The Social Media Manager (part 3 of the social media value exchange)

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advocates, blogs, branding, Facebook, Imagine, Michael J Lis, PR Firms, social meda managers, Social Media, Social Media Value Exchange

How important is a social media manager?
EXTREMELY!

A Game Plan is important, you need to know where you are and where you are going. Advocates are important too, you need help to execute and extend the reach of your social media strategy.

But, the social media manager is the single most important piece to the social media value exchange. Why?
First – let me loosely define what a social media manager does. For most companies and organizations this is the person that is in charge of managing social media channels (i.e. Facebook, Twitter and others). They usually are working off an editorial calendar for content posts but most of them are finding creative ways to interact with a company’s fans.

Could this be one of the hardest (and most under-paid) jobs on the internet? In my opinion yes. This person acts as an outpost for:

• content (pictures, videos, marketing materials and promotions)
• fan (comments, complaints, stories, ideas and questions)
• creative thoughts and ways to get noticed
• mood of the company through social media
• tone of the company through social media
• outcomes of the company and fans

Basically, anything having to do with the company – the social media manager has a hand in it. If I have to use an analogy I envision the social media manager as this lone person (in old western times) at this outpost right before you begin your journey into the wild, wild west. What’s comical is that Marketing Firms, PR Firms and even internal companies don’t give enough credit to a person that is literally the gatekeeper of some of the best information pertaining to a companies brand.

Most social media managers go un-noticed. Some have risen to stardom – like AppleGirl and the Kodak Girl.

I’m an expert – but there’s tons of people that have written better journalist articles on social media managers than myself. I even had a guest blogger share her experience on this.

Some great reading material (if you want to read further)

• Five Qualities of a Good Social Media Manager by Chris Nemy
• Social Media is not an entry level position by Erik Deckers
• and our own post by How I accidentally became a PR Specialist by Lindsay Baish

I”m also inviting all social media managers out there to send a comment… let me know your thoughts on one of the toughest and yet rewarding jobs in the land.

How I accidentally became a PR specialist: a social media tale

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blogs, conversation, Fortune 200, Lindsay Baish, Linkedin, Michael J Lis, PR, PR Firms, PR Specialist, Public Relations, Social Media, Social Media and Public Relatons, social media as a PR tool, Social Media Tales, The Chatter

Ladies and Gentlemen – the Imagine blog has our first guest blogger. I’m happy to introduce you to:

Lindsay Baish

Lindsey is a social media consultant, instructor, and enthusiast who hails from Chicago. She is currently residing in Houston where she believes it’s way too hot to function on a daily basis. Lindsay is the author behind “The Chatter,” where she posts her observations in the world of online media. Lindsay is currently in between jobs but you can learn more about her onLinkedIn. Or follow her on Twitter - @ElFury.

——————-

Enough of introductions, watch your driving, hide your cell phone from the stewardess and recharge your iPad for a great blog post from Lindsay.

How I accidentally became a PR specialist: a social media tale

Full disclosure: I’m not good at writing press releases. I consider myself a pretty decent writer, having won some journalism awards in high school and later writing articles in college, so this is a pretty sore subject for me.

When I was studying strategic communications in college, public relations was my least favorite unit. It was those stupid press releases. More often than not, I would get caught up in dizzying rhetoric until I couldn’t even remember the original purpose of the piece.  All that my public relations education taught me was to cross “PR Specialist” off my potential careers list.

But then I became a social media manager for a Fortune 200 company, and suddenly, I had to become VERY good at managing the public.

Every day that I logged on to our company’s Facebook and Twitter pages was like another day in a battle zone.  As my old boss used to say, we were juggling kittens: patching up a bruised ego here, mediating an argument there, answering tough questions all the time.  I had to become intimately aware of our online public, anticipate their responses, and understand the opportunities they presented.

When my green employer partnered with a controversial soft drink and food corporation for Earth Day, my PR skills were definitely put to the test. Our Facebook page is well known for having passionate, sometimes rabid, green followers. People weren’t so thrilled about our new business venture. I had to respond with answers that not only represented our brand and could mitigate intense conversations, but I had to come up with them FAST.  I felt like I was playing some high stakes game of Duck Hunter.

Our public relations fire on Earth Day revealed some interesting truths. While I was at the event in New York where we were announcing the partnership, our brand manager was back at the home office helping me respond to Facebook feedback.  This brand manager is one of the best I’ve ever met; his attention to detail is amazing. He is able to envision a brand’s direction so perfectly. But big picture thinking and crafted thought are the opposite of what you need in the social media arena. It would take him twice as long to write a response to an angry follower than it would for me so I ended up jumping in and managing the conversations myself.

He and I had a good laugh about it later, but it showed us why he’s the brand manager and I was the brand evangelist. We both had the same messaging in mind, but the way we share that message is entirely different. He’s painstaking and thorough. I’m conversational and immediate. These are great qualities for a social media manager, but it’s those same qualities that make it so hard for me to write a good press release.

I’ve since left that company and have been on the prowl for work. I have seen many ads for social media professionals, and I think that most employers don’t put enough emphasis on the need for someone who has strong public relations skills (actually, I don’t think enough companies put emphasis on social media as a PR tool in general, but I digress). In order to be successful as “the voice” of a company, companies need to find someone who:

1. Understands the brand inside and out, so creating quick responses comes naturally
2. Is devoted to knowing the social media public and can interact with them in a meaningful way
3. Is able to monitor sentiment and respond appropriately. A lot of times, this means that this person needs to have a very level, cool head
4. Writes powerfully, but briefly
5. Works well under pressure
6. Is knowledgeable of other social networks and groups that can help expand the brand’s message, and, more importantly, can pitch to these groups through social media

How does your company handle public relations on your social networks? What fires have you had to put out online? And more importantly, who handles these types of situations for you? I’d love to hear more stories from the front line!

(stage 2) Social Media

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community, corporate bloggers, engaging, Indeed.com, Jordan McCollum, learning, listening, Mashable, Michael J Lis, people, PR Firms, Social Business, Social Business Design, Social Media, Social Media Ecosystem, social media policy, Social Media Strategy, social media tactics, SPECK Media, Stage 2 Social Media

By the looks of things we are in March – March Madness, Spring Cleaning, Green Grass all the signs of a new stage. The same is starting to hold true for social media. Gone are the days of evangelizing what social media actually is or trying to convince organizations that they need a Twitter account. By now most organizations get it, they understand that social media channels are here to stay and that listening, engaging and learning are top priorities.

March is here and we have officially begun (stage 2) Social Media.

Stage 2? Huh?

I would like to officially define (stage 2) Social Media as: companies that have a small social media team (usually consisting of 2 people or more) that are working on TOO MUCH STUFF. Thus (stage 2) Social Media.

Yes, it’s true, more companies have moved past (stage 1) social media the adoption stage and have graduated to (stage 2). Some quick stats to back all this up. I like images so here’s a few.

The first is an image from a great blog by Jordan McCollum read it here, the big headline is that 29% of companies have a social media policy. Meaning they have some form of rules and guidelines for social media. 29% doesn’t seem like a big number but it is. Policy is huge when it comes to companies, policies need to be thought out, crafted and approved by multiple levels of an organization. I would bet that by the end of 2010 we will see this number at 67%. Hence (stage 2) Social Media.

Next up a Mashable survey about what social media tools companies are using. I’m not surprised that the top three on this list are the most used social media channels and the easiest ones to use. Hence (stage 2), internal social media people utilizing the most obvious social media channels and making sure that they build a foundation for a social media ecosystem.

Moving on to my last portion of data – Job trends from Indeed.com. This trend points to the sharp January increase in social media jobs for the year What started out with a rise in corporate bloggers and web 2.0 practitioners has now completely been handed off to social media folks. Hence (stage 2).

So the norm that we have entered into is that “The Acme Company” now has two or more people working on social media strategy, tactics and analytics on a regular basis. A smile just came across my face. Is this good news? Heck yes! It proves to me that companies are starting to believe in the external as well as internal value of social media. They have taken the time to hire some very smart people in order to make sure that this value is achieved. I don’t care how good the social media agency, PR firm or Marketing firm is – no one understands a business better than the employees that work for it. Having social media minded individuals within companies is the best way to collaborate in order to build a community that works.

That’s really the most important statement in this post “building a community that works”. One thing that I preach more than anything else is that social media initiatives and tactics are only as good as the ‘story’ they tell, without a compelling story you have nothing. Having a social media team within company is key to building this story and then articulating and letting it grow through the community.

So welcome (stage 2) Social Media and a huge HELLO to all the newly formed and existing social media teams. My company and myself are here to help – so when you wake up every morning you don’t have to feel like….(didn’t have a pic of Superman handy).

The empty (s m ) strategy

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advocates, blogs, buzz period, Chad Richards, conversation, empty social media strategy, listening, Michael J Lis, PR Firms, Slideshare.net, Social Media, Social Media Strategy, social media tactics, twitter

I wasn’t going to write a blog post today, I just had too much work to do. Like other strategy-type people I started to browse through Slideshare.net to find a good presentation on either social media, branding or something that could help me get inspired this morning. After paging through a few decks on social media strategy I started thinking how empty the content was. Almost every presentation on social media focused on the same points:

• The best channels are: Linkedin, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Blogs
• Listen to your fans or customers
• Retweet stories
• Search for advocates

Besides the above – there was the endless graphs and stats explaining how social media is the ‘end all be all’ and that every company out there needs to be involved in social media. I grew tired of  looking for some new content, a new idea. Then it struck me just how empty social media strategy can be for companies that are trying to adopt one.

I believe that there’s a few reasons for this – obviously I would love to hear your thoughts. My belief is that we are still in the buzz period of social media, so there’s going to be a lot of snake oil salesmen and a lot of marketing and PR companies that post presentations and thoughts that are just copies of other presentations and thoughts. I think we have reached a point where we just have copies of copies out there on the internet.

In my opinion a true social media strategy is one that does the following:

• Investigates and Researches a company’s customers and social media universe
• Identifies (not only the obvious social media channels) but also niche and local social media channels
• Determines a road-map and time-line for all social media tactics
• Defines the actions within each tactic (I need to write another post about just this)
• Implements and Collects all information from the channels and tactics
• Continues the conversation

So if your current social media strategy feels empty and is missing the above. I suggest you apply the the six points listed.

After endless searching I finally found a presentation online that I thought did a good job of outlining a strategy. Thanks Chad Richards

Social Media Landscaping for Dummies

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Brian Solis, conversation, Facebook, FutureWorks, people, PR, PR Firms, Social Business, Social Business Design, Social Media, social media landscaping, Social Media Strategy, social media tactics, social networking, Starbucks My Idea Site, users, why social media

I was talking with a friend of mine this afternoon, obviously about social media. My friend who is in the Health Care industry was pointing out that he was un-aware of all the social media channels out there (besides Facebook & Twitter). He also brought up an interesting point that I sometimes forget. His point was: that if I was selling him services in social media he would rather know less about the process and more about all the social media channels available and how they are categorized. Basically, if he had to get out his branding message, what mix of channels should he use and why?

Simple question right?

As this big social media evangelist that I am, my answer to him was… “well you obviously know many of them and what is more important is what your goal is and leave the channel picking to me.”

The more I thought about it, the more I believe his point is valid.

We as evangelists in social media need to always keep in mind the audience that we are talking to. People think end result when it comes to business offerings or services. When you are selling a car – the customer wants to know all the cars and options available to him/her. They don’t always care about the process it took to build the car. End result, nuff said.

Back to the conversation with my friend – I quickly called up for him two really good landscaping models on social media landscaping – this one by Brian Solis of FurtureWorks.  As we further develop and carve out this fledgling industry of social media, we need to always be aware of the information the client needs to be able to make informed decisions. Social Media Landscaping models like this help clients understand the options.

I also started looking at the model in more detail and noticed that besides all these channels in the landscape there were social media tactics that were not represented. Like and Idea website (encouraging users to add comments, suggestions and feedback). It reaffirmed my belief in the power of social media and social networks – but more importantly made me realize that we need to continually update these models – especially the landscape ones, not only for clients but also for social media practitioners.

Is there Blended Media – among paid & earned media?

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Best Buy, blended media, bought media, earned media, integrated marketing campaigns, Kevin Dugan, Michael J Lis, Pete Blackshaw, PR Firms, Social Business, Social Media, Social Media Strategy, Twelpforce

I’m probably the biggest cynic when it comes to anything – especially in my industry. I’ve been critical of PR Firms for a while now but after having a conversation with a great PR person & friend in Chicago yesterday afternoon – I decided this morning to see what the take is on social media (and earned media) from a PR angle. This morning I was reading a post on  the Strategic Public Relations blog by Kevin Dugan.

He posted a great article on Considering Blended Media where he writes:

Early in my career, I kept paid media and earned media as separate as church and state. This was in part a reflection of my passion for public relations. As various marketing disciplines were more siloed back then it was easy to do. As the integrated marketing campaigns I worked on grew in size and budget, I saw how much paid media and earned media need each other. In some instances one serves as ground cover for the other as part of the campaign strategy.

As for myself -  for a long time I have tried to keep Paid Media apart from Earned media. My thinking behind this was simply because customers, users and listeners could easily decipher between the two and if they were inter-mixed (with Blended Media see visual below) then the whole Earned Media campaign or strategy would suffer – and trust would be gone.

I’m trying to change my thoughts on this. I think the examples that Kevin points to are very valid, I would also add the Best Buy example of using Paid Media commercials to promote the Twelpforce (Twitter support tactic).

I really believe that the “boxes” on all the models and presentations out there are going to change.

In the next couple of years we are going to enter a world where marketing, not just branding exists in the hands of the public. By this I mean – the public will control the brand, the marketing and the final direction that an organization sets out to establish for either a brand or a product.

Why? Because now there are too many tools / channels for customers to make their voices heard. This is why social media is so confusing and sometimes scary to organizations. The message (the story) usually initiates with the organization but eventual could be changed or manipulated by the users.

Right now, strategy firms, PR firms and thought leaders in PR and social media are trying to build models that define the guidelines for social media – we are doing this in part (to understand) but also so that there’s something to sell to companies (I’m honest about it). The truth of the matter is that there are no precise models that can describe what happens when social media is involved. Earned Media can go in so many different directions. I feel anyone that tells you otherwise is lying to you.

The best thing that us as strategists and organizations can do is to understand every facet of earned media (social media) so that we are aware of things like profiles, tactics, strategies, game plans. We need to be better listeners and more intelligent marketers. Below is Pete’s Model (Blended Media) wanted to give him a shout out as well. Feel free to count me in on the next panel discussion – I would love to be part of it.

Social Media does it belong in PR firms or with agencies?

Tags

PR Firms, Sapient, Social Media, why social media

I apologize to all my loyal readers for not posting anything in a while. My wife recently had our third child so I’ve been kinda preoccupied as of late. But, I’m back in the groove.

In the last two weeks I’ve come across this question a lot. Does social media belong to PR firms or with agencies? A strong case can be made for both and I’m not going to waste words detailing the reasons. My thoughts on this is that I don’t believe that social media resides with either.

Social media is simply a collection of tactics that belong to a much larger approach or strategy. My suggestion to any company looking into social media is that they should draft a strategy for using it. A strategy which consists of (key business goal, drivers to that goal, levers that move the drivers and tactics) by tactics I mean – Twitter, Facebook, blogs, community sites, applications.

Without setting the proper strategy a Facebook fan page does nothing – how would a company measure success or determine initiatives in order to direct the FB fan page? While social media might be considered the (fast new luxury car on the road) without a strategy and direction companies are driving around in circles on a test track.

So getting back to the point – I would say that social media should be done by strategy firms and strategic consultants.