You’ve seen the ads on the job boards: social media specialist, social media strategist, digital communications expert. Major corporations and organizations can see the value of social media, so they’re creating new positions to fill this role.
For the freelancers and consultants, social media is a perfect niche field for you to start or grow your freelancing practice. But don’t stand on the sidelines for too long: social media is super hot right now, but it’s only a matter of time before it grows beyond the purview of specialists and becomes just another ubiquitous subset of communications that every communicator is forced to master.
In lieu of a photograph, I snagged this recent video interview of today’s TDMJ subject Ged Carroll. This London-based PR man is the head of digital strategy for the UK office of Ruder Finn Public Relations. In the above interview with Econsultancy, Finn gives us a few social media best practices. Below in TDMJ, he tells what it’s like to work in the UK and in the digital department of a top global public relations agency.
Name: Ged Carroll, 38
Current City: London, England
Company: Ruder Finn, 40+ people UK and 600+ worldwide. Prior to this he helped found Waggener Edstrom’s digital office and worked in house at Yahoo!
Job Title: Director, Digital Strategies
Mopwater: What made you get into public relations? What do you like best about the field? GC: I got into PR through wanting to work in an agency environment following completing a degree in marketing. I had previously worked part-time marketing club nights, DJ’ing and working in the oil industry as a plant process operator. PR as a career has been good to me; I have managed to travel internationally and meet some interesting people.
Mopwater: What aspects of the industry are you currently most excited about? GC: Probably the most exciting bit about the industry at the present time is the change that it is undergoing, which I think that the recession will accelerate. This change will be structural as marketing communications disciplines mesh together and the opportunities opening up as the Gordian knot of how to measure PR is finally broken!
Mopwater: Describe a typical work day including your typical work hours. GC: There is no typical work day in digital. The other day I went from dealing with lice shampoo to semiconductors in the space of half an hour. My role involves doing web research, conducting online outreach, designing online campaigns, working with internal designers, developers and third parties to build websites, providing advice to teams and clients, running external training programmes and speaking at conferences. Sometimes it can be long hours, but on the up side the firm is pretty flexible and efforts are appreciated. Read the full story
CNN correspondent Joe Johns offers what could be a case study in bad PR, and a cautionary tale for all of us. Johns tells the story of an unfortunate PR person who pitched the top of the CNN food chain (the producer) instead of involving the corresponding reporter directly.
Name and News Organization: Kate Michael, KStreetKate.net and The District Dish Beat: DC topics (People, places, events, charities, businesses) Job Title: New Media Personality Length of Time in this Role: 3 years Web Site and/or Blog: K Street Kate/ The District Dish Twitter Handle:@kstreetkate
Mopwater: What kind of stories/people/companies are you most interested in covering, and in what context? KM: Both the online magazine and talk show feature the best of DC, lifestyle stories that highlight the real District of Columbia and its eclectic neighborhoods.
Mopwater: What’s the best pitch you’ve gotten recently and why? KM: A unique and interesting business (trapeze school) moved into the area and featured lessons with the instructor who taught “Carrie” on the trapeze episode of Sex and the City. We booked him immediately to tell people about the trapeze school on The District Dish!
Mopwater: What’s the worst pitch you’ve gotten recently and why? KM: The sister of a local woman asked me to do a feature on her because she was “so nice” and “people should know about her”… I’m not sure why.
Mopwater: What’s the easiest way to get ignored by you when pitching? KM: Forget to take out the name of the other publication you were pitching when you were cutting and pasting your pitch.
Mopwater: What’s your preferred method of contact? Phone, email, your web site, your twitter account, your Facebook? KM: Email and twitter, equally. My actual e-mail is listed on my facebook page, so why use a facebook message?? Read the full story
Name: Amber Naslund
Age: 33
Current City: Chicago, IL
Job Title: Director of Community Company Name: Radian6
Length of Time in this Role: 6 months-ish
Web Site: Radian 6
Blog: Altitude Branding
Twitter : @ambercadabra
Mopwater escribe your path to PR. How did you wind up in this field? AN: Accidental! I was a music performance major (flute) in college, and have worked in non-profit fund development, corporate marketing, and as an independent consultant. I’m not a formally trained marketer, rather I’d like to think I’m a communicator and connector.
Mopwater: What aspects of the industry are you most excited about? AN: The potential for social media to break down internal boundaries within companies, and bring out the best of marketing, PR, customer service and product management. I’m excited about how it gives the community a voice, but I think it’s really bringing businesses back to the tenets of doing good work that’s based in very basic principles.
Mopwater: Describe a typical workday including your work hours. What do you do all day? AN: Woo. Well, I work on average 9 to 12 hours a day, but that’s often split up into chunks. I spend my days creating content, engaging with our customers on social sites (mostly Twitter and blogs), creating ideas to better support our community, and traveling all over to events to meet all these people face to face. Read the full story
If you’re like me, you are in charge of convincing business owners why social media is important to their bottom line; and you’re probably also trying to get them actively engaged in it. It’s a process to truly win over those who are extremely private or just simply averse to telling the world what they’re doing. Here are a few tips to get those you’re working with on board.
Sell It. Before you can expect your client or boss to buy into the virtues of social media, you must first answer the obvious questions: “What’s in it for the company? Why should we invest our resources here?” As your client or company’s social media ambassador,you have to do your homework. Offer up clear examples of where social media worked for a similar company. Show where a direct competitor saw results and you’ll get and keep a client’s attention.
Educate the Gatekeepers. Consider hosting a half-day social media camp for your client or Marketing Director to go over the basics. Make your presentation fun, interactive and easy to follow. Remember: those who don’t use social media are often intimidated by it or at the very least, don’t understand how far-reaching it is. Hold your boss or client’s hand and let them know you understand their apprehension. Repeat your belief that social media is a worthwhile investment.
Offer a Roadmap. What good does it do you to create an incredible plan that can’t with real ways your client or boss can begin using social media immediately. Set up accounts on social media sites for them and hand them a username and password.
Set Metrics. Be sure that you set goals that your client can really measure. Give them participation goals (i.e., two blog posts per week, or 1 Twitter update a day) as well as goals for the newly implemented social media program (i.e., 200 new Twitter followers by [date], or an improved online brand image by [date]). If you set goals, you can chart your progress easily. Knowing your progress allows you to change course if your strategy isn’t working.
Build It In. Developing your marketing and PR calendar for next year? Build social media into the plan so those in charge can
see exactly where it fits, and exactly how it complements the work you’re already doing.
Communicate the Commitment. While implementing a social media program may seem to have no real associated costs, developing quality social media programming can be extremely time-consuming. Communicate this fact to your client or director to be sure that you are well-compensated for your time.
escribe your path to PR. How did you wind up in this field?
If you missed the first 
