I think we can all agree by now that social media is here to stay. As such, the importance of formulating a social media strategy, executing on it, educating and aligning the whole organization, is paramount. This is why your social media manager / director is going to be a crucial hire. Someone asked me on Wednesday night at the SFAMA event: “How do I find someone good to lead social media and community building efforts? What are some success characteristics?” This is a very big question, and one I hear often, so I thought it merited its own blogpost. First of all, let me preface the below by saying that some of the characteristics for success in your field will be particular to you, as well as a lot of the differences will be dictated by whether you are a B2C or a B2B (otherwise known as B2B2C) organization. Based on my observation, however, all successful social media and community people share the following characteristics (although this post skews a bit more to social media management than community management). There are definitely overlaps between social media and community management, but it’s important to realize that they are fairly distinct disciplines. For differences between community management and social media management, check out a post I’ve written, as well as this post by Rachel Happe.
- Passion: You may agree or disagree here, but I think the single most important characteristic in any people-facing job is passion. If you are truly passionate, you will easily develop a lot of the other characteristics below, as well as learn competencies. It’s also one of the most difficult characteristics to fake; if you aren’t passionate, people can tell. There are several reasons why passion is paramount. Firstly it’s an all-consuming job, so if you really don’t love it with every fiber of your being, it will be drudgery and you will burn out quicker than you type your next tweet. Secondly, people can tell when you don’t really care, and if you are in the frontlines evangelizing your company, you won’t garner enough credibility in the market. Passion is contagious, and the best sales people are the natural ones. At the same time the toughest sales job you will ever do is on yourself; so if you are truly passionate, committed and knowledgeable, you won’t have trouble influencing others without “selling”.
- Domain expertise and credibility: As I mention above, the passionate person with a strong capacity for learning, will learn competencies particular to your company quickly. Therefore, don’t make a mistake of hiring based on a couple of technical skills over the characteristics in this article — those can always be taught. However, you do need to evaluate this person’s professional credibility in the general space you are in. I’d certainly recommend listening to social media conversations to understand who the formidable bloggers, thought and conversation leaders are, and either hire them or rely on their word-of-mouth recommendations. Because this person will be the “face” of your company, you want to make sure they are credible and know what they are talking about. Check out this brief video I created on finding the right people through social media.
- Natural Evangelism: Following from above (passion and credibility), your social media / community manager will be an evangelist of your company and your products. Because this person will represent your company in many ways, ensure that this person’s value system, brand and voice are consistent with your brand and value system.
- Service DNA: Because this person is the face of your company, (s)he needs to be infallibly committed to helping people in social channels. Your customers, prospects, partners, analysts, etc. will ask for your help and advice, and you need to be there. In reality, there’s oftentime more than one person can handle, and we’ll talk about building a team a little later. It’s important for this person to realize that customer service is the new marketing, and to be able to instill these values in the rest of the company.
- Personal, personable, firm and respectable: Related to the above, your “face” has to be approachable enough for people to want to connect with. This person will be the proverbial “guy/gal you’d love to have a beer (or carrot juice) with”. At the same time, this person is not a pushover, and knows how to establish boundaries effectively. Being service oriented does not mean that you will entertain foul behavior, or cater to trolls.
- Thirsty for knowledge and committed to education: Social tech move at breakneck speed these days; there’s a new social network or product, it seems, daily. As a social media practitioner, you must keep your toolset full of sharp new tools, but also must have enough experience to tell what’s a real trend and what’s a shiny new object that will burn out in 3 months.
- Risk tolerance, ability to fail fast: The fast-changing landscape of social technology also necessitates more and faster course-correction. It’s absolutely crucial to commit to social media programs and stay with them long enough to evaluate their success or failure. However, it’s just as important to remain flexible and nimble, allowing to course-correct. Your social media leader must be comfortable with constant change and failing fast, because the faster you fail, the faster you learn and move on to something that works.
- Balance of perfectionism with a bias for action: To say that the social media world expects real-time is an obvious statement. Therefore, your social media leader should have a definite bias for action. While creating quality content is important, it’s equally as important to avoid going into analysis paralysis or get caught in an endless loop of approvals. I am certainly not advocating publishing blogposts without proofreading them; I am simply saying that if perfection means inaction, you should choose action. If you wait on publishing blogpost or tweet, it will indeed be yesterday’s news tomorrow.
- Advocate for community and for the company: Your social media leader is in a unique position to be an advocate for both, the company / brand and the community. Although some may think the two goals compete with each other, they really do not. When you are an advocate for the community, you help the company design better products and services. Therefore, you are able to evangelize on behalf of the company more naturally. Providing an excellent and customizable customer experience makes the customer happy, boosting advocacy, loyalty and revenues, and in turn making the company happy.
- Strategic: You should hire your social media leader with the expectation that this person will set the strategy for the whole company, ensuring that the right things get done, and that the people inside the company are working together like a well-oiled machine. Strategic, big picture thinking, coupled with the willingness to roll up sleeves and execute, is a must for this position. Either eventually, or from the beginning, this person will be managing other social media and community managers to help execute. Because of its strategic importance, this position will need to provide leadership for senior management as well.
- Business savvy: The problem with a lot of self-proclaimed social media “experts” is that they lack a broad-based business education. Ensure that your hire has a general business savvy and understands marketing, sales, operations, P&L, product management, business process and customer support fundamentals. Social media is not a silo, and being able to understand its relationship to other business functions is critical.
- Innovative self-starter: Especially if this position is new to company, and because a lot of social efforts are still in uncharted territory, this person can’t wait for directions from the boss. Oftentimes, directions from the boss won’t come at all, because this person will know more about social media than the C-suite. Leading change, being able to build something from nothing, setting and executing strategy, sometimes in the face of internal skepticism, are not easy tasks. Even though it’s important for this person to self-direct, the direction has to be consistent with the overall business’s strategy.
The above is a tall order, and to be frank, there are not too many people who fit the bill. Because it’s a big job that requires a lot of creativity and nerves of steel, you need to ensure that you are providing the right environment for your social media leader to succeed.
- Support from the C-suite: Many social media initiatives fizzle before they are ever born, because the there’s not enough buy-in from senior management. Make sure that social media is embraced and looked upon as a strategic endeavor, and not just a cost center or a fad. As such, your social media leader needs to also have access to the right decision makers, because cross-functional collaboration is required.
- Work hours and locations that make sense: The old paradigm of 9-5 is no longer true. Social is on at all times, and many social media people have schedules that are truly erratic. Don’t require your social media people to be in the office 9-5 (with the exception to face-to-face meetings), but rather give them the flexibility to get the work done at times and in locations that are appropriate for the job. Give your social media people the ability to be creative on their own terms; if they really know what they are doing, they will know what’s best.
- Feedback tolerance: You have to be open to feedback and willing to listen to the unpleasant. Remember that oftentimes, this person will have a unique insight from the community’s point of view, and you should listen and learn from this feedback, even when it’s uncomforable. The transparency of social media brings a proverbial mirror to your face and exposes more flaws in your organization than otherwise would come to light. And that’s OK. However, it’s not OK to not make changes based on what you learn.
- Commit to ongoing learning: Like with all other knowledge workers, you need to commit to supporting this person’s ongoing education: with time, as well as money.
- Empower personal branding: In social media, the distinction between personal and professional is blurry at best. You need to be comfortable with this person’s personal brand and its relationship to the company brand, and give him / her latitude to grow both.
- Have realistic expectations: More than likely, you will not have an Old Spice type success overnight. Building community and relationships via social media is just like building any other relationship: it’s hard work, daily, and over time. There are no shortcuts, and you need to realize that. While there are certainly tactical things you can do in social media, your investment in it should be similar to your investment in email and phone. After all, social media is a communication channel, and not a broadcast channel.
So what do you think? Did I leave something out that’s important to you? What do you think are some success characteristics? The comments are yours!
Photo credit: moionet
Tweets that mention Hiring A Social Media Manager | Attensity Blog -- Topsy.com wrote,
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Maria Ogneva, Community Roundtable, Michael Pinkerton, Attensity, Noland Hoshino and others. Noland Hoshino said: Hiring A Social Media Manager http://bit.ly/bAX5fH [...]
| Link | August 28th, 2010 at 8:48 pm
Weekly Social Media Tips – Locating Thought Leaders | Attensity Blog wrote,
[...] follow up on my advice of finding a social media director / manager, I have created this brief tutorial that can help you [...]
| Link | August 30th, 2010 at 5:58 am
woodyhaiken wrote,
Maria, thanks for this great post! Its emphasis is on internal corporate social media managers. These qualities also apply to those pioneers in the field of outsourced social media management. Many small business owners know that they need to be putting in the 6-12 hours a week into social media marketing, but do not have the two critical resources: their time, or the money to hire internally.
Social media managers who sell their services to multiple companies have to have all the traits you describe, Maria, plus the ability to think like each of those companies, especially if content-creation and responding to Facebook posts and to Tweets.
| Link | August 31st, 2010 at 9:20 pm
Maria Ogneva wrote,
Oh absolutely! I think their job is even tougher. I did it for a little while, and it can get overwhelming and confusing. Especially if the products are from a similar broad category and you are repping them with a blogger or a community, sometimes it can feel as a little bit of a conflict of interest. Obviously you shouldn’t rep competitors, but for example, in a field like “Fashion” — could be jewelry, could be clothes, could be other lifestyle items.
The underfunded small business is an additional kicker for sure!
Thanks for stopping by and contributing!
| Link | September 1st, 2010 at 4:24 am
Dave Atkins wrote,
These are all great characteristics. Full disclosure; I’m reading from the perspective of a person who would love to see advice on how to GET HIRED for a role like this. I think it would be helpful for you to define the type of role and hiring expectations. I see many, many jobs looking for entry level social media people or only people with agency experience and I think the role is viewed by many organizations as very junior in terms of salary. In this job market, where there is virtually no feedback unless you are called for an interview, it can be quite a shock to discover a role you thought was central to the organization’s success is viewed as a $60K/year or less position.
| Link | September 2nd, 2010 at 3:51 pm
Inderpal wrote,
Great post, and certainly agree with all the points, however, I have to admit it’s an extensive list. I especially agree that the point 1, passion, is quite the key, and a company may not necessarily be able to find someone that fits the bill of having all 12 points. I’m referring particularly to the hospitality industry, especially here in Canada. In my opinion, they’re pioneers of customer service, however, very behind in adapting to new forms of providing that service, especially through social media. At the same time, I believe there would be very few social media manager “candidates” that would have the same passion, and brand awareness and overall industry knowledge that some of their existing employees do, but at the same time, I know that most of them are far behind in catching up with trends, and would struggle with points 2,6,7,8,10, 11, and from that perspective, I think it’s key for such industries to consider hiring a social media “coach” to work with the companies’ existing brand experts and advocates. Thoughts?
| Link | September 2nd, 2010 at 5:40 pm
Dorothea Henry wrote,
Don’t forget that we are usually snappy dressers too!
| Link | September 3rd, 2010 at 1:58 pm
Social Media: In-House or Outsourced | Attensity Blog wrote,
[...] there’s just a certain level of magic that’s there when you are on the inside. I wrote about hiring the right social media person; and to truly be a brand ambassador, I believe you have [...]
| Link | September 24th, 2010 at 12:37 am
themaria wrote,
My new post for the @attensity blog: Hiring A Social Media Manager http://bit.ly/9ML0zu
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
| Link | August 27th, 2010 at 6:08 pm
azizan4444 wrote,
RT @themaria: My new post for the @attensity blog: Hiring A Social Media Manager http://bit.ly/9ML0zu
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| Link | August 27th, 2010 at 6:09 pm
Smart_Capital wrote,
Hiring A Social Media Manager – http://blog.attensity.com/2010/08/27/hiring-a-social-media-manager/
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| Link | August 27th, 2010 at 6:11 pm
goldenashby wrote,
RT @themaria: My new post for the @attensity blog: Hiring A Social Media Manager http://bit.ly/9ML0zu –> Great blog
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| Link | August 27th, 2010 at 6:23 pm
catevz wrote,
Twelve things to look for… RT @themaria My new post for the @attensity blog: Hiring A Social Media Manager http://bit.ly/9ML0zu
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
| Link | August 27th, 2010 at 6:56 pm
attensity wrote,
Our clients and prospects often ask how to hire a good social media manager. Just like with any job, it’s tough to… http://fb.me/EwTDVB43
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| Link | August 27th, 2010 at 7:05 pm
NolandHoshino wrote,
Reading… Hiring A Social Media Manager http://dlvr.it/4LVcs
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| Link | August 27th, 2010 at 7:15 pm
TheCR wrote,
Another great post on hiring: Hiring A Social Media Manager by @themaria – http://bit.ly/bK4ZyI
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
| Link | August 27th, 2010 at 7:31 pm
agsocialmedia wrote,
Interesting update: Hiring A Social Media Manager | Attensity Blog: I’d certainly recommend listening to social me… http://bit.ly/c5uwfO
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| Link | August 27th, 2010 at 8:06 pm
lindaserra wrote,
RT @themaria: My new post for the @attensity blog: Hiring A Social Media Manager http://bit.ly/9ML0zu
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
| Link | August 28th, 2010 at 9:57 am
DeborahTekkbuzz wrote,
RT @attensity Hiring A Social Media Manager http://bit.ly/9ML0zu
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| Link | August 28th, 2010 at 12:09 pm
BcauseMedia wrote,
Hiring A Social Media Manager http://bit.ly/bAX5fH
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| Link | August 28th, 2010 at 5:15 pm
mikepink wrote,
RT @attensity Hiring A Social Media Manager http://bit.ly/9ML0zu
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| Link | August 28th, 2010 at 8:43 pm
amoyal wrote,
RT @TheCR: Another great post on hiring: Hiring A Social Media Manager by @themaria – http://bit.ly/bK4ZyI
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
| Link | August 29th, 2010 at 5:24 am
alisonmichalk wrote,
RT @TheCR: Another great post on hiring: Hiring A Social Media Manager by @themaria – http://bit.ly/bK4ZyI
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
| Link | August 29th, 2010 at 7:46 am
tlittleton wrote,
RT @TheCR: Another great post on hiring: Hiring A Social Media Manager by @themaria – http://bit.ly/bK4ZyI
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
| Link | August 29th, 2010 at 8:35 am
Silke_S wrote,
RT @alisonmichalk RT @TheCR Another great post on hiring: Hiring A Social Media Manager by @themaria – http://bit.ly/bK4ZyI #cmgr #smm
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
| Link | August 29th, 2010 at 9:31 am
VenessaMiemis wrote,
RT @attensity Hiring A Social Media Manager http://bit.ly/9ML0zu
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| Link | August 29th, 2010 at 1:11 pm
ruthseeley wrote,
Great article. Too often the focus is on tech skills. RT @VenessaMiemis & @attensity Hiring A Social Media Manager http://bit.ly/9ML0zu
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
| Link | August 29th, 2010 at 1:15 pm
jankusej wrote,
RT @VenessaMiemis: RT @attensity Hiring A Social Media Manager http://bit.ly/9ML0zu
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
| Link | August 29th, 2010 at 1:23 pm
Sunchowder wrote,
Excellent article RT @ruthseeleyGreat article. RT @VenessaMiemis & @attensity Hiring A Social Media Manager http://bit.ly/9ML0zu
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| Link | August 29th, 2010 at 1:28 pm
spirospiliadis wrote,
RT @VenessaMiemis: RT @attensity Hiring A Social Media Manager http://bit.ly/9ML0zu
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| Link | August 29th, 2010 at 1:59 pm
lmockford wrote,
RT @VenessaMiemis: RT @attensity Hiring A Social Media Manager http://bit.ly/9ML0zu
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
| Link | August 29th, 2010 at 2:18 pm
dtwalsh wrote,
@Jon_Reiss @milesmaker Great look at traits/skills you shd look for in a social media manager (via @attensity blog) http://ow.ly/2wmWQ #PMD
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| Link | August 29th, 2010 at 2:39 pm
FilmTiki wrote,
RT @attensity Hiring A Social Media Manager http://bit.ly/9ML0zu
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| Link | August 29th, 2010 at 5:37 pm
gumpelmaier wrote,
“…social media is here to stay (…) this is why your social media manager is going to be a crucial hire.”: http://bit.ly/9td9Wh
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| Link | August 29th, 2010 at 5:43 pm
ValleyFilmFest wrote,
RT @FilmTiki ~ RT @attensity Hiring A Social Media Manager http://bit.ly/9ML0zu (Great Article!)
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| Link | August 29th, 2010 at 5:46 pm
LolliPopSocial wrote,
SocMed News: Hiring A Social Media Manager: I think we can all agree by now that social media is here to stay. As … http://bit.ly/bI9I2t
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
| Link | August 30th, 2010 at 4:45 am
mikeboysen wrote,
Hiring A Social Media Manager | Attensity Blog http://ow.ly/2wPRG Excellent post by @themaria. Why would anyone disagree with passion?
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| Link | August 30th, 2010 at 4:49 pm
chinezu wrote,
Hiring a social media manager http://bit.ly/bVcYei
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
| Link | August 31st, 2010 at 7:12 am
MadalinaUceanu wrote,
RT @chinezu: Hiring a social media manager http://bit.ly/bVcYei
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
| Link | August 31st, 2010 at 7:35 am
Saby333 wrote,
RT @attensity Hiring A Social Media Manager http://bit.ly/9ML0zu
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
| Link | September 2nd, 2010 at 4:20 pm
themaria wrote,
@AmberCadabra actually @jeremybryant didn’t write that post ( http://bit.ly/b34GKV). he copied & pasted mine w/0 attrib http://bit.ly/bVcYei
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
| Link | September 2nd, 2010 at 8:04 pm
ericlodi wrote,
RT @AmberCadabra That smart post on hiring a social media manager was originally written by @themaria. Head here: http://bit.ly/bVcYei
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
| Link | September 2nd, 2010 at 8:15 pm
coolestemployee wrote,
Love this >>RT @AmberCadabra: smart post on hiring a social media manager written by @themaria http://bit.ly/bVcYei
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
| Link | September 2nd, 2010 at 8:18 pm
karate_barbie wrote,
RT @totmac: Nice post on the qualities you need to work in social media (via @themaria) http://bit.ly/bVcYei
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
| Link | September 2nd, 2010 at 8:21 pm
michelelinn wrote,
Smart post on how to hire a social media manager by @themaria via @AmberCadabra: http://bit.ly/bVcYei
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
| Link | September 2nd, 2010 at 8:22 pm
JeremyBryant wrote,
Let the floggings begin. My public appologies 2 @themaria the post has since bn removed. Please RT http://bit.ly/bVcYei
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
| Link | September 2nd, 2010 at 8:23 pm
Cosmo_Chica wrote,
RT @attensity Hiring A Social Media Manager http://bit.ly/9ML0zu
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
| Link | September 2nd, 2010 at 8:40 pm
hoda007 wrote,
Hiring A #SocialMedia Manager (by @themaria | @attensity360 ) http://bit.ly/bVcYei (via @socialmedia2day )
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
| Link | September 2nd, 2010 at 8:54 pm
NigelBarlow wrote,
RT @totmac: Nice post on the qualities you need to work in social media (via @themaria) http://bit.ly/bVcYei
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
| Link | September 2nd, 2010 at 9:04 pm
goldenashby wrote,
RT @JeremyBryant Let the floggings begin. My public appologies 2 @themaria the post has since bn removed. Please RT http://bit.ly/bVcYei
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
| Link | September 2nd, 2010 at 9:11 pm
summerjoy wrote,
RT @AmberCadabra: That smart post on hiring a social media manager was originally written by @themaria. Head here: http://bit.ly/bVcYei
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
| Link | September 2nd, 2010 at 9:23 pm
damienrobinson wrote,
Are you seeking someone to start your social media efforts? Here’s a great article on hiring a Social Media… http://fb.me/FYE9WA7r
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
| Link | September 3rd, 2010 at 11:46 am
damienrobinson wrote,
12 Steps To Hiring A Social Media Manager – http://ning.it/c7UNeT
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
| Link | September 3rd, 2010 at 11:52 am
tallemans wrote,
Hiring A Social Media Manager http://bit.ly/9ML0zu
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
| Link | September 3rd, 2010 at 1:04 pm
TM_at_MBS wrote,
RT @NigelBarlow: RT @totmac: Nice post on the qualities you need to work in social media (via @themaria) http://bit.ly/bVcYei
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
| Link | September 4th, 2010 at 4:15 pm
cooleremployee wrote,
Great! RT@coolestemployee: Love this >>RT @AmberCadabra: smart post on hiring a social media mgr written by @themaria http://bit.ly/bVcYei
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
| Link | September 5th, 2010 at 5:51 pm
cooleremployee wrote,
Great! RT @coolestemployee: Love this >>RT @AmberCadabra: smart post on hiring a social media mgr written by @themaria http://bit.ly/bVcYei
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
| Link | September 5th, 2010 at 5:52 pm
donmetznik wrote,
RT @attensity Hiring A Social Media Manager http://bit.ly/9ML0zu
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
| Link | September 6th, 2010 at 2:52 pm
StrategicGrowt wrote,
Check out this grat post about hiring a social media manager: http://ow.ly/2D114 I have to say I agree!
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
| Link | September 12th, 2010 at 5:01 pm
attensity wrote,
Thanks so much! RT @StrategicGrowt: Check out this grat post about hiring a social media manager: http://ow.ly/2D114 I have to say I agree!
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
| Link | September 13th, 2010 at 4:05 pm
JeromePineau wrote,
RT @attensity Hiring A Social Media Manager http://bit.ly/9ML0zu
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
| Link | September 16th, 2010 at 10:04 am
annajobin wrote,
Hiring A Social Media Manager – How do I find someone good? http://ow.ly/2F7ua (Via @JeromePineau @attensity) #cmchfr
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
| Link | September 16th, 2010 at 10:37 am