Finding The Right Social Media Strategist

Feb 23

Finding The Right Social Media Strategist

by Joanne Wan
Category: Best Practices, Digital Influence

Many large companies have extended teams managing their social media strategy and community managers who interact with customers, but there are still many organizations, especially non-profits and small businesses that are just getting started. One question asked during my San Francisco Social Media Week panel presentation really stuck with me, “If I’m looking to hire someone to do social media on their own, what can I expect from that one person?” It seems like a straightforward question, but the answer really lays in the foundational building blocks of the organization. This brings me to the organizational challenges that all social media managers face:

1. Who is your executive champion? Do you have the right senior leader who will help cut through the organizational challenges and pave a path to success?

It will be challenging to gain traction for a social media program without an executive champion who is willing to prioritize social media appropriately against other marketing and communications initiatives. A champion can help ensure the social experience is integrated into all the other parts of the organization – customer care, marketing, product development – and that social has a place at the table. You’re not looking for an executive to create the strategy or execute the programs, but you are looking for a champion who is willing to be educated on how social media can augment other functional areas of the company.

2. Do you have the right “silo buster” as your social media lead?

Virginia Miracle has some great tips on Social Silo-Busting. I have found that the greatest predictor of success is looking for someone who has an entrepreneurial past and is not afraid of boundaries. It is crucial to find the right internal employee who can pivot into a new role as social media lead (maybe this person has a track record of gaining consensus on challenging problems) or to hire the right external person who can pull the right levers in your organization and bust silos. The social media lead should be prepared to give non-threatening advice to an executive who is much more senior but also, work closely with communications managers to execute on the strategic plan.

3. Once your social media organization is on track, how do you evolve beyond the Social Media Help Desk that Jeremiah Owyang discusses in his recent report (which Ogilvy 360DI participated in) and achieve Escape Velocity?

Social media organizations get more budget and credibility as they demonstrate results, but there is always that inflection point when you need to evolve from Social Media Help Desk and create an organizational structure that supports social media in a scalable and strategic way. Your social media leader’s entrepreneurial drive to make change happen and proactively adapt the organization will be the deciding factor in how your social media program evolves. This underlines the importance of finding the right leader who can build a social media organization through collaboration not coercion.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 23rd, 2011 at 7:17 pm and is filed under Best Practices, Digital Influence. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

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10 Responses to “Finding The Right Social Media Strategist”

Kristen Says:
February 23rd, 2011 at 7:57 pm
Great post! I think my biggest problem is convincing people how much it helps everyone’s awareness for employees to be engaged in social media. And, of course, just taking care of the basic education like educating teams on the value of Twitter.
Rax Lakhani Says:
February 24th, 2011 at 2:51 am
Hi Joanne,

Your post resonates very loudly with what I spend most of my time advising my clients. You put is succinctly when you say that social media leadership needs to happen through ‘collaboration’ and not ‘coercion’.

The proactive versus reactive role approach is also quite refreshing to see and one that is often overlooked by many organisations when they seek to hire a social media strategist.

Silo-busting is a key responsibility for most if not all social media leaders as the channels under scrutiny often have fiercely territorial gatekeepers within different parts of the business. This is where diplomacy and insight become the tools of choice for the social media leader within any given organisation.

Great post - I look forward to reading more of your thoughts on here and on Twitter!
Laura Says:
February 24th, 2011 at 5:00 am
I agree with Kristen, it is about educating the right people. I also think the person needs to sit in the right department,”is social media sales, marketing or something that hasn’t been defined yet?”
Todd Nilson Says:
February 24th, 2011 at 3:07 pm
Regarding point #2… the social media chief you hire must have some level of understanding what will drive organizational change. Successful use of social media in the enterprise more often than not requires a change in mindset from both the executive level as well as everybody else. How do you share information? What are the rules for communicating externally? The successful social media hire will have to raise literacy not just about the tools and channels (which themselves are the most trivial aspect of the job) but compellingly talk about why the new categories of communication via social media will by their very nature transform the way business happens.
jenifer daniels Says:
February 24th, 2011 at 3:22 pm
the social media lead MUST live in communications office/department that works closely with the CSuite to develop strategy.
Social Sweet Spot Says:
February 24th, 2011 at 4:56 pm
I have been fascinated by the almost “political” response of people (in the office and on the street) about their view of social media and what works and what doesn’t. So many seem to have a predetermined attitude to social media. for example - “I don’t do twitter. Period.” or Linkedin is far superior to Facebook and I will never do business on Facebook. Period.” I think those who have chosen to dive into and embrace social media tactics are those that do not become overwhelmed by the appearance of chaos that social media avenues threaten. It is breaking down the solid wall (the “Period.”) that those others have erected that offers the biggest challenge to motivating businesses to embrace rather than fear the social media revolution.
John McElhenney Says:
February 24th, 2011 at 4:57 pm
We’ve been trying to explain what a Social Media strategist does for years. If it’s not ROI, then what is it? Thanks for your article it puts some nice framework around the discussion.

As a recent re-employed social media person, I don’t like to use the word strategist. We don’t want strategy we want results. My CEO asked me daily, “HOW MANY LEADS HAVE YOU PRODUCED TODAY?” And he’s not kidding. That’s the question we as social media evangelists have to answer, and we have to back it up with actually results. Everything else is simply, chatter about social media, rather than social marketing.

Thanks,

@jmacofearth
Britt Says:
February 24th, 2011 at 5:33 pm
These tips are dead-on. One organization that is using social in a scalable, silo-busting way is the National Wildlife Federation. They have a social media leader (@starfocus on Twitter) who has gotten buy-in from other departments and helped other employees to engage. NWF has dozens of social-media users organization-wide and is leading the way in the non profit arena.
Nancy Conrad Says:
February 24th, 2011 at 9:09 pm
Lots of good thinking here, and particularly your No. 2 point about finding the right person both internally and, if necessary, externally, to open these new pathways. You need someone with experience navigating the strategic waters of organizational politics, keeping in mind that leadership must be able to support the initiative with definable results.
Kristin Says:
March 21st, 2011 at 11:47 am
Great article. It really does take the right person to break down corporate barriers and maximize social media across its many applications. I used to be that person and know how very, very challenging it can be, even with the executive champion helping your cause!