When an organization ventures into social media marketing, it frequently happens a bit haphazardly. “Sure, let’s set up a Facebook page. Okay, let’s start a Twitter account…” But for a larger organization that really wants an organized approach and a social media marketing campaign with specific, measurable objectives, what I really recommend is hiring a full time, salaried, social media brand manager.
Yep, you heard that right!
Perhaps you already have a team or a few employees who handle your social media marketing, and are wondering what the possible benefits of hiring another person would be. Here are some of the duties of the social media brand manager:
- Working closely with top level management to ensure that measurable goals are set (and met!) for each department involved in the social media program.
- Managing the social media team that’s already in place, and reporting directly to the executive team.
- Setting up metrics and analytics, so that the results of the program can be documented.
- Tracking “likes,” video views, promo code uses, downloads, and much more. Don’t do social in the dark! Find out what’s working and do more of it, find out what’s not effective and tweak it.
- Coordinating the input from all the different departments involved in social media. For instance, the HR department might feed available jobs to be posted on LinkedIn, the sales department might have sales, promotions or new product launches that they want marketed on Facebook or Twitter. Each department might have specific uses and goals for the organizations different social media sites, and one brand manager to coordinate them all and keep track of them provides the continuity and organization necessary to be successful.
- Monitoring all social media portals, crafting appropriate responses to customer comments or complaints and knowing what people are saying about your brand.
As you can see by this list, for a corporation that is committed to having an effective and profitable social media presence online, a social media brand manager is the way to go! To really do it right, there are many things to be considered and followed up on, and your existing staff members already have full time jobs.
But what if your organization is committed, but not at the level where hiring a full time, dedicated social media manager is practical or possible? Depending on the size of your organization, you could of course hire a a freelance social media expert, or an agency like the Findability Group. What I don’t recommend is hiring a college kid, on the assumption that they come from the generation that really knows social media. Yes, they know how to use it, but knowing how to effectively market on it is a horse of a different color.
You want someone who is familiar with the social media sites, of course, but also someone who knows how to plan out a marketing program, how to get likes and follows, how to automate the process using tools like Hootsuite for greater productivity, how to run contests and promotions, and how to set up the metrics which will show what is working and what needs more work.
If you’re going to go social, it’s best to do it with a well thought out plan. If you have any questions about whether hiring a social media brand manager is the way to go for your organization, feel free to call our office at 888.588.9326.
Heather Lutze
Author, Internet Marketing Speaker, Trainer and Consultant
About Heather:
Heather is the acclaimed speaker, trainer, and consultant who literally wrote the book on search engine marketing. Two books, in fact—The Findability Formula: The Easy, Non-Technical Approach to Search Engine Marketing and Thumbonomics: The Essential Business Roadmap for Social Media & Mobile Marketing. Her writing and in-demand keynotes are delivered with the same witty, “no-geek-speak” style that has managed to demystify internet marketing for countless business owners. Breaking free of corporate “cubicle” jobs over ten years ago with nothing more than a dream of entrepreneurship and a computer in the basement, Heather built her business, The Findability Group, into a multimillion dollar company. Today she leads a dedicated and slightly obsessed team of search marketing pros—their mission—to connect clients with their perfect customers online.