitter handle provided. There’s even an image of each, though sadly, the videos have been removed from YouTube. This is a nice touch, and makes the topic pages more welcoming.
- And on the All News page, there’s a good range of filters, to make tracking down items of interest easier.
When you click through, some of the links go to newly designed pages (press releases and articles), and some (the blog links) to the pre-existing pages. This smart new design does make some of the older pages look a little dated in comparison…
What’s in it for the journalist?
The new press release pages include sections for Related Information (mostly photos) a link to the RSS feed, and Supporting Resources (though on at least one of the releases I looked at, these go to home pages rather than directly to useful information).
Note the record of the number of shares… while I have seen the number of likes, tweets and visits before, a record of the number of people who have emailed the page to another is unusual.
The Press Contacts page is nicely handled, with a dedicated email address and phone number for each contact, and an explanation of their interest area – so the visitor is more likely to find the right person. And the filter option here is a good idea, given the number of potential contacts.
Interestingly, there’s a ‘hands-off’ editorial approach, so it is much more of a news hub than a resource for those wishing to write about Cisco. Their aim is to create, curate and share content on relevant technology content, not simply to spit out corporate press releases.
The corporate resources are available via the footer, or by a small link in the top right services bar, which is where to find executive bios, contacts, and links to request B-roll and logos.
Typically, in a corporate newsroom or media section, there would be an image gallery, with images of executives, products, buildings… Alternatively, images of executives would be available for download with the executive biographies. Here, though, there is a PDF biography available, but not an image. This would seem to be a shortcoming, as it means that there is less that can be picked up and reused elsewhere. This may be part of the plan, though: their aim is to get repeat visitors, and to generate conversation on their site.
The YouTube-hosted videos can be picked up and embedded elsewhere, so it is really only the images that puzzle me. I haven’t found any indication that the images used as part of the press releases and on the site are available for reuse, but perhaps I missed something.
Curiously, the alerting service is hidden behind a small icon in the footer, and is SMS only, not email. Is this part of what seems to be becoming a trend, to reduce the alerting service options?
What do I think?
Overall, I like it, though I do wonder whether it provides enough of a resource for two key elements of their audience:
- journalists looking to cover the company
- bloggers looking to pick up and reuse content on their own sites
It will certainly provide a lot to mull over, for those of you responsible for maintaining the media sections of your own corporate websites.
What do you think? Let us know in the comments below…
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.
Importance of Media Studies: Next Steps in Social Media
June 13, 2011
‘Next Steps in Social Media’ was the title on the programme; the speaker (Dr Paul Coulton) had apparently wanted to call it something much more earthy…
This was a seminar organised by InfoLab21, and I don’t remember academia being so much fun. For example, Dr Coulton has a database full of tweets referencing the Royal Wedding (what insights is he planning to mine from those?) and showed us a number of slides tracking the flow of tweets and Facebook likes during the course of the X Factor.
Popular culture? Well, yes, but a long way from the popular perception of media studies. His analysis demonstrated, for example, that the volume and rate of tweeting about the X Factor was not reflected in behaviour and in the actual results: one candidate, although with a significant quantity of social approval, actually received fewer votes. However, even if social approval can’t be used to predict the result, business decisions can usefully be made—and no doubt are being made by the media moguls—by analysing the difference between the demographic using social media to express their views, and that which acts.
The seminar discussed theories of how social networks are designed to meet some of our basic psychological needs. For example:
- Facebook supports the need to maintain close ties within a group by ‘grooming’ behaviour; small social interactions that recognise the ‘other’ as significant, and reassert the ties between individuals
- Twitter supports our love of gossip: he said this; she did that; pass it on.
If you can understand something of human psychology, then you can see how our behaviour on social networks can be – and is being – manipulated into behaviours that can benefit someone else, such as a company. Often these behaviour manipulations are overt, or can easily be spotted with experience… if you do X, you’ll get Y and we’ll get Z.
But sometimes it is less clear to the individual. Without at least a superficial understanding of some psychological theories of reinforcement, for example, individuals may well remain ignorant of the extent to which they are being manipulated: such as by being rewarded with badges for repeated behaviours (for growing 5 different kinds of tree in Farmville, for example, or by returning repeatedly to check in at the same location to retain their mayoral position via FourSquare).
In another example, people may not be aware that they are training themselves into addictive behaviour by repeatedly checking for new email, or retweets; the intermittent reward is more satisfying than if they were rewarded every time.
Manipulation is of course true of offline activity as well, and for all that our children are categorised as digital natives, this kind of hidden persuasion online may remain hidden from them, just as it may be offline. My father tells of a colleague who educated his children to ask themselves ‘what’s the lie?’ every time they saw an advert. While I wouldn’t go this far, I do think that an understanding of how such things work is valuable.
And that, I think, should be at least part of the point of ‘media studies’.
Systems Thinking: No Man is an Island
June 6, 2011
On Wednesday evening, I saw a play (in the world’s oldest surviving music hall) about the revolution of thought in the 16th century: that we are not at the centre of the universe, but merely a part of it.
This inversion resulted in a loss of certainty and belief; and for some, a loss of power. Against this background was enacted John Donne’s struggle for authenticity (consistency in belief and action) set against his financial responsibilities.
Not a typical Wednesday evening for me, but it was followed by a Thursday at the most recent Social Media in a Corporate Context conference, and there was a surprising similarity in theme: disruption and change; financial drivers; authenticity.
Much of the discussion was about social media as a disruptive influence, and the effect that this is having on organisations:
- the need to work together as a networked system, rather than in a command-and-control structure
- the need to restructure to accommodate changes in communication styles and audience expectations
- the importance of the financial dimension
- the need for both transparency and authenticity: show it how it really is.
A curious synchronicity.
Highlights
Highlights of #SMCC2011 for me were:
Simon Tucker, CEO of AIM listed marine communications specialist Software Radio Technology, who talked about using a live webcast to communicate with his shareholders. He used RNS to alert people to the webcast, and asked people to email in questions to drive the content of the webcast. He received 600 emails, and hundreds tuned in. Trading volume doubled within a week of the webcast; the shareholder base went up by 30% over the four weeks after the webcast; and the share price went up.
Key phrase: ‘social media has to generate financial benefit’
John Shewell, Head of Comms at Brighton and Hove City Council, talking about mending the disconnect between how people felt about Brighton, and how they perceived the council, beginning by mapping out the local social networks and communities, and trying to understand the residents real concerns rather than making assumptions: a genuine listening exercise and opening up of dialogue. Then a real empowerment of staff, making them curators, rather than controllers, of community assets. He’s now writing the new operating model for a networked council.
Key phrases: ‘relinquishing power’ and ‘restructuring’
Paul Taylor, Team Head at Central Office of Information, talking about using mobile and social media for recruiting. The RAF has set up 8 people in the RAF team with mobiles to keep potential recruits up to date with RAF life using Flickr & Twitter. The RAF also uses YouTube, Bebo, Facebook, live chat and embeddable widgets to meet potential recruits where they are online.
Key phrase: ‘blurred boundaries’
Not all the sessions can be shared in detail, or the speakers named (and some of these were excellent – make sure you’re there next time) but other snippets, both small and large in impact, include:
- an organisation preapproving blog posts, but tweets—which obviously need immediacy—are reviewed weekly by management to see if they are on track
- another one restructuring internally as a result of social media; the boundaries between the audiences collapsed
- an organisation becoming less territorial as a result of global communications
- a note that a company retweeting a customer would fall within the Advertising Standards Authority remit
Three soundbites from the day:
- social media is like a barometer: not the most accurate tool, but gives a good idea of what the weather is like out there
- social media is not a strategy but a tactic to change behaviour and improve an organisations reputation
- the role of communicators is changing
- large corporations are the last bastion of feudalism
They made us work too: creating an iPad app in a day. We spent 20 minutes in groups discussing one question each, and coming up with video or text content which a team of developers converted into an app within hours. Our table played an unspoken game of Hearts with the pen – guess who ended up documenting our discussion? You can see a PDF version via the TKGB blog.
Thanks to Communicate Magazine for another excellent event.
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