In a recent client meeting the comment was made that they weren’t hiring anyone new unless they also had social media experience. Not that they were hiring only people to do social media but that they ALSO had to have social experience.
So in addition to whatever marketing job they were being hired for they also had to have some social media experience. And no this did not include personal blog, Twitter and Facebook. So all those Social Media Guru’s on Twitter are excluded.
I’ve written a lot about the importance of social media experience, the challenges of finding said experience and how to gain this experience. In May of last year I asked the question: Do You Have to DO Social Media to Work IN Social Media?
My thoughts and those of the people who left comments was that no you didn’t have to have a lot of experience but you had to know enough to apply social media strategically. The question becomes what is enough experience? It’s more than knowing the buzz words but not so much that you’re an A-list blogger. In fact I would argue that you don’t want an A-list blogger running your social media. While most of them are wonderful people they have their own thing going on.
In June of last year I made the claim: If you care about your job in marketing and PR, read this post.
My point in this post was that you have to know the tools and the communities that use them to apply them properly. I would never hire someone who didn’t know how to post to a blog or edit a wiki or use a social bookmarking tool. Again you don’t need to be a social media ninja but you have to be comfortable with the tools.
As per my post yesterday on the Thinkers & Doers blog I’ve made a lot of additions to my team this year. I’ve been fortunate enough to find people that understand the tools and how to use them strategically but in a previous post I asked if it would be better to hire someone who understood social media or someone who understood strategy: The Challenges of Social Media Talent Acquisition.
This was by far the most mixed response I’ve gotten on the topic. Some say hire social teach strategy some say hire for strategy and teach social.This is no small task. Neither teaching strategy or teaching social is easy.Fortunately I haven’t had to make that call. I’ve been able to hire for both. (BTW, if I did have to choose I’d hire someone smart and curious and teach them both. I think it would be easier.)
I also think few managers are willing to hire either/or, they want both. They also don’t want just social media, they want well rounded marketers. This means it’s on you to gain the experience and figure out how to apply it strategically.
This of course begs the question how do you gain this valuable experience if you can’t get hired to do it? I know how I did it but I’d like to hear from you how you got your experience or what you’re doing to build it?
Similar Posts:
- The Challenges of Social Media Talent Acquisition
- Dam Your Social Media Strategy
- Marketing is broken because Marketers are lazy
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