Are Social Media Jobs In Demand?

Strategy: What Say You? with Jay Deragon

Businesses are increasingly looking for people who fit the titles of social media manager, social media strategist and social media contributors. Justin Williams writes: I have included a graph that shows from 2005 to current, Social Media Jobs have increased by 325%, this is astounding! More and more employers are seeking positions to be filled with their company.

Upon reviewing a handful of the job posting for social media positions one may conclude they are all the same, at least the job descriptions appear to be very similar. Most of the job descriptions appear to focus on candidates who know how to use a listing of social technology with little if any emphasis on relationship or communication skills. Now consider the irony of a business manager, who has little or no experience with social media, telling the HR Department to find us people with social media experience. The natural reaction by the HR people is to define the job responsibilities, skill sets and compensation. One must wonder where does the HR Department go for information concerning “social media jobs”? Most likely they look for previous job postings for social media positions created by other companies and simply copy the descriptions.

Does Business Know What To Ask For?

All this “social stuff” has little definition that can fit neatly into a job description. When you look at the landscape of practices one can see a variety of tools and techniques used by those who have large audiences of followers. Most of the dominant people who garner a massive audience follow a simply rule of sharing insights or passing along insights from others. However the dominant trait of these current “social leaders” is that they relate to the “audience” in a very human way. In other words they are either gifted with communications skills or have learned the art and science of human interaction using social tools. I am not talking about all those sites and people who push out massive marketing messages claiming to have the most current tools or the best advertising schemes. Rather I am talking about those people who simple engage people into dialog, share profound knowledge about the dynamics of human interaction with technology and do so in a very human way.

Finding people who truly understand the value of social media for businesses isn’t as easy as buying an IPhone. The IPhone has set records in sales and became a hit largely because of its design (art) and functionality (technology). When you hire a person to help your business maximize the potential of social media you need to focus on those who understand the art of human relations along with the science of using the technology to accomplish specific aims. The irony is that the art of human relations built on technological interaction is more about knowing how to continuously learn to create and satisfy human experiences. The experiences are centric to attention, attraction, affinity and audience preferences which we discussed here.

As most organizations know, hiring the wrong people for the wrong job can be extremely costly. It is even more costly if you assume everyone knows how to leverage social media for your business purposes and with your audience of suppliers, employees and customers. Be careful what you ask for.

What say you?

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Posted to THE NATIONAL NETWORKER. To subscribe for your free newletter, go to www.TheNationalNetworker.com. For the complete National Networker Relationship Capital Toolkit and a free RSS feed, go to: http://thenationalnetworkerweblog.blogspot.com.
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Are Social Media Jobs In Demand?

The Larger the Networking Group, the More Referrals it will Generate

Networking Success with Dr. Ivan Misner
Ivan's section is sponsored by qAlias.com

It is certainly true that larger networking groups can exponentially generate more referrals. True, that is, within each type of referral group. Among strong-contact referral groups, such as BNI, studies have consistently shown that a group with forty members will typically generate more referrals per member than one with twenty-five members. It stands to reason: The more people in your group, the more databases you have access to. But the same thing happens among casual-contact networks like chambers of commerce, a two-hundred-member group will probably generate more referrals than a one-hundred-member group.

However, it is important to realize that this does not imply that a one-hundred-member chamber of commerce will pass more referrals than a forty-member referral-networking organization. The strong-contact group is focused primarily on generating referrals for its members, and it is structured in such a way that time for passing information and referrals is built into each meeting, and that members are personally accountable for generating referrals for other members of the group. A chamber of commerce will offer plenty of opportunities to pass referrals, including forming some special committees that can serve as a sort of strong-contact referral group, but in general, it is not structured to focus on this as a primary activity. Because of this, this type of organization is really made up of three parts: It is part information network, part service organization, and part referral group.

Bear in mind that a master networker does not exclusively need a highly structured organization in order to generate and receive referrals. She can do this in almost any setting, because she has highly developed relationship skills. She constantly looks for ways to help or benefit her networking partners, and she has developed a reputation as someone who can get things done, no matter what the organization or situation. For her, a casual-contact group can serve as well as a strong-contact group—perhaps better, because there are more possible connections in a larger group, whether it is structured to make those connections automatically or not.

A master networker carries her entire network with her at all times, and can make connections that benefit people in different industries, interest groups, and geographic areas who would probably never have heard of each other without her help. This requires a strong desire to help others succeed: You must constantly be on the lookout for people who have need of the service a member of your network provides.

It’s also true that, despite the built-in structure and focus on referrals, a member of a strong-contact group can fail to generate referrals for other members or to receive referrals for himself. Networking skills are the number one requirement; the setting only makes it easier to use these skills. Simply being a member of a strong-contact group does not entitle you to expect or receive referrals. Nor does being a member of a casual-contact group limit the number of referrals you can generate or receive, if you have the skills and use them.

One savvy – and extremely successful – networker loads the names and cell phone numbers of every member of her networking group, and when new members join, she adds them to her database immediately. She has found that she has a much bigger chance of seeing closed business between her contact and the person to whom she is making the referral when she can make the introduction immediately – right when she learns of the need of her contact.

For example, you are at meeting with one of your clients, who mentions that his wife is expecting twins, and that he is consumed with trying to figure out the best life insurance options for his family. You have an extremely knowledgeable life insurance professional in your network, you tell your client, and you would be happy to provide his contact information – better yet, you say, let me just get him on his cell. You look organized and well-connected to your client, and – if you and this agent are close enough to be on a “cell phone basis,” you must know him pretty well, so the comfort level of your client with your referral is already elevated.

Whatever you pay to join a referral-networking group is only the price of admission—it gets you into the room where opportunities may come your way, but it doesn’t entitle you to receive referrals. It’s not enough just to show up and participate. You also have to perform.

In other words, if joining a referral-networking group doesn’t work out for you, it’s all your fault. (Okay, “your responsibility,” for those of you who are more diplomatic).

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Called the “Father of Modern Networking” by CNN, Dr. Ivan Misner is a New York Times bestselling author. He is the Founder and Chairman of BNI (www.bni.com), the world’s largest business networking organization. His latest book, The 29% Solution can be viewed at www.29PercentSolution.com. Dr. Misner is also the Senior Partner for the Referral Institute, an international referral training company (www.referralinstitute.com). He can be reached at misner@bni.com.

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The Larger the Networking Group, the More Referrals it will Generate