Archive for the ‘Jobs-In-Social-Media’ Category

It’s safe to say that there is no one formula for presenting social media to your company. The approaches will differ based on your position in the company, the company’s culture, formal presentation processes, probably on the size of your company, and the receptiveness of the industry to social media. But if you believe, as I do, that social media is here to stay and that your business can benefit from tapping into the social revolution, then you should find some helpful tips here for making your big pitch.

I’ll start by sharing my personal experience pitching social media to my previous boss then share responses from across different social networking channels. Just so you know, I think my presentation barely made it to first base. The tips I mention below include “corrections” for things I left out of my presentation. Those bits of extra wisdom plus crowdsourced responses should help your presentation go much further than mine and hopefully you’ll knock a homer.

I hope you’ll stick around and add your experiences and feedback in the Comments section below.

The Pitch
It was 2008 and I was pitching social media to the company’s CEO.

It was lonely standing up there in the conference room. It was just the CEO, me, and the glow of the projector displaying my Power Point presentation. But I knew that folding social media into the fiber of the company was the right path. I presented the benefits and massive opportunities of social media, examples of other companies doing amazing things with it, and showed him Tony Hsieh’s (Zappos CEO) Twitter stream to help him visualize what top-down involvement looked like.

Presentation Tips
My personal tips for pitching social media to a boss are:

1. Get help from other colleagues. Two or more people pitching a new project is much more convincing than one lone voice. I chose to present on my own after getting lukewarm feedback from potential allies.
2. Schedule a time for the pitch. This conveys the message that you have something serious and important to discuss and it avoids interruptions.
3. Create a formal presentation. I suggest a Power Point or a written proposal. This will give you a clear framework and keep you on track in case your nerves set in. I used Guy Kawasaki’s “10/20/30″ Power Point presentation guidelines to select the presentation structure.
4. Primarily, answer the question “What problems will social media solve?” This was the first question I was asked and my answer was a bit shaky. My presentation had focused on the benefits and opportunities, not as much on problem-solving. The CEO and I ended up coming up with potential problem-busting uses during the meeting.
5. Present the benefits of using social media from different company perspectives. If you are a marketing person, your inclination may be to only focus on the marketing opportunities. Don’t stop there. You can approach social media from an HR, customer service, IT, and sales perspectives as well. During the meeting, we discussed using social media as part of the Web site process improvement cycle.
6. Recommend a concrete plan of action. Ask for resources (time, people, and money) to accomplish an objective and get a commitment. Make sure you recommend a SMART objective – one that is specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-based.

As a result of the pitch, I was given time to do some “experimenting” with social media. This was less of a commitment than I had hoped for, but was resolved to make the most out of the opportunity. This would require patience since I had already been very active on Twitter and knew what could be accomplished. A year and a half later I designed and help implement a blogging infrastructure and all product managers are now blogging and sharing great content with customers and the Blogosphere.

Other “Pitch” Stories and Approaches

As I closed up the blogging project, I wondered how other people fared making a similar social media pitch. I jumped on my social networks and asked them. I went to Twitter, Facebook, Aardvark, and LinkedIn and posted the question:

Note: This was the question posted to LinkedIn. The Twitter version was much shorter as was the Aardvark version. I blogged about using LinkedIn and Aardvark for doing in depth Internet research earlier this month (includes a video demonstration).


Crowdsourced Responses

There were many different approaches to pitching social media. Here are some of the responses:

Present a binder containing examples of all the things that are being said about the company, industry, products – even about your boss – on social media. Also include some LI Q&A, tweets, blogs etc. by employees, key customers, competitors.

This can be a real eye-opener that brings home the lesson that the train has left the station, and though you can’t control the chatter, you can be influencing the discussion – but only if you get in there and play.

Some great examples to include are situations where a customer was upset or misinformed about something, and got satisfaction through a social media response.

-Rob Duncan, www.robduncan.com, via LinkedIn

Developing a tracking system for social media is imperative for measuring the efforts put in by your social media manager and ROI. While it may not always be concrete numbers, there is something to be said for sentiment, reach, and passion for a company.

- JNR from San Diego

I have never had to pitch my boss on social media, but I have had to pitch social media to very stubborn and old fashioned people before.

I really like Rob’s suggestion of showing examples of where people have talked about your company. When ever I have done that for potential clients, they are very impressed. It helps them to see the vision of what social media is.

I posted a link below of a great video by Socialnomics that I’ve found to be pretty effective. It displays a bunch of impressive statistics on how social media is here to stay.

-Chad Mustard, Owner Blue Helm Communications, www.bluehelm.com, via LinkedIn

A couple [of] suggestions based on my 4+ years experience pitching blogs/SM to clients.

1. I’ve had much more success sitting with decision makers, one or two at a time, in front of a computer, actually showing them what can be done on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. I agree with others here that showing mentions of your company are powerful – even more powerful if you show them these mentions in real time on one of the monitoring sites. For people who aren’t engaged in SM on a regular basis, it all sounds strange and highly theoretical when discussed in a meeting. You have to make it real.
2. Be crystal clear about your SM objectives. If you’re not sure what purpose SM serves in your organization, discussing engagement tactics and even strategy are premature. SM can support many organizational goals – branding, thought leadership, SEO, customer loyalty, lead generation, etc. The top people may not understand SM, but they understand more leads, happier customers, more prominent brands. I think it’s much better to internally position SM as a tool to support initiatives rather than an initiative in itself.

-Brad Shorr, Director of Content Marketing, Straight North, www.straightnorth.com, via LinkedIn

…In order to “sell” my boss on social media it was pretty easy conceptually, just drive traffic from these social media activities to our website. Actually delivering on the results is the hardest part.

…

It’s just getting past that first hump that is the hardest part when you’re relatively unknown in the SM world. Getting the first visitors are always the hardest, but it is something that can provide exponential gains with growth.

…

So the best way to start out is to set some obtainable goals, go ahead with your plan, measure the results and control the expectations with your boss.

-Chris Rizzo, from a Michigan data center, Online Tech, via LinkedIn.

Present the rationale backwards. Start with the benefit of social networking (interaction with brand, profit generation, lead generation, etc.) and leave the execution to the end. Most people can get bogged down in explaining how social networking works which can be a heavy learning curve for some non-tech savvy people.

-Ed M., Hoboken, NJ, via Aardvark

I’ve presented twitter as a valuable primer for research by searching for tags, organizing the results into columns, and highlight key phrases in peoples’ posts. This enabled my boss to see it as both qualitative and quantitative, but also synthesized into something that seemed meaningful, just by providing simple headings like “many women feel guilty when taking time for themselves” with supporting tweets below. Make it look substantial, but highly organized. Avoid the overwhelming clutter appearance of social media. That’s what they’re afraid of.

-Michael Kiser Innovation/Interactive consultant in Chicago, via Aardvark

Review

We’ve seen my approach to pitching social media, some of my tips, and several other approaches. If you’re about to make a big pitch to your boss, department, or to a potential client, I hope these approaches and techniques help you in your endeavor.

I’d also like to send a big THANK YOU to everyone who responded to my question and shared and contributed to the research for this post.

Have you pitched social media to an executive? As always, I would be honored to hear your stories via the Comments.

After the layoff, I’ve thought a lot of about the role of fear in my life. I’ve realized that if one only listens to fear, it covers up who we really are, our essential nature.

Part of living in fear may include an inability to ask for help. Fear tells us that we shouldn’t ask for help because it will make us vulnerable and show that we’re weak. Fear also tells us that asking for help will make us look selfish and feel stupid because we can’t do it all ourselves.

Fear tells us these things but we know they are not true. Most of the people I respect and admire are those who knew the power of asking for help and used it to build movements and achieve transformational change.

I’m looking for job opportunities and I’m asking for your help. I listed my job search areas below and some helpful bits of information that demonstrate my experience in each area. You can help by connecting me with possible opportunities, spreading the news, and by just saying hello and sending encouraging words. I’ve already received a great amount of support and I’m grateful.

Are you also on the job hunt?

If you’re on the job hunt as well, I encourage you to ask for help. If you have your target job areas posted publicly, go ahead and put a link to the page in the Comments below. This will help others reach out and connect you to opportunities and to spread the news.

My Job Search Areas

My personal mission statement is to empower people through technology education. This includes empowering individuals and small businesses.

I’m primarily looking in Ventura Country and Southern California, but will consider moving to the Bay Area or other locations if the salary & growth opportunities are there.

My LinkedIn is at: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jpluna
Visual CV: http://www.visualcv.com/jesseluna
My blog: http://www.jesseluna.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/jesseluna

I have three main search areas:

• Technology Training/advocacy,
• Online Marketing Manger, and
• Community Manager

Details and experience in each area:

Technology Training/advocacy

• I taught elementary and middle school for seven years in El Monte, Redwood City, and San Francisco (Mission District)
• I was a “user advocate” and tech systems trainer for CDI for the first three years with the company, in addition to doing web design and programming.
• I was a lecturer at Cal State Channel Islands for over a year, teaching Business students the ins and outs for Information systems management and teaching them to blog and build Web sites. I have an MBA and a Masters in Computer Information Systems.
• In 2009, I created an online blogging class. The class was created using the WordPress platform.
• I’ve also done volunteer Internet consulting work for non-profits (low-income law advocacy, alumni group, social justice groups, political campaigns, sustainability)

Online marketing manager

• I’ve worked in this role for the past seven years. Includes online advertising (including Google AdWords), product marketing, email newsletter creation and delivery, SEO, e-commerce site design
• I created and managed over 500 online promotions
• Have also done a lot of offline activities such as print/signage design for marketing collateral and trade shows
• I’m seeking a position that includes social media management.

Community Manager (in social media)

• I introduced social media to my previous company and we took a stepwise approach to folding it into the business
• I managed the company’s Twitter account (@cdi) and created a Facebook group for the company
• I helped set up the company with a blogging infrastructure. We created our first group blog a year and a half ago and now the company has several people blogging. I trained everyone on how to use WordPress.com and WordPress.org sites.
• I was an active part of #Eric campaign, an effort to save a young man’s life. More information is available on the Eric’s Law site and you can see my interview with What Gives on the campaign via my Visual CV page.

I appreciate your help and you can reach me via email at jesse [dot] luna [at] gmail [dot] com.

Photo Credit
Andries3 on Flickr – Creative Commons license

I made a huge decision a couple of weeks ago. My remote work location Web Marketing Manager position was terminated as part of a reduction in forces. But there was a light at the end of the tunnel. I had the opportunity to move to Denver for a different position with the same company.

My first thought was that I had to move to Denver. I started making plans, setting time-lines, notifying family, and stressing out. It wasn’t just the right thing to do, it was the only thing to do. Or so I initially thought.

As the days went by I noticed that my morning walks were no longer cheerful ones. I use the walks with my lab Ivory (@niceblog on Twitter) as a chance to reflect and enjoy the beauty of the morning. I say hello to everyone I meet – the early-working men on their way to fields or to cut grass who hang out near the bakery, my neighbors, folks at the park. I also use the walk to reset my energy. It’s just like when a dog shakes in place. They do so to shake away the past and to get back to a calm and present state of being.

But that was changing. At one point I looked up to say hi to a passerby-er and realized that my face didn’t convey its usual confidence and cheer, but something quite different. It expressed pain.

When confronted with a tough decision, we have two immediate thought inputs. One is instinct and the other is fear. The first works off of concrete experience, intuition, and confidence and the second works off of insecurities, cumulative fears, and a fictional past and future. This is what they said:

Fear: Boy, you really dodged a bullet there. Of course you only have one choice. Let’s pack up the house, put it in storage then lets move to Denver. Yes, you’ll probably lose the house, wont’ be able to take Ivory with you, and will be a thousand miles from all your family but at least you won’t be unemployed. If you don’t take the job you’ll never find another one and you’ll be a loser.

Harsh.

Instinct: You’ve worked so hard over the past 12 years to build a career for yourself outside of your daily job. You earned two Masters degrees, ventured out and co-founded a Dot Com startup, were a University lecturer, and have learned how to foster online communities. This may be a good time for you to break away and fully match your personal interests with your everyday career path. You can do this. It’s time.

Fear likes to keep people quiet. It tells us to keep things to ourselves so that people don’t think we’re losers, petty, or insignificant. Fear tells us that we need to be quiet because we have no idea what we’re doing or how things will turn out. But the more we listen to fear, the more we internalize those insecurities and act based on them. Eventually we end up projecting those fears to others.

I don’t know where this adventure will lead me, but I choose to move forward with courage and to continually empower myself and others around me. And yes, fear will creep out from time to time. But now I’ll see it as an indication that I am progressing and moving into new and uncharted waters while staying true to myself.

I intend to share this journey and some of the tools, inspirations, and approaches that I’ll been using to stay focused. Thanks for listening and for joining me on this adventure. Thanks to all those who have already sent encouraging words and job leads. I truly appreciate your words and actions and am grateful for your support.

Visual Communications Company (VCC) has an opening for a Social Media Manager.

I’ve been working with folks from VCC for many years via my Web development and marketing role at Component Distributors, Inc. (CDI). VCC is a great company to work with. They’re fun, energetic, and smack in the middle of the LED solutions revolution.

Please forward this post if you know of a good candidate!

View or Download – Social media manager job description (PDF).

Related Link:
* VCC Opto Blog