Hiring Social Media Partners
People are calling social media marketing the new Wild West. Now, whether or not you agree with this broad statement, you might still be wondering how social media applies to you and your job. If you're in charge of marketing and communications for a company, you should be paying attention to the impact of social media. It will become increasingly important, if not one of the things you should already be doing.
I started studying social media closely in 2006, obsessively learning and reading about it. Not too soon after that my boss asked me what I thought of it all. When the time came to outsource the support of our social media efforts, I had a list of people that would do the job beautifully: both in strategy and execution. Because of several challenges, we weren't able to hire those groups while I was there, unfortunately.
Getting everyone within an organization to (a) understand social media, (b) actually value it as a corporate policy and (c) know who to hire to provide counsel and prevent mistakes are all very big challenges. Even today people tell me they could care less about social media, when they are in a position that I feel they should be paying attention to it--for their own good, not for my benefit.
You see, I'm not a social media service provider. I'm not the one that will put together a strategy, and then help you execute it. While I know how to do those things, I would much rather match you with an organization that is focused on those services. We have a growing number of talented organizations in the Triangle that can help you and your company with social media.
The number of social media experts/gurus/mavens/strategists--whatever you want to call them--is growing daily. People are jumping on board so quickly that it'll make your head spin. Recently I attended a networking event, where a guy gave me his business card. He represented a social media company in the Triangle that I had not heard about yet, so I started quizzing him for fun. Perhaps he might be a potential partner for Honey Scroll. He didn't know any of the folks he should have known, nor did he attend any of the events he should have been attending. Now, these two criteria don't disqualify him completely, but they do raise serious questions in my mind about his capabilities when it comes to providing counsel to clients regarding social media. We have not been in touch since then, and I have yet to see him actively participate within the community.
It's incredibly important to do your homework before hiring someone that will provide you with social media counsel. It can be tough to know what criteria is important prior to hiring a company, especially in an evolving industry like social media.
How do you find the right social media partner? What questions do you ask during the initial interviews? How do you understand what services they've provided other clients? How do you know what services you want them to perform for your organization? What's a fair measurement for return on investment (ROI)? What's your length of time to test the performance of your new partner before you decide to rehire or fire them?
There are many things you need to know before hiring a group to help you understand and execute social media efforts. Please do your homework first! Better yet, hire me and I will find you the right agency. I love professional match-making, and there's no greater satisfaction than hearing a client is totally pleased with their new partner company.
Don't forget to register for the Honey Scroll workshop on social media, too: http://honeyscrollfeb.eventbrite.com/. We love to hear your questions. The conversations are just part of the fun!
