A Day in the Life of a Social Media Expert

A quick search of the phrase “Social Media” on Indeed.com just now served up 1,923 jobs with that phrase in the title. Actual opportunities range from Social Media Managers, Coordinators, Strategists and Specialists to Social Media Community Managers. Ever wonder what these people actually do? Great news, today you’re in luck. I’m Jason Ginsburg, the Director of Digital Branding at BRANDEMiX and this is my story.

At BRANDEMiX, we teach companies how to go from Social Media Starters to Social Media Superstars, and you might say that I’m the guy that puts the star in Superstar. I’m a social media strategist and addict, plugged in to cyber conversations 24/7 and continuously working to find new ways of keeping those dialogues going, for us and for our clients.

Half of my day involves listening. I track what people are saying about the brand or company, and monitor where they’re saying them. Then I respond.

I comment on whatever is happening in the industry or region, or refer to world events, or even just the weather – sometimes just to prove that a real person is running the show. I retweet and re-post anything interesting from the incoming stream, and I’ve set up special news feeds just for relevant keywords. I express sympathy towards someone who experienced poor customer service and show encouragement if someone wants to share a video. I engage with the audience wherever its mood leads.

The conversation can be quite lively and always keeps me on my toes. When a matter gets serious, I make sure to pass it along to the client for immediate attention.

I also run the social sites for BRANDEMiX, where I discuss online branding and marketing with other professionals.

All this time, automated posts that I scheduled earlier in the week have been going out.  That’s when I go into research mode. I scour the web for the latest online trends and tools that can help connect our clients’ and employer brands with their desired audience.

This week I discovered Roost before the New York Times did. I got my Google+ invitation weeks ago. Today I’m following developments in augmented reality and watching how Chatter and Yammer are changing companies’ internal communications. I also take this time to read the smartest, most innovative blogs for inspiration.

Hold on a second- it’s time for another quick check of the livestream – I never want to let a question or complaint sit for too long.

Let’s move on to the multimedia part of my day. Some contests (we call them Sweeps) and campaigns require photos or videos, or even PowerPoint presentations. I upload media to multiple sites, tag them for the best SEO, and respond to any comments on the existing photos and videos. This week I was stymied by the inability to do a bulk upload of some pics. I expressed my frustration in the form of a tweet to the company, and in 5 minutes, I had a reply tweet that said the bulk uploader is in development. Things like that make my day.

OK- time for blogging. I create content for our clients, either consumer-facing or internal, such as an employee newsletter. After writing, it’s back to – you guessed it – the social sites, to make some final posts, follow some last links, and schedule some content for the coming days.

Despite what you’ve just read, the mercurial nature of social media ensures that no two days are the same. My success is measured in business results and I am constantly refining my strategies and tactics based on desired outcomes and pre-established objectives, whether that’s friends, fans or followers.

What else is on the horizon? Well, I can’t reveal all my secrets.

Want to know more about my exciting social media life? Connect with me at @BRANDEMiX or our Facebook page.

Just when you thought you were cool, augmented reality bites HR

You’ve already created a careers page that’s separate from your main site. You’re posting news and photos on your Facebook careers page and talking to applicants on your Twitter careers profile. You’ve set up your company’s Careers tab on LinkedIn and put videos of your office life on YouTube. What’s next?

Get ready to add AR to your HR. AR stands for augmented reality, an exciting new technology that will change many of our interactions with the world, including job searching. What is it? Applications that use augmented realityoverlay links, images, and information onto whatever you’re viewing on your mobile device’s screen. In a way, it’s no different than the scoreboard superimposed over the live broadcast of a baseball game. But in other ways, it’s a whole lot more.

Review sites such as Yelp! forsee using augmented reality to get information on whatever restaurants are around you. You’ll be able to simply point your smartphone at a restaurant’s storefront and see information displayed over the image, such as reviews, menu prices, or even the restaurant’s history. Point your phone at a crowded bar and you may be able to find people who are currently tweeting, or logged into Facebook – or looking to date.

The possibilities for recruiting are obvious. With the right app, a job-seeker could point their phone at a building or office and immediately see what positions are available. Links would appear that lead to videos of employee testimonials. The job-seeker would be able to have an application form sent to them by email, or even to schedule an interview – after all, they’re already holding their phone! Both the ease and the “wow factor” of such an innovative process will make sure that your company stands out in the crowded employment marketplace.

In fact, CareerBuilder is already pursuing this technology, as is CompanySpot in the Netherlands. The Dutch employment firm, which provides information on salaries and benefits to job-seekers, declares on its website, “What exactly is happening behind the large glass door of the headquarters across the street? Point your mobile at the building and you’ll know.”

Augmented reality applications for talent recruiting aren’t quite here yet, but they’re coming. Just as companies that scoffed at marketing on Facebook and Twitter eventually realized their mistake, recruiters who dismiss AR may soon find themselves scrambling to keep up. I’m excited about the possibilities that augmented reality offers and I’ll track its progress, both here and at my LinkedIn group Your Digital Brand.

So enjoy “regular” reality while you can – it’s about to get augmented!

Best Buy "Employee" Making Less than Minimum Wage

In what might be an ideal situation for some employers, Best Buy has unveiled the perfect employee to Mall of America shoppers. He knows what to say, he shows up for work on time and doesn’t even need a lunch break.

For lack of a better name, I’ll call him Buzz.

When Best Buy wanted to create a buzz around their new store, they didn’t go the usual route and hand out flyers. instead, they created a digital hologram to attract attention.




Not everyone is as impressed as I am. Some comments from the advertising community:

“It's bad because who wants a holographic projection talking to you and you walk through the mall. It's good because all you have to do is walk to the side of it and it disappears.”

“It's only a matter of time now until Terminator-like robots patrol our nation's food courts, gesturing menacingly with their whirring appendages, their fixed gaze wordlessly urging you to check out the new Sears bathmat sale at the price of your life.”

“Creepy. I would punch this thing if he started following me.”

But for BRANDEMiX, we see the potential in delivering rote material in an exciting way, using the latest in digital technology.

• Imagine holding orientation where you can see and hear the CEO everywhere, every day.
• Imagine showing up for your first day at work and meeting your mentor.
• Imagine holding a job fair where hiring managers could “sell” candidates on the Employer Brand.
• Imagine someone calling me for more details about how to clone their “best” employees!

BRANDEMIX GOING PLACES

NOVEMBER 2 2007

BRANDEMiX Uses the Web and Social Networking to Transform Employee Referral Programs

Independent marketing communications agency updates recruiting employees to higher education.

Our new online employee referral program makes it easy and fun for our employees to contribute to our company growth -- and easy for us to manage the process

New York, NY (PRWEB) November 2, 2007 -- When Kaplan Higher Education, a premier education provider and subsidiary of the Washington Post Company, set out to enhance their existing employee referral program, they turned to BRANDEMiX, a Web-savvy internal communications agency. The result was an innovative online program built to engage employees and reduce recruitment costs.

"Taking it online makes the ERP process more user friendly for both employees and the company," explained Jody Ordioni, the founder of BRANDEMiX. "Along with ever changing downloadable posters and online postcards for employees to send to friends, we even created badges for them to host on their social networking sites to attract more attention to the program and Kaplan as an Employer of Choice."

Ordioni and her team at BRANDEMiX mapped out and will manage the entire annual campaign for Kaplan, from sourcing an easy-to-remember custom url name for the site, to creating reminder emails to blast out to employees to generate excitement and a constant stream of new referrals. BRANDEMiX even created a tech interface so that HR can link referrals to their applicant tracking system. "Our new online employee referral program makes it easy and fun for our employees to contribute to our company growth -- and easy for us to manage the process," says Lisa Summers Carriegos, Director of Recruiting at Kaplan Higher Education.

Employee referrals are a powerful tool that can cut recruitment costs by as much of 75 percent. And according to Ordioni, the number-one overall benefit is that they bring in a better quality of hire who can become productive in less time. "Online employee referral programs that offer cash and prize incentives to refer friends is the most effective way to go," says Ordioni The Kaplan ERP created by BRANDEMiX offers a cash award, quarterly gift cards and a grand prize drawing for a free vacation for two. "Who wouldn't want to refer some friends and be in the running for all that?" asks Ordioni, "And with employees using the Internet in and out of work and participating in networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, it's a natural to bring your internal communications message online where people spend more and more of their time."