Open Social Media: Where we tell it like it is

Open Social Media Education

A Captive Touch Initiative

Host: Sherry Nouraini Founder/President Captive Touch

Open Social Media: Where we tell it like it is

Please Help Spread the Education

• Use the Hashtag #opensm

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•Questions? Ask on my G+ profile

Open Social Media: Where we tell it like it is

Topic of Our Workshop Today

What Does it Take to Find and

Hire a Good Social Media

Professional?

Open Social Media: Where we tell it like it is

Evaluate your needs

1. No Social Media (SM) presence

Social media strategist to create a plan

2. Active on SM channels, but not getting results

Social media strategist to monitor and create a plan

3. Active on SM channels, have sound strategy that is giving results, no time

Community manager (VA)

Open Social Media: Where we tell it like it is

How to find the person you need?

• Treat it as a project

• Shop around for quality not best price

• Start with word of mouth but don’t stop there. Your work just begins

Most of referrals are not so good

• Whether word of mouth is an option or not, your starting point should be Linkedin

Open Social Media: Where we tell it like it is

What to look for on Linkedin Search for keywords, location

Complete profile

Links

Website

SM accounts

Youtube channel

Recommendations

Activity

Open Social Media: Where we tell it like it is

What to look for on FacebookGood social media professionals are greatstory tellers.

Cover image: Does it tell a story? Is it unique?

Overall design: Professional and consistent

Posts: Engaging, story telling, provide value

Fan count: Not a good quality score because it can be artificially built up

Open Social Media: Where we tell it like it is

What to look for on Twitter Complete profile

Conversational

Offer value

Lists they are members of:

Are they listed?

Under what category?

Sentiment on their Twitter handle, do a search

Open Social Media: Where we tell it like it is

What to look for on their website Professional design

Active blog

Value

Thought leadership

Strong writing skills

Testimonials

Clear explanation of offerings

Open Social Media: Where we tell it like it is

The meeting

• Opportunity for you to evaluate the candidate in person

• Opportunity for the candidate to evaluate your needs and decide if they want to work with you

They should ask questions

They should listen to you answer them

Conversation turns into sales pitch? End the meeting

Open Social Media: Where we tell it like it is

What questions they should ask Your business goals

Your competitive advantage

Your motivation for using social media

Your current social media activities

Your expectations

They should address if unrealistic

Your budget

Open Social Media: Where we tell it like it is

The candidate should exhibit

• An understanding of business goals

• An understanding of how social media activity can be connected to business outcome

• Ability to think on their feet and brainstorm with you right at the meeting

• Based on the first meeting, they should get back to you with a proposal

• You should meet again to address the proposal

Open Social Media: Where we tell it like it is

Social media strategy proposal• Outline steps to create plan, could include:

Finding where prospects aggregate Monitoring conversations on SM

Potential clients Competitors

Identifying influential bloggers Research case studies of campaigns

• Done right, creating a strategy can be a huge project

• Timeline to deliver first draft• Be prepared, you may have to revise

Open Social Media: Where we tell it like it is

Example strategy & tactics

• Business objective: Increase awareness for new product X,

Where to find target market (research)

Engage on Facebook (strategy)

How to engage them

Facebook Ad (tactic)

What behavior to drive in them

Visit product page on website, include link to website in the ad

Open Social Media: Where we tell it like it is

SM management proposal

What the candidate will do for:

• Engagement

• Monitoring

• Measurement

• Reporting

• Meeting

Open Social Media: Where we tell it like it is

How much do you expect to pay?

• Pricing should be the last thing to discuss.

• Most ask for price first, not a good idea

• Overview of pricing in the industry:

Great blog post written by Mack Collier

“How Much Does Social Media Cost Companies in 2012?”

http://bit.ly/smcost

Open Social Media: Where we tell it like it is

When making your final decision

• Don’t choose based on best price

• Go for creativity

• For SM management, start with a short term agreement (3-6 months) in the beginning

• Your best candidate knows the value of offline activities and has a plan to tie it into your online social media activities.

Open Social Media: Where we tell it like it is

Few final points

• Social media consultants are business owners just like you

• Respect their time

• Think of your SM consultant as a business partner

Open Social Media: Where we tell it like it is

Did you like what you heard?

• Please +1 and share the video• Want to be notified about future workshops?

• Would you like to give us your feedback? Please answer this short survey:

http://bit.ly/feedback_sm

• Please ask questions