You have to start somewhere in your career, and it’s often a really good idea to begin your career in social media (or something approximating it) using the services of a temp firm.

Temp firms work like this:  they have jobs that last from a few hours to several months and serve as the broker between you and the company that needs you.  I know a fair amount about this because I worked in the field for almost ten years.

The advantage for both employer and employee is that you get to try each other out:  will the employer think that you have the ability and skills to be an effective member of their team, contributing to their social media efforts?  And from your perspective:  do you like the work, the culture and the people?  Temporary assignments, although they do not offer the security of a permanent job (at least initially) often offer benefits like health insurance and are a great way to take a job for a test drive.  You can gain exposure to a variety of companies and employers, hone your skills, learn about different aspects of what you are trying to do and most importantly, gain valuable job experience.

Finally, using a temp agency can reduce the job search pressure that you may feel.  Usually, your only interview is with the temp agency itself.  They assess your background and skills and make the decision to place you in a job.  It’s one interview, and from a successful interview, you get put on a list of candidates for multiple jobs that come in.  It’s that easy.

Top 10 Tips for Finding Temp Work and Contract Gigs

1. Understand how agencies work. Temp firms put people on their payrolls and then send them into short-term temporary assignments that could be either part-time or full-time. Temp agencies withhold taxes, Social Security and unemployment from a worker’s paycheck, like any other employer.
2. “Temp” and “contract employee” could mean the same thing. Some agencies call low-paid, administrative or light-industrial jobs that require little or no training “temp” jobs and higher-paid, managerial or white-collar jobs “contract” jobs. Regardless of the term, the individuals are employees of the temp agency.
3. Not all contractors are alike. Contractors who work through temp agencies shouldn’t be confused with independent contractors who set their own hours, use their own equipment and bill a company directly for their services.
4. Not all temp firms are alike. The temporary staffing industry has grown tremendously in recent years. As a result, it’s possible to find agencies specializing in specific industries, locations or job seekers–including blue-collar workers, doctors, lawyers and upper-level managers.
5. Don’t sign on with the first agency you visit. You wouldn’t go to work for just any company. The same holds for temp agencies. Visit several to find a good fit.
6. Use the opportunity to polish your resume and interviewing skills. If you haven’t looked for a job in a while, use your staffing agency appointment to freshen up your resume and interviewing skills.
7. Play the field. There’s nothing wrong with signing up with multiple agencies. The more firms you register with, the more likely you’ll get work.
8. Some work is better than none. Take whatever temp work is offered, even if it’s not exactly what you want to do long term. A temp assignment is a good way to keep your work history current, and that gives you a psychological edge with future employers.
9. Treat a temp job like a real job. Some people go into a temp placement thinking they don’t have to do their best because they’re short-timers. But that’s shortsighted, Renick says. Show up every day. Be on time. Stick it out until the end of an assignment.
10. Hard work pays off. “If you’re a star, it [may] lead to a full-time position.”

Most social media jobs, however, are not those for which you can slide in a person for a few days and get the same level of productivity.  It’s hard to imagine taking over a blogger relations program and a Twitter feed simply because most social media positions are constructed around building and maintaining relationships.  You can’t drop in a person in a position for a few days and expect her to pick up where the absent employee left off.

So if you need that foot in the door, think about starting your career in social media working for a temp firm.

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I’m not a huge fan of infographics, but sometimes the information (note the root of the word “infographic”) is too good to resist.

On Twitter, I follow Dr. William J. Ward, a.k.a DR4WARD, is the Social Media Professor at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.  This week on his blog he posted an infographic in “Where Are The Majority of Startup Jobs? #infographic?”  The source of the data is StartUpHire.com and provides some interesting data.

In my book, I try to focus on how to start a career in social media in smaller and medium-sized organizations because that’s where the jobs are;  the overwhelming majority of job creation is NOT on the Fortune 500 list.  So if you aspire to a career in social media, at some point, you  could find yourself with the opportunity to work for a startup.

Here are some interesting findings, especially if you are thinking about working in a start up company:

Where the jobs are (top five states):

1. California (36.3%)
2. Massachusetts (7.43%)
3. New York (7.13%)
4. Texas (4.76%)
5. Washington state (4.02%)

No surprises here when you think about cities like San Jose, Palto Alto, Boston, New York City, Redmond and Austin.

What the jobs are (top five job titles):

1. Software engineer
2. Senior software engineer
3. Product manager
4. Account manager
5. Project manager

The infographic is below – and a shout out to Dr. Ward for bringing it to my attention – but if you are interested in a career in social media and a start up environment appeals to you, think about polishing your skills and hopping on an airplane to the states listed below.

Mark

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Yesterday in AGBeat, I wrote an article “Social Media: being a user doesn’t mean you are a good practitioner” that was about a) the dearth of qualified professionals in the social media job market, and b) how sometimes employers are confusing fluency in the tools for personal use with professional use: making full use of social media as a communications vehicle on behalf of an organization.

But let’s say that you have carried out the steps of becoming not only a user, but at least a personal practitioner and adviser for social media:  you have a professional Facebook page, a Google+ account, a Twitter stream that contains more than updates about your cat, as well as a blog that shows that you at least have an intellectual curiosity about social media – and you can take a stand on issues.

In short, you get it and should be paid for the fact that you get it.

One of the joys in my life has been teaching and counseling my students on how to apply their hard-earned degrees and make the first jump into a career in social media.  It’s hard to get through the first-level screening, the interview process and all of the ensuing waiting, but then BAM – you get an offer.

Sometimes, and especially on the junior level – or at “boutique” agencies – they will lowball junior staff on salary.  Employers think “well, it’s her first job, so she needs this more than we need her.”   That’s crap.  So if you are just starting in your social media career or advancing into a mid-level position, you deserve to be paid what you are worth.  Determining that worth is hard, so here are a few tips for salary negotiation.

1. Don’t be afraid to walk away.  If you are offered what you believe to be is a low salary, counter-offer.  If you are stonewalled by your potential employer (“Sorry, but we can’t go any higher”), WALK AWAY.  Unless your potential boss offers you a performance review in a short amount of time (say, three months) with the ability to prove yourself  and get a salary increase, WALK AWAY (caveat:  unless you are desperate).  Most of the time (and it has happened to me, too), when I can’t get what I know that I am worth at the beginning and accept the job, my relationship with my employer starts off on a sour note.  If your social media skills (even if you have gained them through self-study and practice) are still valid.  An employer who does not or cannot recognize this will probably squeeze you dry from a financial and workload perspective.There are plenty of caveats for this.  Non-profits and very small employers pay less but you may really enjoy the cause or the work, but if it’s an agency and you get lowballed, you will probably end up unhappy.
2. Beware of the “industry average.”  I shoot my mouth off way to often for my own personal and professional good. I once was a hiring manager for a national company.  My star candidate wanted just a little more money and I was fighting with human resources to get her a better starting salary.  The HR person said, somewhat defensively, “We have done research, and we pay the industry average.”  My smart-ass response:  ”If we pay the ‘industry average,’ we are going to get average employees who produce average work.”  This was not looked upon kindly, but it’s true.  Any employer who says “we pay the industry average” has a short-sighted view unless there are several concrete opportunities to increase your salary through performance bonuses.  Average salary = average work product.
3. Beware of the bonus.  When you are negotiating salary (and this has happened to me at about every stop in the agency world), when I negotiate on salary, I am told “we pay bonuses!”   Hey, that’s great.  When I worked for APCO and Flieshman-Hillard (both were owned by conglomerates while I was there, Grey Global and Omnicom, respectively), what I did not take into account is that both are publicly-traded companies.  Get who gets paid first?  SHAREHOLDERS.  The conglomerates’ job is to keep Wall Street happy.  Then senior management, then mid-level management, then junior staff.  And here’s another little secret:  most offices that operate as part of a network of agency offices that are owned by a conglomerate view each office as a profit center.  So if you are in the digital part of the firm and are making money hand over fist – yet your compadres upstairs in another practice group are hemmoraging money, you may well be penalized come bonus time.  The other practice group’s underperformance affects the office’s profitability, and your year-end bonus can suffer.  This, while not fair, is how the game is played.One more note on the mysterious bonus:  if this comes up in the interview process, don’t get wild-eyed.  Cooly and calmly, ask your potential employer to provide you with the average bonus numbers for your position and others over the last three years.  Ask what impacts the bonuses.  Ask which are subjective measures and which are objectives measures.  You’ll get a much clearer picture.  It’s sort of sticking your neck out by being so inquisitive, but IT’S YOUR MONEY.
4. You are worth what your next employer will pay you.  It sounds counter-intuitive and happens only when you get a little more experience, but if a company posts a job with a listed salary or you interview and the position pays $10,000 more than you are making, that’s what you are worth.  Period.  Full stop.  Your market worth is determined by THE MARKET.  I am not suggesting that you jump ship for the next big paycheck because there are many factors to consider, but more than once, I have gauged my value in the market. When it came time to negotiate salary, I would bring up the fact that Agency XYZ valued me at a certain salary amount.  Again, there is the caveat that your own employer knows you better than does a potential employer, but don’t lose sight of the fact when you are negotiating that what you are worth is what the market will bear.

I could go on and on, but good salary negotiation is based upon excellent professional preparation if you are junior, excellent performance when you get in with a company or agency, but also on careful research and an unbiased view of your value in the marketplace.  Plus, a lot of information and self confidence.

Mark

Image source: GlassDoor blog.

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My friend, the uber-smart Shelly Kramer, owner of V3 Kansas City Integrated Marketing and Social Media Agency, recently wrote about the importance of mobile marketing strategies to companies.  She opined:

If you haven’t given your mobile marketing strategy much thought, now’s the time. A new report from Forrester indicates that one billion people will own smartphones by 2016—surely reason enough to set your sights on mobile and integrate mobile marketing strategies into your overall marketing strategy.

The continued rise in smartphones and tablets isn’t surprising—after all, these handheld devices are becoming more and more prevalent as consumers continue to crave access and connectivity on the go. Yet the sheer number of phones is somewhat staggering, and underscores the fact that companies without a mobile marketing strategy are, well, just not paying attention.

When it comes to mobile marketing, companies should think beyond simply optimizing their websites for mobile viewing. You should be thinking about every part of the customer experience and what they need when they come to your site.

…A mobile strategy is no different than any other marketing plan; you need to think through what you want your mobile presence to accomplish, your goals and what sort of tools and infrastructure you need to implement in order to achieve those goals. Most importantly, you need to think about what your customers want. And then deliver it.

…As the mobile frontier continues to evolve, limitless opportunities present themselves to businesses that are invested in delivering a new level of service and engagement to consumers. And if mobile marketing isn’t already on your immediate radar screen, consider this a gentle nudge to start defining and creating your brand’s mobile strategy. On second thought, consider this a swift kick in the derrière and get going.

There’s a not for me to add – Shelly is a whole lot smarter than I am.  Let your take-away, however, be that mobile marketing is exploding and, when you consider a career in social media, this should be one of you areas of interest, stufy and eventual expertise.

Mark

Image: Star Group1

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You’ve heard the horror stories: a job applicant gets turned down because his potential employer discovered his objectionable tweets, or saw pictures of his keg party on Facebook. There is a lot of advice out there about keeping your online activity from hurting your career. But there’s a flip side.

When handled correctly, social media can help you professionally. You can use it to enhance your personal brand, establish yourself as an expert in a field, or demonstrate fluency with all things digital. The key is to be proactive about managing your activity and image. Source: Boost Your Career with Social Media: Tips for the Uninitiated, Harvard Business Review Blog, December 20, 2011.

More than ever (and almost always in the social media field), potential employers will look you up online.   Period.  Full stop. If your potential job is in social media, you can guarantee it. For employers (unless you are very cautious), their search will bring up positive and negative elements based upon what you have put online.  Samples of platforms that will help you build this searchable body of work are a solid LinkedIn profile, an insightful blog (it doesn’t have to be genius, it just needs to express what you think, preferably about social media), a fairly frequently updated Twitter account as well as a public-facing and open profile on Facebook.

This will be your part of your online portfolio.  As I write this, the jury is still out on Google+, but it is growing exponentially in popularity.  It may well need to be part of your promotional arsenal as well.  These are all elements that can portray you in a positive light and (if you have interesting things to share and what you blog about is fairly well-written; read: error-free) that will help you look informed and smart.

Potential negative elements from an employer point of view include photographs and opinions that may offend prospective employers, plus the aforementioned typos and grammar mistakes.  The hard part is determining what might offend whom.  Look it up: there are plenty of publicly accessible pictures of people doing keg stands on Facebook and there is a debate about the impact of things like this on one’s chances of being disqualified from a job.

Image credit: Mission Impossible Investigations.

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I write this with a tip of my cap to my friend, Geoff Livingston, whom I admire greatly – and who despises the term “personal brand.”  Not doing this to irritate you Geoff, I just sort of like the term.

You’ve heard the horror stories: a job applicant gets turned down because his potential employer discovered his objectionable tweets, or saw pictures of his keg party on Facebook. There is a lot of advice out there about keeping your online activity from hurting your career. But there’s a flip side. When handled correctly, social media can help you professionally. You can use it to enhance your personal brand, establish yourself as an expert in a field, or demonstrate fluency with all things digital. The key is to be proactive about managing your activity and image.

More than ever (and almost always in the social media field), potential employers will look you up online.   Period.  Full stop. If your potential job is in social media, you can guarantee it. For employers (unless you are very cautious), their search will bring up positive and negative elements based upon what you have put online.  Samples of platforms that will help you build this searchable body of work are a solid LinkedIn profile, an insightful blog (it doesn’t have to be genius, it just needs to express what you think, preferably about social media), a fairly frequently updated Twitter account as well as a public-facing and open profile on Facebook.  This will be your part of your online portfolio.  As I write this, the jury is still out on Google+, but it is growing exponentially in popularity.  It may well need to be part of your promotional arsenal as well.  These are all elements that can portray you in a positive light and (if you have interesting things to share and what you blog about is fairly well-written; read: error-free) that will help you look informed and smart.

Potential negative elements from an employer point of view include photographs and opinions that may offend prospective employers, plus the aforementioned typos and grammar mistakes.  The hard part is determining what might offend whom.  Look it up: there are plenty of publicly accessible pictures of people doing keg stands on Facebook and there is a debate about the impact of things like this on one’s chances of being disqualified from a job.

In short, build – AND MONITOR – your online personal brand.

Mark

image source: BloggingPro.com.

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Liking a bunch of stuff on Facebook is not likely land you a job.

For example, if you are on Facebook, do you know how to do more than post status updates, add pictures, put things on friends’ walls and play Farmville?  What about setting up groups or establishing organizational pages on Facebook?  What if you work for a governmental agency that does not allow advertising on Facebook pages?   And finally (and most importantly), how well do you know the ever-changing privacy policy of Facebook, especially given that at the time of writing this book, they are under heavy federal government scrutiny for their privacy policies.

Being familiar with a platform like Facebook is not the same as knowing all of its features, policies and implications.  The key to making the jump is adequate preparation.

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It’s ironic because of the title of this blog as well as the book “STARTING a Career in Social Media,” but not every career is for everyone.  While I have laid out some of the positives and negatives of seeking out and building a career in social media in the preceding posts, it’s a good idea to think about when a career in social media is NOT right for you.  Based upon my experience in working in the field as well as working with others, here are some red flags to stay out of the field.

• You prefer to work alone.  While there are social media consultants and even some full-time staff who work alone, for the most part, they have earned that right through honing their craft as part of a larger team.  Building a career in social media means that you will have constant interactions with other people.  They might be marketing people, communications staff, IT folks or maybe even lawyers.  Building and maintaining a successful social media program is based upon “social work” – meaning collaborating, negotiating and working well with others.  If you strongly prefer to work alone, this may not be the field for you.
• You hate change.  In the world of social media, the only constant is change.  Almost monthly, new technologies, platforms, widgets and perspectives appear that have the potential to impact your organization’s or your clients’ efforts.  Who knew that Facebook would grow to have more than 640 million users (and growing), while MySpace would become largely irrelevant?  Or that Twitter would help individuals, citizen journalists and professional journalists break news stories?  In the online world, tools, strategies and tactics change all the time.  So in order to establish and remain successful, you have to readily adapt and embrace change.
• You are not a fan of consuming media.  Note that I did not say “you are not an avid reader” because staying up-to-date on changes in social media is about more than just reading newspapers or books.  To be successful and adapt to changing environments as I have noted above, it is not only important, but it is critical to stay current with what is new and interesting in the world of social media.  This information might come from influential blogs, from online news sources like Mashable, from someone’s Twitter stream, Facebook page or even YouTube.   And yes, books too (hopefully, like this one!).  I’ll talk about this more in the pages that follow, but good social media practitioners are voracious consumers of information.  If you don’t like consuming media, I would not pursue a career in this field.
• You can’t stand to be frustrated.  Many careers carry with them a fair amount of ingrained frustration.  But as I noted above, social media can generate a fair amount of job-related frustration and stress. You will need to teach people about social media who are afraid of “losing control of the message” when it has already happened.  You’ll need to fight turf wars with other people, many of whom are less qualified, who want to “own” your social media presence(s).  You will likely have to deal with legal or compliance processes to make sure that yours or your clients’ messages are legally vetted.  Moreover, you will also have to keep your colleagues on the same page and you could have a whole team of user experience architects, usability experts, graphic designers, programmers, blogger relations, writers who specialize in the Web and project managers – of all which need to hit the same deadline that your boss or your client expects.  There are some inherently frustrating components to a career in social media, so consider these carefully.
• You hate writing. Above all other skills sets, being a good writer is at the top of the list for being successful in social media.  “Social” is about communication, collaboration, cooperation and being part of groups – and a great deal of this collaboration is via the written word.  Sure, using Facebook, Twitter or communicating via texts constitutes social media, but earning a living in the field means that at many points in your career you will have to convince internal or external stakeholders via the written word.  If you work in-house somewhere, you will likely have to write a memo or talking points about why you want to try a new technology.  If you work at an agency, writing skills are even more critical.  The profitability of an agency depends upon the ability of its employees to grow new business and expand existing business.  You will do that using the written word via client updates, explanations of major projects and proposals. 

It’s fun, it’s exciting, but it’s not for everyone.

Mark

Image credit:  Penn-Olson

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This is a cross-post from my other blog, but is applicable here too because a core skill set is distinguishing solid advice from snake-oil salesmen.

It’s entirely possible that this post is filled with envy and narcissism. But I don’t think so.

This topic has been brewing in my mind for some time, and yesterday, I arrived at a point at which my thoughts crystallized and I could make sense out of what I was thinking.

My point: I hate social media bullshit artists. As a practitioner, it is getting harder to teach internal and external clients the skills to distinguish what is helpful, concrete advice and what is self-serving of shallow counsel. This frustrates me enormously because some high-profile names pollute and dominate the space with pontifications and advice that I feel is at times, self-serving and at others, a firm grasp of the obvious. This makes it SO much harder to have solid advice sink in when a client’s response might be “Well, [person here] has written four books and was the keynote at BlogWorld Expo. Why should I listen to you?”

I’ll tell you why: because I am not a bullshit artist.

Could I have envy that so-called “A-Listers” write books, get huge speaking fees and make a bazillion dollars a year? Sure. But again, I’m content with my place in the world of social media advice but am frustrated that some big names make it harder for the rest of us who try to offer actionable advice. Recently, I was horrified to read a blog post in which an A-Lister posted his normal speaking fees, and the cost of one speech – ONE SPEECH – could easily outstrip the annual salary of a junior social media worker bee in a smaller market.

I have to offer a caveat, and it is a big one: I am writing a book so point the finger at me with many of the same criticisms that I will level here. Here’s the difference, though: I am not trying to sell more books (it’s not even out yet), but an important part of the book is to attempt to help up-and-coming social media practitioners distinguish between those who are smart and they can learn from, and those who I think are phoneys and bullshit artists.

The best advice that I can give here is a combination of my own ruminations, those of my colleagues and friends in a Facebook group (you know who you are) and specifically what my friend and author of “The Like Economy,” Brian Carter pointed out. When starting out or hiring someone to help formulate a social media strategy would be to ask them:

• In the recent past, what accomplishments can you point to that you have achieved for others? The unspoken point here is, aside from writing books, counting your Twitter followers and crowing about your speaking engagements, what have you actually done that has helped others achieve their social media communications objectives? And how have you measured the success?
• What types of clients have you served? Again, many offer case studies about helping Fortune 500 companies (or at least speaking at their events), but the majority of companies in this country are small or medium-sized enterprises. Is the strategic advice that you give applicable to all companies, and does the difference lay in the tactics? Most companies don’t have multi-million dollar budgets to throw at social media. When I was teaching, the fixation of texts and Harvard Business Review articles to focus on Fortune 500 companies missed a critical point: most people will NOT end up working there. They will end up at much smaller organizations and need advice on how to make it work there.
• Finally, is there as much listening as there is pontificating? I spent nearly 15 years in the agency world, and through practice (and mistakes), I learned to listen to clients and tease out what is was that they were attempting to accomplish through the use of social media. Start with the client’s communications objectives. Some more recognized names go on about the latest, shiny tool, but one size does not fit all. Nor does one strategy or one tactic. And tenting ones fingers and saying “engagement” over and over again serves only to pollute the space in which many of us operate. It makes it harder: damn harder.

So yeah, I’m writing a book and have pimped it here. I am at best, a B-minus Lister, but in my career (or for most of it) I have tried to be a good listener, stay on top of what is new and interesting in social media and offer practical, actionable advice to clients. Not sell books. Not trying to build my “personal brand.” Not increase my Klout score. And certainly not crow about what I charge for people to come listen to me.

Am I envious? Not really.

I’m disgusted.

Mark

Image:  Shark Bait Shirts.

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In the field of social media, those who are highly recognized as experts are called “A-listers” (ironically, like comedians) or “cewebrities.”  Many of their blogs are widely read, their opinions sought, and ironically (from my point of view since this Web site is about pimping my book), they write books.  Lots of books.

One of the hardest things to do when you are seeking knowledge and looking to read up on valuable insights that can help make you smarter is deciding whose opinion to follow.  I’ll not name names here because it’s not fair, but there are wildly successful social media “gurus” (I despise this term) who spout advice, tent their fingers and speak in platitudes.  They have thousands of followers on Twitter, have widely read books and are quoted extensively.  Does this make them experts, worthy of your following them and learning from them?  Maybe, and maybe not.

I owe the inspiration to much of the topics in this book to a “secret group” on Facebook of about 70 people who I think are among the thought leaders in the field.  They not only come up with original ideas, but they are experts in calling out those who are, well, phoneys.  Snake oil salesmen.  Those who get paid to offer advice that is a dressed up firm grasp of the obvious.  Itdrives us crazy because I think that so-called experts like this pollute the space and make it harder for those of us who try to be practical social media practitioners to offer points of view that counter those of the “ninjas and gurus.”  I have heard from more than one client that [this person] has written a book and was a keynote speaker at BlogWorld Expo and says the opposite, so why should I believe you?”  It’s frustrating because it’s not about who is smarter, it’s about who offers the most practical advice.  Advice that works for a mom-and-pop organization as well as a Fortune 500 company because it is grounded and practice, not “game changing.”

There are a few ways that you can help separate the wheat from the chaff, the “gurus” from those who offer practical, actionable advice and opinions that can help make you a smarter social media person.

Some solid advice comes from my friend, Brian Carter, in whose book “The Like Economy - BUY HERE,” offers some simple advice on whom to trust with your valuable time and study.  He boils down his thinking into two simple and elegant questions:

1. What specific, measurable results has this expert helped companies achieve?
2. What types of businesses has he worked with?

In short, although this “expert” can write books, give speeches, tent his fingers and speak of “new paradigms,” what has he actually accomplished for clients?  What are the industries that he has helped to achieve measurable results?  In short, you need to determine if he, in addition to talking the talk, can walk the walk.

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