Job Description Help

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Permalink Reply by Bonnie Ann Cain, APR on January 14, 2009 at 1:21pm

What an exciting opportunity for someone!

I think it would be particularly important for this person to be highly organized and detail oriented. You also need someone who genuinely enjoys learning. They will need a good understanding of popular social networks, but also an interest in experimenting with new tools as they develop. I would think you'd want someone who is established in a variety of social networks and who has employed social media tools on behalf of clients, even if it is not their primary assignment.

This will be an interesting search because you need someone with both the tech skills and the people skills. Best of luck!

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Permalink Reply by Rob Crissinger on January 14, 2009 at 1:41pm

Thank you Bonnie. I knew you'd have good insight for me on this. I appreciate it. -- RC

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Permalink Reply by Bill Handy on January 14, 2009 at 3:50pm

Wow, this is awesome and I am excited about the possibility the ideal candidate might be a current member of this community. Note to self, add job posting section...

My thoughts align with Bonnie's and would add the importance of understanding how these (sm) strategies/tactics align with an organization's overall objectives. In other words, the candidate still must have strong strategic planning skills. Too many people forget their basic pr 101 and jump head first into the tactics with little regard to how they impact the objectives and goals. That being said, they must be knee deep in the technology and willing to experiment and if possible have an outlet to experiment with... almost a Petri dish of sorts.

A few other thoughts/criteria:
* Someone who currently uses social media and can explain why they choose to work with the tools they do
* Understands the value of research and the ability to coordinate
* Psychic - has the ability to see the future or at least guesstimate direction it is heading
* Works well with uncertainty and can respond quickly to signals of change
* Persuasiveness and the ability to put clients at ease regarding their possible shift to social media and other technical elements (cloud computing, cellular communication, etc.). I would also add the ability to sell the investment value of social media when a client is considering where to put their money.
* Sense of humor
* Ability to work with limited budgets and be able to offer equally effective and less expensive solutions

That is all I can think of at the moment. If anything else crosses my mind I will post it.

Let me know when you are ready to post the job, I think we can give it some space/promotion on the front page.

-Bill

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Permalink Reply by Rob Crissinger on January 15, 2009 at 9:48am

You rock, Bill. Thanks! I'll send you the final job description when we're ready to post. -- RC

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Permalink Reply by Rob Crissinger on January 15, 2009 at 9:50am

Thank you for the great feedback, Chris. Much appreciated. -- RC

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Permalink Reply by Jon Fisher on January 16, 2009 at 4:24pm

I would like to elaborate on Bill's "Psychic" criteria. A good way to measure to how well they are plugged in to "the know" would be to ask them what new media personalities/communities they follow. If they can rattle off names like, Giovanni Gallucci, Leo Laporte, Amber MacArthur, TWiT, net@nite (a personal favorite), commandN, Revision3, Merlin Mann, etc., then there is a good chance that they are genuinely passionate about social media.

I would think you would want someone who could be described as a "professional geek".

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Permalink Reply by Bill Handy on January 16, 2009 at 5:27pm

Awesome point and thanks for the additional people to follow... um, I mean, yeah, I follow all those people already... ahem...

-Bill (who is heading back to his tweetdeck to do some searches)

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Permalink Reply by Rob Crissinger on January 16, 2009 at 5:39pm

Nice addition. Looks like the list of people I follow needs some attention too. Ha. I recognize Giovanni and Leo, but not the others. I'm on it. Thanks Jon.

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Permalink Reply by Jon Fisher on January 16, 2009 at 5:55pm

Not to get too far off topic, but Giovanni is working on a Social Media "Brain Food" blog post that will list essential podcasts, blogs and personalities to follow in the social media world. It should be posted sometime in the near future.

I'll put together a short list of my must-haves and post it this weekend.

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Permalink Reply by Rob Crissinger on January 17, 2009 at 11:15am

Cool. Looking forward to Brain Food and JF's must-haves.

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Permalink Reply by Dan Lovejoy on January 21, 2009 at 2:08am

Hi Rob,
Wow - you've gotten some excellent advice here. I'd like to add some crotchety old man rhetoric, if you don't mind. I promise not to shoo you off my lawn or talk about walking uphill both ways in the snow.
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I think it's very easy to go down the primrose path with social media, succumbing to trendiness, buzzwords, and the unsupported pronouncements of innumerable self-proclaimed social media experts. I think just a tiny bit of skepticism will serve you well, if for no other reason than it will help you understand your customers, who I suspect are quite skeptical of social media. In addition to other excellent advice you've received, I would add two interview questions:

1) Tell me how you are going to add to Schnake Turnbo Frank's bottom line with your expertise. In broad strokes, outline the business development plan for your position.

How is this person going to help you get new business? What support will they provide to your sales staff (if you have sales staff) Do they have a plan to bring in new business through free/paid content strategies? Through seminars or workshops? Can they write the content, do the training, or make sales presentations?

2) Once more, in broad strokes, outline a pitch to one of our clients showing how social media will help them meet their core business objectives.

"Social media" is fuzzy, engagement is hard to measure, and there is frankly a lot of hot air in the "social media" balloon. It seems that many social media experts have forgotten that any PR or marketing strategy must meet the clients' core business objectives. How do you measure the worth of a follower/friend? Does this number translate to increased sales, donations, or newsletter subscriptions? What tools will they use to measure effectiveness? What formulas? How will they know if their projects are successful?

Now, I don't care to monetize my followers, but I don't expect my customers to have such romantic notions of social media. I suspect your customers need hard numbers rather than anecdotes. They need to know the potential upside of the proposal you're putting on the table and the risks if it fails.
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For professionals, social media is a means to larger PR objectives. It is more than a strategy - it may even be a new paradigm (erg.. hate that word ;-) But it doesn't change the fundamentals of business. It still has to pay the bills, elicit donations, or prompt people to act politically or socially.

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Permalink Reply by Rob Crissinger on January 21, 2009 at 6:41pm

Amen brother! Thank you for sharing your insight in this forum. The ability to think in terms of business development planning will be key for those applying for this job. They can expect to hear the questions you presented during the interview process. Thanks again. -- RC

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