[Thinking how to frame a dialogue without overburdening the writing with punctuation and he said then I said, I'm going to use one color for my statements and another color for my friend's statements. Hopefully that will make it easy to read quickly.]
On Saturday night a good friend asked, "So what do you do?"
He was somewhat serious. And it got worse from there.
"You are the only friend I can think of who I have not given work referrals to. If I were to sum up what you do in one sentence what would I say?"
I tried a few ideas on him.
I am a Social Media Strategist. "Nah, you've got people like Brian Solis, Chris Brogan and Jeremiah Owyang doing that gig."
I can build communities. "Really? To what effect? To make money? To save money?"
I know how to guide companies to… "No. What's a guide? What does that get them?"
I can assemble the creative and technical teams to do social media projects. "Oh really? Like what kind of projects?"
Launching a B 2 B portal or a B 2 C portal. "What's social about that?"
Okay, so I know how to do online marketing programs. "Boooring. You and the other 100 companies in Austin. What's your value?"
I have these training sessions to teach businesses how to work within the various aspects of social media. "Great. What do you call that?"
Uh, the sessions? That's not very good is it? Hmm… "Not too good. I can't get a handle on that. When I have a client and they need what you do I can say… JMac he's the <insert cool name here>. And make the recommendation and you get the work."
How about a Virtual Chief Social Media Officer? "That's great. That's it. That's what <name of local dude> does. That's his job. Yeah, that's good. Nobody else is doing that. A VCSMO!"
Now I just have to figure out how to tell that story and put the "value" in that proposition. And educate my friend and my potential clients on what a Social Media Officer does, virtual or full-time.
So I'm building the DECK on it. Maybe I'll do the book, the podcast and the video presentation on it.
Here is the hero slide of my presentation What Is A Social Media Strategist. Once I get that nailed I can move on to showing the ROI on social media projects that I've been involved in and how that success can and will translate into similar success for YOUR COMPANY.
I will share the entire presentation when it is done. But until then here is my tenant of what I do, or what a Social Media Strategist does:
- The social media strategist must assume many roles during the course of a given project.
- The project often needs to be presented/sold/green-lighted by several levels within the spans and layers of a company.
- Being a master of process and agile methodologies helps a lot in driving projects forward in these multi-team environments.
- And finally the social media lead has to maintain a supportive attitude across all of the teams that come in contact with various parts of the project. Because one naysayer can ruin the entire program. And you never know where or when that negative leverage might rear it's ugly head.
It is a lot to navigate. And depending on the size of the company the leadership or lack of leadership can get quite complex. But that is the task of the social media strategist at any level. Stealthy and effective, the winning social media ninja can move projects through the darkness and opposition forces to achieve victory. Victory with or without the support of the entire cast of characters involved in the process, but victory (launch) nonetheless.
@jmacofearth (socialmedianinja.net)
permalink: http://bit.ly/socialmedianinja
June 16th, 2009 at 10:03 am
John,
Clearly this guy you were talking to is one smart cookie. You'll have to introduce him.
Just a few comments on your conversation:
The VicSmoe (VCSMO) needs a sentence or two, and two less letters. "VCSO: Increase awareness and contact frequency through Social Media." This assumes, of course, that you're selling to marketing people. "Salience," that state of mind in which your prospects really "get" your message is a function of "frequency" and "relevance."
Social Media delivers relevance frequently.
For the non-marketer, social media makes it easier to close prospects. Period. Bad social media creates noise. Good social media lights up the bottom of the sales and marketing funnels. It let's friends and acquaintances guide prospects through consideration process until they experience the requisite 7-10 impressions that makes it safe to buy.
What can the VCSO do for you? Design for you the proper content (relevance) and proper manners needed to make each of the social channels work, resulting in the relevance and frequency that makes ANY marketing program effective.
If you're reading this, it clearly works.
Brian Massey
http://conversionscientist.com
June 16th, 2009 at 10:16 am
Brian you look vaguely familiar. Did you work at POWERED.COM back in the day? Thanks for your amazing input and comments. Sooo… you're not quite as into the SocialMediaNinja idea? See I'm thinking I dress as a ninja for special events and conferences. And the handle fits nicely with your "scientist" thing. Thoughts?
Thanks for the comments!
June 16th, 2009 at 10:27 am
Yes, as a matter of fact, I did work at that venerable and potential-laden firm.
The Ninja thing could work, but you present it so subversively. I'd be nervous as a marketer if I my job was on the line. You need the two sentences first, then the hook should present itself.
Ninja's been done, too.
Consider building presonas of your ideal prospects. I can show you how.
Brian Massey
http://conversionscientist.com
June 16th, 2009 at 10:38 am
I KNOW ABOUT THE other NINJA dangit! This is the SOCIALMEDIA-NINJA. Or maybe the SocialNinja… ooops off to godaddy to buy a new domain…
June 16th, 2009 at 10:40 am
This is social media. You are what WE make of you. I don't care what kind of Ninja you are, I'll expect a funny video.
Brian Massey
http://conversionscientist.com
June 16th, 2009 at 7:11 pm
How many of us struggle with "What we do"? We know what it is, but articulating it sometimes is such the challenge. Thanks for this story because I have been thinking about how I would explain what I do once certified in Inbound Marketing.
June 16th, 2009 at 11:11 pm
How many of us struggle with "What we do"? We know what it is, but articulating it sometimes is such the challenge. Thanks for this story because I have been thinking about how I would explain what I do once certified in Inbound Marketing.