how to land a job in social media
DESCRIPTION
Presentation on how to land a job in social media at Social Media Week Berlin, #SMWBerlin. Suzanne gives tips on what students should study and what skills to have in order to excel in a career in social media, including branding yourself, creating a blog, and connecting to others via social media websites.TRANSCRIPT
How get a job in Social Media
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Suzanne McDonald | Content & Social Strategist
Designated Editor Speaking Series
@Sue_DesigEditor
#SMWberlinSMwork
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6 years Page 1
Masters in Journalism & Mass Communications BA in Journalism
Social Media Strategies professor
suzanne’s experience
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the challenges for digital natives
• A non-native audience of colleagues/bosses
• A lack of experience, which is natural
• An assumption that you may not have a strong work ethic
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Let’s address those challenges
Where does this information come from?
• University of Rhode Island Social Media Strategies students
• Designated Editor staff, mostly in their 20s
• I’m a Gen X, they said similar things about us
• Widely read Social Media books
• LinkedIn Answers survey with 30+ respondents
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VP of Creative ServicesVanessa Montes
Social Media Adviser at Nexus MarketingSocial Media Marketing and e-Commerce, Miami USA
New hires have to be • Creative• Marketing-oriented• Savy: mobile, web, video, design software, apps, social media• Great communications skills • And astute.
Expect very little training. Be ready to pick up quickly and leap.
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Find a jobJobs find you
__________
Socialnomics by Erik Qualman p.225
Tools to use
• Craigslist• Plaxo• LinkedIn• Video resume• Feedback from peers, bosses, subordinates• Search for those with the same name• Glassdoor
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Director of MarketingJohn Cass
^Newlogic,Strategic R&D consultingBoston USA
Planning a career in social media?
•Be very careful: The industry is still nascent.
•Consider marketing, communications or PR as a core competency
•Social media is part of that competency.
Corporate community managers are often low-paid, and don't have much influence on strategy.
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Digital natives’ advantages
What are your assets and how do you present them?
• Not just getting you, also getting your network
• You're willing to be accessible at any time
• They’ll know you more by digging into your profiles
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Senior Web Marketing ManagerDave Delage
Marketing BreakthroughsOttawa, Canada
I expect new hires to want the position that they are in.
Don't settle for something that isn't really what you want.
Don't take a job if you think you should be two levels higher.
Find a job you can't do without, and I bet you will find a way to meet expectations.
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Build brandyour
^1. Make your blog your storefront
2. Set up a professional blog
3. Establish your experience &abilities
4. Promote other people
5. Go beyond your blog
6. Network in person
7. Go multimedia
8. Pay it forward
9. Ask for the job
10. Make your intentions known
Social Media 101 by Chris Brogan p. 202
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DirectorAlastair McCann
^The New Pop Melbourne, Australia
I’m a fan of Dharmesh Shah in his Inbound Marketing book:
1. Hire digital citizens: people acclimitised to online.
2. Hire analytical people: marketing efforts must be analysed3. Hire for web reach: to leverage the online influence of new hire.
4. Hire content creators: marketing online is often about content.
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tools to use to land a job•Complete your profile
•Be professional
•Set up a new profile
•Hootsuite is your friend
•Get a smartphone
•Not what are you doing, but what interests you most?
•Give some Tweet love
•Utilize Search and hashtags
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get your blog on
•Summarize and elaborate on several posts and add your perspective
• Ask questions and then round up the replies
• Ask classmates and friends to contribute
• Link to thought-leaders, thank them for sharing their insights
• Look at Mashable, Digg, to see what you should write about
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get your blog on
• Embed YouTube
• Record your presentations
• Review the books you’re reading
• Schedule ahead
Search engine marketing firm director:"We expect all our employees to be capable of blogging and tweeting and encourage them all to do so. In the case of blogging we actually are requiring people to post a blog post periodically."
Make it multimedia
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how to structure • Lead with what you do most now and what you want to do
• Who you’d like to work for
• Tie it all together: How what you do/like to do would benefit your future employer
Social Media 101 by Chris Brogan p. 293
• Integrate your blog & Twitter events, calendar
• Upload to SlideShare
• Post questions to Answers
• Also consider Quora
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Check 'em out
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social media optimizer says:
Erica Friedman "Having 1000 friends on Facebook" is not the same as "having social media experience.”
Common sense in marketing would be to know the difference between an audience and a market.
Common sense about how people act, react and communicate would be a huge step forward for a candidate. They need to understand the difference between strategy and tactics and how each can be applied for a client.
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what they get
Interns Make Coffee Not Social Media Strategies
• They don’t know your brand / culture / perspective
• They don’t know your ethics or philosophies
• They have no vested interest
• Would you let an intern plan a major PR event?
• They know Facebook, do they know marketing?
• Can they relate to your target market?
• They are gone before you know itSocial Media Marketing by Li Evans Chapter 3
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Don't expect training
Jennifer Gorius Gosselin Recruiter | Social Media Trainer | Personal Branding Advisor In my field, new hires have to hit the ground running ASAP.
I think the days of extensive training, mentoring, etc. are gone.
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quick to skill up
Susan PaytonPresident, Egg Marketing & Communications: The Marketing Eggspert, Internet Marketing firm
Depending on what the new hire's role is, I'd say they have to be quick to pick up new skills and take on more than their job description.
For marketing, certainly a solid grasp of social media is necessary.
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you need to know
Christina Inge Digital Marketing, Measurement, Social Media Strategist Digital Marketing Manager OHO
Know what's appropriate, what's good quality.Strategy, employers understand, comes w/experience.
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you need to understand
Barbara Finer Marketing consultant
I want someone who understands two basic things:
1. What part SM plays in the whole marketing picture.
2. How the target customers in THIS industry who are involved in the buying decision use social media: what value do they find in it.
If I get a 3rd, it's how to monitor and analyze what's working and what isn't.
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larger issues at hand
Lionel Sim Director of Sales at TravelClick hotel e-commerce I feel that new hires who want to venture into e-commerce will need to be tech-savvy, passionate and also able to decipher the latest technology trends in the market. The problem often lies with the senior management who may not be that tech-savvy or inclined toward social media. Hence the gap between both parallels of expectations will definitely be a conflict source especially the implementation of these social media campaigns.
Hence, a good leader must first have a strong base knowledge and understand how to manage expectations to effectively solve the problem.
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it's not all about Facebook
Dave Delage Senior Web Marketing Manager, Ottawa, Canada A while back I had an intern working on ways to generate new sales for a flooring company. They suggested Facebook page, Twitter .... All really cool, very exciting ideas using cutting-edge stuff.
I find most Gen Y hires coming in are very in tune with the latest technology, and are eager to apply it to any situation, without performing the due diligence...
I think they need to spend more time thinking through why an idea will work.
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don’t overlook little things
Graham Clarkefounder, Dealicio.com, web service for web publishers
We want people that can learn, solve problems and be responsible for what they do.
Good communication skills are also important. Constantly amazed by grammar and spelling errors.
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think of yourself as a pro
• Look at the consultant’s website
• Who is on the consultant’s team (are they influential?)
• Is the consultant social?
• Who are the other clients?
• Do prior successes match up with you goals?
• Is it a laundry list or a real strategy?
Social Media Marketing by Li Evans Chapter 44
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tools can be taught
Douglas HaslamClient Services Supervisor, Voce Communications
My fear is that people will say "fluent in social media" or some such nonsense. Tools can be taught.
I would look for good writing skills, the ability to work quickly and creatively, and, I know this is a vague word, courage.
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multimedia & copywriting
Amy Rutter Digital Marketing Consultant at zero G media Ltd, Brighton-based digital media agency
I think a new hire essentially needs to be
•Able to be a copywriter and copyeditor
•Adapt writing style for print/web etc.
•Edit content of websites
•Make and edit videos
•Perhaps record sound for podcasts, etc.
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multi-skilled
Expected to have multiple skillsets. For the design and marketing industry, you need to be able to bring several things to the table.
•Knowledge of at least several different computer programs, the latest ones especially.
•Ability to dabble in HTML, or some other web language.
It's constantly changing so one needs to be flexible in their thinking and adaptable to new and improved technology.
Christine Jenkins, dubdubdub web design
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• How you fit into the big picture
• What a community manager does and how to measure impact
• How the company can engage in the conversation
• Measurement
• How to turn posts into leads
• 2-minute weekly reports of your activities
• Get to know 100 peers or experts
• How to integrate
social media experts should know
Strategic
Social Media 101 by Chris Brogan p. 224-5
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be an objective social curator
Salina Brown Experienced UX, Product and Visual Designer A blend of being an objective social curator along with being a social consumer.
I find all too often people attempting to build or distribute social utilities are not themselves social consumers.
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be smarter but ...
Be smarter than me when it comes to technology.
It's a different world ... and anyone coming out of college knows the ins and outs way more than I do.
Anyone 5 yrs younger than me knows 10x what I know about technology.
I'm actually okay with it, you should learn something new everyday.
AnnMarie Grohs Sales & Marketing Manager at Morton's The Steakhouse
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social media project managerMarcos Angelides Social Media Project Manager at MEC Interaction, international media agency network Social media has emerged (and is continuing to evolve) faster than university courses can design a curriculum.
Digital natives are teaching seasoned marketers
Whether someone has managed a social media campaign for an organisation or a social group is almost irrelevant: it's the understanding of the digital rules, features and behaviours which is key.
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final thoughts
Each discipline has their own set, but for social media you need to understand SEO, PR, writing, and a head for quickly adopting technology and metrics. – John Cass
A lot of it involves bringing passion and intellectual curiosity, and enough confidence in your creativity that you know you can find a way to meet the task at hand. – David Berkowitz
How get a job in Social Media
to^
Suzanne McDonald | Content & Social Strategist
Designated Editor Speaking Series
@Sue_DesigEditor
#SMWberlinSMwork