As organizations and businesses move into the social media space, a new position has emerged: Director of Social Media. While the specific title goes by various names (Director of Social Media Outreach, Director of Social Media Marketing, Social Media Manager, etc.), the skill sets and experiences qualified applicants bring to the table are probably fairly similar. So, what, or who, should these organizations and businesses be looking for? What questions would you ask of – or have you been asked as – a prospective Director of Social Media? Do these questions differ by organizational type or business sector? What are the skill sets that make one qualified for such a position? Please leave a comment. I think this can be a very productive conversation.
Questions for Prospective Director of Social Media
10/27/2009 by David Breshears
Posted in Corporate Communications, Instructional, Interactive Marketing, Social Business | Tagged jobs, social media | 2 Comments
2 Responses
Leave a reply to Sue Anne Cancel reply
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David – great question. In terms of “what would I ask / what would I be looking for” in a director of social media, I would focus on three things:
1) do they understand business i.e. have they worked in a digital marketing, PR, product or customer service role in the past. I wouldn’t want someone that was just a good blogger or Facebook-er that had no understanding of how companies think.
2) are they good communicators? this doesn’t just mean good writers but are they good conversationists.
3) to point number two, what does their social footprint look like? do they regularly tweet, comment on blogs, write blog posts, update on LinkedIn and Facebook? and are they well connected? they don’t need thousands of friends/followers but they should have some clout in your industry and in the social space.
I look forward to hearing other folks thoughts/questions.
Best,
Aaron | @aaronstrout
One of the most important questions is what were they doing prior to 2005 (arbitrary date) that would qualify them to be a director of social media? Without the tools like Twitter / Facebook, how were they managing communities and relationships?
I also like Aaron’s three questions.
Sue Anne (@Sue_Anne)