On April 23, I offered a job posting here on the blog. Doe-Anderson’s social media activity has grown to the point that we need more hands on deck. We’ve come quite a ways from last summer when one client said they wanted some additional thinking for their online efforts. Now we have a small staple of clients asking for that same thinking and we’re bringing social media strategies to the table where it makes sense for clients, current and potential.

If you look back at that job posting, you’ll see I was looking for someone with a strong social media marketing background, even though the field is still in its infancy. The offering produced 25-30 legitimate inquiries, about 20 of which officially applied for the job, in as much as saying, “I’d like to be considered,” to me made it official. Of those, I had idyllic notions of picking three candidates to interview then selecting one. We had such a strong array of candidates, I could only narrow it down to seven. Eventually, and after phone conversations, discussions and many days of me pacing around the office with a scowl on my face, we picked three and interviewed them. Ultimately, however, one young lady stood out as the person we were looking for.

Next week, Kat French will begin the unenviable task of working for me. I actually think of more as us working together. Kat brings a diverse background in social media to the table. Her background includes a heavy dose of blogging, copywriting and other content production, including podcasting, a fair amount of community management, a good degree of search marketing and SEO experience. (I’m questioning her ability to take self-portraits in focus, but am obviously not hung up on it.) What impressed us the most is her brand experience and focus on the client’s audience and objectives first.

She’s spent the last two years at LeapFrog Interactive here in Louisville, a shop all of us here at Doe have a great deal of respect for. I’m thrilled she’s joining us and can’t wait to hit the ground running with someone to tackle the world with. I’m especially excited about the part where someone says, “Calm down, Jason. Don’t post that or Tweet that. You’ll kick yourself later if you do.” No, “Voice of Reason,” wasn’t on the listing of job requirements. It should have been understood.

Kat’s off-hours efforts include a personal blog, That Darn Kat. Her other blog (the gal can kick the content) is on hiatus but is called Internet Bard. She also did a pretty kick-ass interview with SEO ROI not too long ago you can read here. She’s @coffeecupkat on Twitter. I recommend following her. You might get a more honest assessment of me in doing so. And yes, you’ll see Kat on this blog as well. One of the responsibilities of her new job will be to offer occasional wisdom here on Social Media Explorer. Look for her first post soon.

Thank you to all the fantastic people who expressed interest in the job. Hiring is fun, but also daunting. Ultimately, you have to tell a lot of very good candidates, “No.” I hate that part, but tried to do it personally. I’ve connected with some very talented people as part of this process. I know I’ll stay connected to most of them as well. After all, if I do my job well, this won’t be the last time I hire someone.

NOTE: This position has now be filled. Thank you for reading and for your interest. If we hire in social media again, we’ll post another entry. Just in case, subscribe to our feed!

Early in 2007, a singular client came to Doe-Anderson asking for guidance in the social web. Since that time, almost all of our clients have either expressed interest, or expressly ordered up social media thinking. Not to mention we’ve added a few new clients to the fold based primarily on our social media capabilities.

We’re fortunate to now be in a position to hire a social media manager. I am the primary decision-maker. While Crystal Peterson, our Sr. VP for Human Resources, will certainly be posting the official position in various and sundry places around the on- and off-line world, consider this the job announcement.

WHAT WE NEED

1. An experienced (2-5 years) social media marketer. Someone who blogs or understands blogging and participates in social networks and online communities, has an understanding of web TV, podcasting, wikis and social bookmarking sites, and can translate that knowledge in to recommendations for clients.
2. Someone with a more than rudimentary understanding of search engine optimization.
3. A person who is comfortable teaching social media to others.
4. A person who enjoys engaging in conversations, both on-line and off.
5. An excellent writer.
6. An independent thinker and task master with the appropriate organizational skills to be a good one.
7. Someone with an insistence on honesty, transparency and integrity.
8. A person I can put in front of a client. (i.e. – You speak and present well, aren’t a slob and don’t smell bad.)

WHAT WE WANT

1. Someone with community management experience. And not just a blog with comments, but forums, message boards or small social networks.
2. A person with web-TV and/or podcasting experience.
3. Someone with an impressive social media profile in one or several of the popular social networks or social bookmarking/news sites.
4. A salesman who can help us grow our social media clientele.
5. Someone who can navigate their way around HTML and PHP code … or at least do so without screwing something up.

WHAT I GET OUT OF THIS

1. An easier, more social method of finding someone to hire.
2. Someone to tackle the world with.

WHAT YOU GET OUT OF THIS

1. A good-paying job with a visionary marketing agency working with national clients.
2. A competitive benefits package including medical and dental insurance, disability and retirement.
3. Staff blogging privileges on Social Media Explorer and Doe-Anderson’s blog.
4. Sole responsibility for accounts to build your resume and reputation.
5. The chance to live in a pretty damn fine town, some call it Possibility City, with a burgeoning pool of social media and tech talent.
6. A pretty swell boss.

HERE’S HOW YOU GET THE JOB

1. Don’t send me resumes. Connect with me. I’m easy to find.
2. Give me an elevator pitch on why you are the person we’ve described.
3. Send me (via whatever electronic method you deem most efficient) a short list of what you’ve done and where I can find evidence of it. Or have a full profile on LinkedIn. It’s easier that way.
4. If your profiles are hard to link to you on social media sites, tell me which are yours and what you’re hiding.
5. Understand this will be a competitive search and I’m hiring one person. Be outstanding.

The only other disclaimer I’ll throw in there is that if you have issues working in the alcohol, wine and spirits category, you’re not going to like this job. That won’t be the only category you’ll work in, though. Experience in travel, banking, medical, non-profits or B2B environments is a plus. Social media community influence in those categories is a super bonus. If you can talk circles around lawyers, you’re already at the top of the stack.

Ready? Connect with me.

And a hat-tip to Aaron Strout who invented this method. I have clearly ripped him off, but I’d guess he doesn’t mind.

Technorati Tags: social media, social media jobs, social media manager, job openings, Louisville, Doe-Anderson

Forgive the self-promotional tone of this, but I have a story to tell about where I work.

In January of 2007, Todd Spencer was named successor to Dave Wilkins as CEO of Doe Anderson. Spencer, who still hasn’t turned 40, worked his way up from an account manager (I’ll go out on a limb and report junior account manager) to president and chief executive officer of the company over the last 15 years or so. His marketing acumen is why. The guy is just brilliant. And I’m not saying that because he’s my boss. (Okay, maybe a little bit.)

As Todd took over the controls of the agency officially in the summer, he set in motion a process of self-discovery and assessment here that led Doe Anderson to approach its business differently. Ultimately, this process has led us to the following conclusions:

• Consumers are savvy to what agencies and brands are up to. Overwhelmed by mass advertising, people are less responsive to traditional marketing but happy to accept brand endorsements from friends.
• Word-of-mouth is more than 60 times more effective than traditional advertising. (According to Advertising Age, AdWeek and the Word-Of-Mouth Marketing Association.)
• Traditional advertising is also not cost-efficient. You spend lots of money to expose lots of people but reach a select few that will buy your product.
• Building brand enthusiasts turns the traditional advertising cost model on its head. Spending less money to reach those most enthusiastic about your brand produces a multiplier effect in which those brand enthusiasts spread the word about you.

I’ll explain more soon about what we believe brand enthusiasm to be, but for a 93-year-old advertising agency to come to those conclusions, you know something different is brewing.

And yet, the thinking isn’t altogether new. Until about 10 years ago, the logo for Doe Anderson was an acorn. And there was a story behind it.

“Mighty oaks from tiny acorns grow.”

From our “The Acorn Story” found in the bottom tab of our newly-redesigned website:

There are no shortcuts in growing a brand. Cracking open an acorn doesn’t give you an oak tree. And cracking one clever ad campaign doesn’t make a strong brand. It takes seasons of growth.

You can’t grow a tree from the top down, nor a brand. Only by starting at the grass roots can real growth begin. That’s why having a word-of-mouth marketing program is so important, and so effective.

We’ve re-branded ourselves, both in logo and spirit. We’ve gone back to a new, old look at Doe-Anderson. We have a new, old philosophy to go with the logo. It’s not about reaching a lot in hopes of a little. It’s reaching a little with eyes on a lot.

We have a system to take brands on the journey to build brand enthusiasts. And it doesn’t require us to be your agency of record to do so. Sure, we can handle above-the-line work, but our strategic thinking and expertise in creating passionate fans of your brand that lead to long-term growth is what makes us different.

And, I’d like to think my social media thinking adds a social computing element to the mix you’d be hard pressed to find at many agencies. Social media from a marketing perspective is rooted in grass roots advertising. It involves providing people the tools to become enthusiastic about your brand. At least Doe put a link to little ole me on the new website. Oh, pshaw.

I’m proud to work at Doe-Anderson. I’m proud to work for Todd Spencer. We aren’t always right and we don’t win every pitch. But we have a proven track record of creating communities of passionate consumers and connecting brands with people and vice-versa.

You can learn more about us at DoeAnderson.com or by searching for “brand enthusiasm.”

Thank you for the momentary lapse of self-effacement. You may now return to your regularly scheduled, non-self-promotional blog posts.

Clive Thompson’s Fast Company story about Duncan Watts and his stance that books like Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point and The Influentials by Ed Keller and Jon Berry are basically bunk – that influencers play only a minor part in trend setting and producing the viral effect so many brands and marketers are in search of – is an interesting read. As Rob May of BusinessPundit.com put it, “I always enjoy seeing conventional wisdom kicked in the face.”

Rob emailed me the link yesterday morning (he gets up way earlier than me) with the subject line, “Mass Media vs. Social Media.” Watts says companies should harness the pass-along power of everyday people, not just the well-connected, and do so by continuing to rely on some mass media methods. Reaching out to influencers is the conventional wisdom Watts is lined up to punt.

Thompson’s article is entitled, “Is The Tipping Point Toast?” Yes, it is. But Watts didn’t burn it. He only pressed the button. What turns the knob to “darker” is that conventional wisdom is in search of the wrong kind of influencer.

In Gladwell’s book, the well-connected, over-stuffed Rolodex types are your target. They know more people. More people know them. They’re influencers. They have pass-along power. But, as Watts points out through his research and hypothesis, they don’t always use that power while what appear to be random folks with less connections can imitate it.

Where Watts makes the mistake is assuming that the mimicking of influence is random. The seemingly random and “insignificant” people have pass-along power as well. You should give them the tools they need to pass along information about your brand. But the ones who use those tools have something entirely different that neither Watts, nor today’s average marketer, are looking for. They have pass-along passion.

It isn’t good enough to have power. You have to want to use it.

What brands need is not connections to the well-connected or mass media appeal mixed with finger- and toe-crossing. What brands need is to seek out those seemingly random and “insignificant” folks who are passionate about your brand. Your influencers are there. You just aren’t looking for them.

Other Posts You’ll Find Interesting:

1. Influentials On The Web Are People With The Power To Link
2. Scientist Debunks “The Influentials” Theory
3. Influencers, Tipping Points And Trends, Oh My!
4. Keep The Tip(ping Point)
5. The Debate Continues: What Is Influence?

Technorati Tags: Duncan Watts, influencers, influentials, marketing, brand ambassadors, brand evangelists, branding, The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell, mass media, social media

A friend of mine told me once that the problem with advertising folks is that they transfer demographic thinking to their clients. He said something along the lines of:

“Advertising has always been putting the general public in buckets. Women 25-34 this and men 35-55 that. Advertisers put us in buckets, too. They do some quick demographic research on my target consumer and think they know my business. They throw out some slick, fancy artwork with clever words on it and think I’m impressed.”

His chief complaint was the agencies he’d dealt with failed to accomplish what smart agencies consider perhaps the most important step: getting to know the client.

Last week I accompanied several members of Doe Anderson’s creative team and client services staff on an outing designed to get to know one of our clients. We’ve had the pleasure of working with Knob Creek, one of the Beam Global brands of spirits, for several years now. A new creative project is coming up and was ready for kicking off. Perry Baldwin, our Sr. VP and strategic planning guru, decided the project was the perfect opportunity to haul everyone down to the distillery for a reminder (and for a couple new creatives, a primer) of exactly who we’re representing.

So, instead of sitting in a conference room going over a creative brief with the Knob Creek brand manager piped in over the phone, we all took a little field trip, the lovely Paige Guzman (Knob Creek brand manager) included, toured the distillery and met in the Knob Creek House, a guest house/meeting facility on the Beam property.

During our lunch break, I asked Perry and Ray Radford, our resident expert on just about anything having to do with marketing, whiskey or both, about the importance of such a visit.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHbDK7vgCxE[/youtube]

You can also check out some pictures we took below or on Flickr.

The end result of the day won’t come to fruition for a while, but we’re more apt to get it right the first time if we capture the soul of the brand at the onset.

As for my friend’s notion, I only told him one of the first things Ray Radford ever told me about advertising. “You’re a lot smarter if you start out with the belief there does not exist a 25-34-year-old anything.”

Technorati Tags: marketing, advertising, Doe Anderson, client, client service, effective marketing, how to