Getting Back to Your Desk

May 27, 2009 · Comments

man at desk The age of social media as “wow” and “gee whiz” is almost at an end. Thank *.deity. I’m tired of mapping conversations. I’m sick of people asking me to make things go viral. Here’s what’s next, friends and critics: a return to the desk. That’s right. A real job. Social media as a tool and not as a fancy shiny object.

Let’s not get too literal here. I’m a workshifter and don’t usually visit a specific desk too often. But what I mean is this: social media is a set of tools and tactics that people use as part of their larger business communications efforts. They are functions of a job, not something shiny that hides off on a magical island away from the job. They are part of a job function, not a standalone vocation.

Your mileage may vary in 2009, but let’s see where things are by the end of 2010.

First, Metrics

Let’s get right to it: measuring how many people commented on a blog post shows you that people are engaging. Unless you’re looking for awareness-only, all you’ve measured is that someone has commented on the blog post. Views of a YouTube video? Same thing. Hits on a blog or website? Same.

Measure what you need to change. Sales? Subscriptions? Trials? Whatever the next action is you need to accomplish through your communications effort, make that measurement (which you’re already measuring for your traditional business communications needs) the same number to track.

If you’re doing PR and you need more coverage from the blog world, excellent. Then make that just another channel that you devote efforts to, and then make sure that these tie back into however you’re measured. If you’re doing internal communications, then use these tools as an alternative to email, or a more engaging way to promote two-way conversations, or anything but a sideshow novelty to check off a box on the “we’re cool too” report.

Essentially, make the numbers matter to the business, not to what social media does and doesn’t cover.

Job Functions

What are people doing taking titles like “Social Media Manager?” To me, this is a scary thing. Why? Because it’s like being the fax manager or the email manager. You’re naming yourself after a tool.

The jobs where you might use social media tools exist in the marketing department, in the PR department, in customer service, and in several other parts of the company. But use the titles that exist.

The functions? Focus on what your company needs most. By the way, that’s advice to everyone at all times. No matter your title, do your job well, but FOCUS on what your company needs most. It’s how I got through my career so far.

Rise Up and Buckle Down

Maybe this sounds ranty. Maybe it is. I guess my big point is that we’ve got to shift this from “gee whiz” to “this is what we do to build business relationships.”

Push away from meaningless metrics and point your efforts towards moving the bottom line. It’s absolutely imperative that this become a “real” job instead of something cool.

Are you with me?

photo credit foundphotoslj

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  • Being a social media manager also sounds like you will lose your job the when Boss's kid comes home from college for the summer!

    Dr. Letitia Wright
    The Wright Place TV Show
    http://wrightplacetv.com
    www.twitter.com/drwright1
  • LMAO--so funny and so true! Don't get me started on the whole social media manager vs. intern thing!
  • Couldn't agree more Chris, but is it premature to think this is ready for mainstream acceptance in business? After all, most organisations big and small still employ comms and marketing people. Do you think its possible that the skillset / expertise / techniques could be embedded right across an organisation?
  • Great post, Chris. I agree that Social Media should be thought of as a tool to use as part of a job and not the job itself. However, with many companies just beginning to dive into the social media pool, do you think it's important to have someone lead the way? Perhaps this person doesn't need a "Social Media Manager" title but there should be some kind of unified social media plan for a company. All the tools in the world are only good if used properly, and someone has to teach us newbies how to use them.
  • Hi Chris, great post. I think you've hit the nail on the head by asking companies to set metrics that make sense to them and align with their goals -- not necessarily to the goals of their social media consultant.

    I'd just add to your list of job functions that companies need to be thinking about the very profound possibilities of using social media for market research, so social media should also live in Consumer Insights or Innovation (to the extent that those departments are distinct from Marketing).
  • amurphy13
    Totally agree Chris! I absolutely cringe when someone within my organization refers to me as a "social media expert." I do marketing. PR. Content. Communications. Customer service. Social media is just one method I employ to do all those things.

    I also think you raise a good point about social media and the seemingly eternal quest to measure social media efforts and results. It made me think of #Module09 when @ScottMonty raised the question: How do you measure the ROI of a phone or email? You can't. They're channels. Tools. They help us accomplish what we want to accomplish. But they're also part of a broader strategy (hopefully) and a larger goal.

    Thanks for another great post. I couldn't help but laugh when you wrote, "I’m sick of people asking me to make things go viral." I hear ya Chris, I hear ya!
  • I see what you're saying re. the "Social Media Manager" and using the title of a toolset.

    But couldn't the same be said of "Sales Manager" or "Marketing Manager" or "Customer Service Manager"?

    Each description is correct - you manage a sales team, or a marketing team, or the customer service department. But each of these is just another tool in the overall machination of the company.

    Doesn't this just make "Social Media Manager" another part of the overall toolset of the company?
  • DebbyBruck
    I believe you are ahead of the game. For all those new to social media, they are in the explore stage, testing the limits and what is new. Maybe you realize after playing and testing the tools you are ready to choose those that fit you best and now use them to greatest advantage.

    That means settling back into accomplish mode, getting it done, and using only those tools that work for you.

    I personally feel that there is quite a bit more evolution to come out of social media. It's analogous to waiting to purchase a new computer. Jump in, use what's available now, and reach your goal with what you have.

    Debby, HomeopathyWorldCommunity
  • Right on. And while many companies want to be on the forefront of these new ways of interacting with their customers and constituents (best word I can think of to replace "audience"), most don't. Most want someone to talk to them about how best to move people in ways that help their organization and deliver the best return on their communications and marketing investment... Once they figure out the strategy (i.e., I can find 60,000 people with the job title we're trying to reach on LinkedIn...), it's time for the experts in tools and tactics.
  • Good post. I just don't see the problem of hiring someone as a Social Media Manager, Email Specialist or something similar.
    If your company's needs demand that 40 hours/week should be dedicated to one specific tool, then why not hire someone to spend their hours exclusively in that area?
    It's true that a company that has one or just a few marketing employees should not have a Social Media Manager and rather focus on whatever makes the most sense, whichever marketing tool it is but specialization does have its time and place.
  • KatFrench
    I should probably wait till Mercury stops being all retrograde tomorrow to comment on this. Or at least till I'm not in the ferociously bad mood that's bugged me all day. I lack the ladylike restraint to respond properly at the moment.
  • You can always be angry or fired up. I'm sorry you're in a bad mood. I hate when I am. But that said, it's always okay to disagree.
  • KatFrench
    Thanks, Chris. After a decent night's sleep, I'm in a better place to respond rationally. Yesterday I was just plain mean most of the day, for reasons that had little to do with this post.

    I agree that "social media manager" is probably a transitional role. But I would strongly disagree that it's already a deprecated role, or will be very soon, particularly in an agency context.

    Jason and I discussed changing my title last fall, but in the end "social media" says I'm conversant with the technologies and etiquette of the social web, and "manager" says I'm empowered to act on behalf of my clients.

    It's not ideal, but it's the clearest option at the moment.
  • I have to agree with Chris re: the social media manager title. Good gig if you can get it, but anyone with a title like "public relations" or "corporate communications" should be at minimum paying attention to the impact of social media on the business and corporate reputation; as should should the VP of marketing and her team focused on identifying the best ways to reach customers and spur sales and loyalty. As should someone in customer service...etc.

    I suppose that any of these leaders can hire a social media manager, but most don't have the luxury and PR and marketing communications professionals are going to have to continue to work across multiple channels to reach their constituents. My guess is that the true social media specialists are going to make themselves valued free agents.
  • lbscholz
    Great post, Chris! As a publicist who uses social media as part of my business, I'm often asked to speak about social media and how it can work for small businesses and entrepreneurs. And I always stress that social media is only one piece of the pie--it goes hand-in-hand with a thoughtful, strategic marketing communications plan. It's easy to get distracted by all the new shiny toys and forget that they are to be used in conjunction with other tactics--social media is not the holy grail.
  • I can sympathize with your rant. It gets tiring hearing the same thing all day does it not? I can just imagine how you must feel. I am a relative neophyte to the social media components of digital marketing and what I have heard 100 times you have experienced 50,000 such regurgitations and variations.

    I find social media as something that self-amplifies itself. Its like having a person yell into a megaphone.
    It really is a simple and compelling marketing message, compacted within a medium that is easily accessed by businesses that want to monetize within it as well as consumers who want to capitalize on every new freakture.

    We can also thank our friends within higher education (who are at least 10 years behind the curve) for not preparing any of our brilliant 20 somethings with the organizational thought to capture the essence of digital marketing without becoming distracted by the bells and whistles.

    My hope is that we do NOT get caught up with these temporary distractions and take our eyes off of the true threats to SM like lame commercialization attempts (Twitter Reality TV). You are right to be wary of a need for speed here.. We will probably see an IBM Websphere implementation with a social media component add-on soon.
  • Ha! I blogged about this myself last week, connecting it to the Zen Archer story.

    Still, as a phenomenon that changes a lot about marketing, it deserves its own specialists and probably will for a long time. We still have telephone or television experts, right? We still have newspaper editors (for now, anyway).
  • Spot on Chris. Especially the Job Function portion. Great post!
  • Chris--

    This was a smart, practical read. Thanks for saying what no one else is really saying yet.

    Scott
  • I'm with amurphy13 and dislike it when people ask me to apply social media to X project. I really like that you're talking about using tools to affect the bottom line, BTW Chris. Whether its in sales or savings, how will these tools actually help, is the million dollar question.

    Web site hits don't pay the bills. :)

    I think that the change is coming and am happy to have a piece of driftwood to be able to ride the wave. One of the keys will be for companies to find ways to be transparent AND keep trade secrets safe from competition.

    To share and profit? That is the question.
  • I love the quote from MC Hammer - 'Social media is no more than an extension of what we do naturally.' I agree that social media needs to become just a method of doing business and not a wow factor. I am trying to introduce social media usage at the college I work at and there is still the concern of ownership, copyright, etc.

    This is becoming a way of life and we need to embrace it. Why is it that academia is slow in adopting technology. I think maybe once it lost its 'wow' factor and transitioned in common business practices, maybe then would academia fully adopt it.

    Great comments and I fully agree with you. I don't know if some people (academia being one of them) are ready to put their trust in social media and are still 'wowed' by it because they don't fully understand it.
  • I'm with you! As Clay Shirky would say, it's only when the technology becomes invisible that things get interesting.
  • Great post! I never considered what the title ""Social Media Manager"" really entailed, but excellent point and well taken. Sometimes I get so sick about hearing about social media stuff and how you can't perform business without it and blah blah blah. But guess what, you can perform without it because we had been performing for how many decades before it was introduced. I think it is a fad to some extent, and the time will come when we have to put the tweets away and just pick up the phone and get what we want done the old fashion way.

    So, I guess I am with you, I am too old to be cool I guess. :)
  • Batman
    I've been focusing on #UselessTwitterMetrics specifically, but I'm sure that most other metrics are indeed meaningless as you define them above. I also like what you stated about job function. Of course, as a one man operation, I do have to take on the additional job of “Social Media Manager” on top of everything else that I do....
  • I have been saying the same thing for a long time now. Social Media is just a big fancy set of words to do what marketing and PR have done for years. The people that do Social Media, just get to use really cool wiz bang kind of tools to accomplish their tasks.
  • There is a huge rift growing between digital and old-school marketers, which is creating the need for titles such as this. The marketers that are winning are the ones that keep the title of marketer. The companies that are creating the "social media manager" positions are, by in large, and this is only a guess, playing catch up. And losing.
  • I'm with you Chris. Building character and competence creates the trust ingredient essential to any productive business relationship. Getting back to the sturdy wooden desk serves as the metaphorical foundation for technology expanding your universe, but YOU still have to be its Captain Kirk.
  • This is definitely the time to buckle down and start using these "social media" tools to actually do something. It's going to remain shiny to those who don't understand it fully, but that's all the more reason for those who do to showcase what this is all capable of.
  • Amen, amen and amen. I don't have anything more to add because this blog post is dead on. If there was a Facebook "like" button on this blog post, I would of clicked it already.
  • "No matter your title, do your job well, but FOCUS on what your company needs most."
    I do well agree with this. Thanks for the reminders.
  • You are so right.

    If you are a manager you aren't really a thought leader. I would rather lead then manage. When you lead you get a better understanding and are willing to make the changes necessary to make your business stronger.
  • Alan
    I like the post. Not so sure I agree with the concept of not hiring a social media manager. Sure, in time, using social media will become woven into the fabric of most/all the employees of a business. However, not all businesses are nimble and ready. Many are still command-and-control. Many aren't willing to have their employees accept "yet another thing to do". Even worse, the executives at some of these companies don't even know what it is that's extra that their employees are supposed to do! They hear "social media", and say "ooo, go do that".. Wait, what?

    I think a social media manager (or whatever related title you can think) helps ferret out the right and wring channels, finds out how to funnel the information collected back into the organization, identifies who are the primary recipients and evangelists of a new way of doing things (which will, in a few years, just be 'the way' and not the new way), and staying on the edge. I think you might be giving a lot of companies too much credit (and as hard as it is to believe, that's not a dig, it's just one person's take on corporate culture) with respect to their ability to react and change course.
  • Tyler Pennock
    As one of those people with a "Social Media something or other" title, I can say that I definitely agree with your assessment that social media skills need to be woven throughout the organization - and not living as some sort of separate practice area. For my job, I'm helping to get my colleagues as well as my clients better versed in all of these new "tools". So I guess I'm not managing tools - but I am managing the process and strategy by which my agency learns about the tools and how to put them into action. Also, right on about tying sm efforts to business objectives. We'll never get past the "fad" phase if we can't start demonstrating impact on beyond "engagement."
  • Great post Chris. Small businesses need ways to reach potential customers and social media certainly can be a great way to engage and build relationships. It is critical that these interactions lead some place that moves the company forward. I look forward to hearing more about using social media as a tool to move business forward when you speak at the Ohio Growth Summit on June 10.
  • Chris,

    You are so correct in expressing concern over how some are employing or applying the name of "Social Media Specialist" in a system that works to navigate to a source, not adopt as a title. Being a user of "social tools and networks", I want to gain the best audience and exposure that is available to me, without insulting the true meaning of social exchange.

    Your blogs are, to invoke my New York City unbringing, "dope!"

    T
  • jimbursch
    I think my beef is with the term "social media". In my admittedly small brain, social media is media intended for socializing. Media that is used for something other than socializing is not social media.

    So (again, keep in mind my small brain), when I hear about a business getting into social media, it sounds to me like they are crashing a party to which they were not invited. Imagine some schmuck you don't know showing up at your dinner party handing out his business card.

    This is a semantics problem. Clearly, communications technology that was originally designed for social purposes can have other uses and applications.

    Is there an alternative to the term "social media"?
  • BryanPerson
    Might be time to rethink that "social media evangelist" title on my business card :)

    Bryan | @BryanPerson
  • Anne Orens
    Great post Chris, on the perils of mistaking the tool for the product, the skill set, or the function.

    As someone who lived through the dark ages of CD-ROM Managers, when my publishing colleagues were hired to handle a content format rather than publication of the great stuff we were doing in something other than a book format, I cheered (to myself) when I read your post.
  • The best definition of "social media" that I have found so far!!. Now, for the position titles yes they sound "cocky", but for the normal non internet-facebook-twitter-etc user, this world of "social media" does not represent an easy endeavor.

    What I think this new "social positions" will accomplish (or at least try to) is to submerge the company in this new world, not only by sending links to the executives saying "this is why we should do twitter", but working with the people, showing them how to use them and making experiments with their products, services or brands in general.

    Then when the company manages the social media tools as part of their day by day business, those positions will not be needed anymore, but as everything, they will evolve.
  • This post reminds me of a comment Dr. Seymour Papert made during the 2006 SqueakFest in Chicago: "There are no conferences on paper and education."

    ----

    As the key note, Dr. Seymour Papert, shared a story of when he and Alan Kay were both key note speakers at a conference on computers and education. Seymour, during his keynote, stated that he hoped that this would be "the last conference on computers and education" because he felt that the focus on the computer was driving behavior in education the wrong way. The comment that hit home (and got the laugh) was "There are no conferences on paper and education.".
  • Whoa and thanks. Great reality check especially when there are so many folks in our neck of the woods think that twitter and facebook are not only NEW things but the only ones! Some of them are supposedly experts in their field and they fail to see the big picture and only a few tasks that they spew onto their client base. I can only keep learning. Thank you for this!
  • By your definition the New York Times Social Media Editor ought to only write about platforms and tools and not about cultural and anthropological impact those tools have on society.Language evolves, titles evolve as do the needs of a business. There are companies large enough to justify "Social Media Managers" that don't fit nicely into marketing (consumer/integrated etc) departments, their new focus is on platform and community development, no small task. Most marketers in large scale entertainment businesses (of which I've worked for the past 10 years) work in television in partnership with online, that's how it works, you have online content producers focused on generating content and supporting convergent programming, editorial (blogs etc), video team dedicated to broadband video production and distribution, IS&T, Design, Photo etc... ALL working in in collaboration, as a team, with a social media manager - and it works. I'm not the social media manager but having that small team in place is critical in terms of distribution and community development.
  • I disagree.



    I believe a title should give a person confidence, pride in handing out their business card, summarize their skills and job, and is a title that can be justified.

    At the marketing agency where I work we are working on all sorts of new goodies and this has come up a number of times, some heavy discussion on title changes.

    And those are the four points that it comes down to. And if their title contains social media, that’s great! As long as they feel it is a great representation of them.

    If someone is a “Social Media Manger”, that kicks butt. The last thing I want is a title that everyone else in the world has…. so my title is simply “The Secret Weapon” at the office, or “Unofficial Ambassador of the Upper Peninsula”. Both which I love, give me great pride and confidence, summarize what I do, and can be justified.
  • Ah my old friend, just because a tool has a name and business function, does not mean it cannot also be in a job title. Some examples: Computer Programmer, Telephone Operator, Air Hammer Operator, Tool & Die Maker, Network Line Tester, Cellular Manager, etc.
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