Social Media Headhunter

Social Media Marketer In Danville Virginia: Great Opportunity

I'm working on a position for Danville, VA. It's forty minutes north of Greensboro and 90 minutes away from Raleigh-Durham.  But it's awesome. 

This is a retained search, and I'm really trying to manage this correctly.  What I'm looking for is a digital native that has product marketing experience pushing products through stores, a dream of branding a product nationally, and a whole lot of smarts and energy.  And you have to live or commute to Danville every day. 

How to Apply: 
Send a resume to me or connect to me through social. 

Position

AllergEase is a natural allergy supplement in the form of a throat lozenge. Developed by the entrepreneurial founder in 2012, the company reached 1MM in sales in its first year, and is currently available at retail stores across the country (including Walgreens and CVS) as well as direct for sale from the company website. The CEO needs a social media strategist/marketer to drive brand equity to consumers through the use of digital and traditional media channels. Whats needed is a savvy marketer with experience in social media branding, as well as a hard worker who recognizes theyre in a start-up role that requires execution as well as ideas. (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Blogging, Content Creation, Content Distribution, etc...) 

Social medias role is to drive awareness, manage online expectations, and magnify all marketing programs and PR events for the company. A successful strategy will integrate tightly with outsourced PR and Marketing firms, developing a two-way communication system to improve results through information, metrics, and creative execution. A budget is in place to assist the marketer, but budget authority is still run through CEO and CFO. 

Work Environment:
Danville, VA
Onsite each day, working on a strategic level with the CEO, and on a tactical level with remote partners globally. As the company grows, leadership and direction to the salesforce will be crucial to maintaining a commanding social media presence. 

Personal Qualities
Chemistry with CEO. Office partner, not a desktop drone. 
Experience in the consumer products industry
Experience working remotely with marketing, pr, and technology
Self-starter
Fast thinker
Detailed and organized. 
Risk-taker, but only if hard-working and willing to learn from mistakes
Ability to stand up for best ideas 
Social media tinkerer
Digital native

Description:

• Develop and maintain a comprehensive social media strategy that defines how social media marketing techniques will be applied to increase visibility and traffic across all AllergEase brands and products

• Lead the development of organization-wide social media management standards, policies and rules of engagement for social media

• Define key performance indicators and implement enterprise level measurement, analytics, and reporting methods to gauge success

• Explore and identify ways to integrate social media into business strategies and marketing campaigns

• Apply marketing research and development methods to learn and understand emerging trends and technologies and to communicate this knowledge clearly and concisely

• Develop, maintain, and market AllergEase blog

• Create monthly AllergEase newsletter and manage distribution

• Create AllergEase loyalty program and execute the implementation/integration into our site and systems

• Requirements:

• Must be willing to work out of our office in Danville, VA

• Demonstrated experience and a passion for the social technology universe (i.e., Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Foursquare, Flickr, blogs, wikis, RSS, social bookmarking, discussion forums, etc…)

• Experience with online monitoring and measurement platforms including but not limited to Facebook Insights, YouTube Insights, Google Analytics, HootSuite, TweetDeck, and Social Mention.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills

• Ability to work independently and as a member of a team

• Ability to work effectively under deadlines and juggle several assignments simultaneously

• Experience using:

 

Compensation:

Salary plus equity position.

Why This Is A Great Opportunity

If you've read this far, and you're interested, make sure you send me a hashtag #smheadhunter in your communication to me.  Consider it a filter that you've passed.  Here's the thing - if you're involved in the startup community, you know it's a crap shoot.  But this isn't a crap shoot. It's a product that already has distribution.  It's already growing, and is on target to hit 2 MM in sales this year (which means your equity has value from day one).  What I don't need is a whiny work/balance agency burnout who will ride the product to success and then quit because Danville is in rural Virginia and not as cool as Austin or DC or San Francisco. If you're rather be poor in a big city than have a success under your belt that gives you the money and freedom to pursue your personal dream in a few years, you won't make it past my personal filter. This is a great opportunity with a successful company.  You'd technically be employee #4, but working in a team that is already over 20 people.  If you can suck it up and move to rural Virginia, you can be a rockstar.  I'd do it myself if I didn't have a mortage and kids and was 10 years younger.  How's that for a recommendation?  

If this isn't the job for you, but you like the no-nonsense approach, feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn through the email listed on the sidebar.  

Job Posting: Marketing Coordinator, Irving TX

I'm hiring a mid-level marketing coordinator in Irving.  This is a full-time position working for one of the Best Places to Work in Dallas, and working under my tutelage and instruction. 

The Position:

Full-scale Marketing.  We're going to tackle:

1) Branding

2) Events

3) Client and Prospect lists

4) Employer branding

5) Website design

6) Social Media and Digital Profiles

7) Digital and Print Collateral

8) Lead generation

9) Video creation

10) Copywriting

You'll be assisting me in doing all of this, and taking on the day-to-day tasks of writing, designing, printing, and report creation.  This is a position for a very hard worker.  You'll need to learn a lot on the fly, be able to work on your own, and have high standards.  

Skills:

Must Have:

You have to be a good writer.  And not just good, but quick.  This is primarily online writing, but there will be some ad copy occasionally.  But writing is subjective you say?  Then your writing has to be subjectively good to me, since I have to approve it.  The more you write, the better your chances of getting hired.  Writing is a skill set.  You either like it or you don't, and I can't afford to hire someone who isn't used to doing a lot of writing.  

Must Have:

You need experience doing small business or corporate marketing.  I'm looking for someone who wants to make this a career, and knows they like it.  You can't know you'll like it unless you've done it.

Must Have:

You have to be able to work independently.  Don't get me wrong.  I'll be working with you more than you'll want, but I won't be there in the office day in and day out.  You have to be able to do work on your own, without a team of a people.  Some people like that. Some don't.  You have to be able to function on your own 60% of the time.  

Nice To Have:

1) Coding experience in HTML, Dreamweaver, Illustrator, or Photoshop:  I can't do these things, but my company can.  In general, I've found these skills helpful, especially in digital profiles.  It's nice not to have to call a designer to take a logo and add it an about.me page, or have someone troubleshoot a blog.   

2) Print experience:  What's a source file?  Can you get business cards from a pdf?  What's offset printing?  What's the difference between digital prints and the good stuff?  The more you know about managing the process, the better I'll like you.

3) Project experience:  It's not enough to be on a project.  You have to have done it yourself to truly understand it. Most resumes come with name-dropping of big brands to impress recruiters.  I want to know what you actually did.  Resumes written in detail are a big plus, because I will grill you on what you've actually done.  In my other life, I'm the Social Media Headhunter.  Can you explain what you did and why?

 The Company:

The employer is a commercial manufacturer's rep selling industrial equipment. It's not sexy, but you and I do have to make it interesting. I know how to do that, but you're not going to be bragging to your friends about working on a national brand.  

You will be working with good people who take care of their employees, and you'll have a stable position working with an experienced trainer and business marketer.  The job is in Irving, TX, so plan out your traffic route before sending me a resume. 

Why You Should Take The Job

You'll learn more about marketing in a single year than all of your friends combined. You'll have a steady job, with a good company, doing interesting work.  You'll learn about social media, digital profiles, and you'll be on the cutting edge of learning how social media affects B2B companies.  And you get to work with someone interested in being a mentor.  Seriously, that should be a reason to take this position.  Too few people have the opportunity to train under experienced managers.  I did.  You can too. 

How To Apply:

Send resumes to howdy@brandstorming.com with the subject: Irving.  No more, no less.  Write me a short note, no more than 500 words, on why I should call you and put it in the body of the email. 

How Would You Work With Social Media Talent?

Social Media Talent is a staffing firm for social media.  Our goal is to fill in the gap between social strategist and social intern with a long-term contractor dedicated to a single company. We believe that a dedicated presence is needed to drive social business through a company, and we have the experience to know that $5000 projects to test the waters won't ever bring value to the company past some limited SEO exposure. 

So what did we do?  We started a company that backs up social consultants with a backoffice, including training, managing and support, and we're rolling out different programs. 

1) Craig Fisher @fishdogs, and Jim Durbin @smheadhunter are out selling staffing, working our networks to find out what their needs are and who might fill them.  As we get requirements, we go to our personal database of over 5,000 business professionals with social media experience and place them at the client. 

2) We also work with social media consultants who are currently billing their clients, but would like a little more stability for insurance, payment (every two weeks), and employment paperwork.  You retain your clients, but we're helping your back office, and hopefully, working together to drive more business in the execution of your strategy (hiring people to serve on-site with you). 

3) We still have the retained search business, which is for clients who are certain they need a permanent presence, and understand that retained search is the only way we can contribute resources for their plan.  Retained search includes elements of social strategy, training, job description and hiring.  With over thirty years of staffing experience, and 12 years of paid social media experience between us, we can tailor a search in a way no internal or contingent recruiter can match. 

We do talk to lots of candidates, but by necessity, we're focused on selling the services first.  Your best bet is connecting to us, thinking very hard about how you want social media to alter the business you want to work for, putting it on paper, and then asking us to work with you to sell into the client.  More on that in later posts, but be sure to check out JobsinSocialMedia.com if you're a social media professional. 

For more information, check out the Social Media Talent website, Facebook page, and of course, the RSS feed for the Social Media Headhunter blog. 

St Louis Social Media Position

You know me and short job descriptions.  I need someone to be a social media consultant for a company. The position starts off as consulting gig, but if you do a good job, they will want you to go full time in six months.  I have a fixed rate and salary in mind.

The position is remote, but you'll have a cubicle.  It's working for a nursing provider here in St Louis, helping brand and promote the recruiting department.  The job is not posted, and it's my job to bring a slate of candidates to them (it's retained). 

What you'll do

You'll blog (regularly, and on multiple sites).

You'll monitor the online world for information on the company

You'll look for and post events in other cities.

You'll help the recruiter be the face of the company's employment, but will not be a ghostwriter.

You'll make it so the recruiter and the company are well-known in the geographical area, which means working with them to create a style of writing that agrees with both of you. 

You'll report on results. 

What I need from you.

1) Experience writing consistently in the online world

2) Experience interviewing (reporters and recruiters welcome)

3) Self-disciplined (as in examples, not, "I'm really discipline."

4) Curiousity

5) Functional use of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Ning social networks, Google, and blogging platforms (this is typepad, but you don't need it)

6) Some background in recruiting is great, but not necessary.  Same is true for PR.

7) A desire to utilize social media for results, and not "engagement" or "conversation."  It's a metrics based world.

I can train some of what you don't know, but I'm only training the one who gets the job.  If interested, contact me at socialmediaheadhunter at the google email or using smheadhunter as a headhunter on a number of sites. 

Amazing New Position: Social Media Sales Engineer

A white-label social media company is looking for a set of social media engineers to work in Chicago and New York in tandem with sales account executives.  We call them social media engineers because the position is similar to what a sales engineer would do for a large technology firm – you are the expert at identifying client needs and crafting the solution once the salesperson has made the initial contact.

This is a sales and product position.  When you’re not working with the salesperson to craft and land deals, you’ll be using your network to help your salesperson with leads.  When you’re not helping bring in leads, you’ll be working with the corporate office on methodologies, product suite descriptions, and service offerings.

The right candidate is whip smart, an excellent presenter, and possesses deep experience in how corporations function.  A background in project integration is required, and expertise in large project technical integration (database, CRM) is very helpful, but not required.

The position is front-end.  A technical team is in charge of installation, which then hands the project off to a project manager.  Your job is to forecast problems, map out the proper route to a successful integration, lay out the metrics the client will use to measure success, and ultimately help close the sale and prepare for a smooth transition. 

Responsibilities – the key responsibilities for this position include:

* Create client-specific social media strategies utilizing products and services offered by the company.
* Identify key performance indicators and metrics tailored to each client
* Work with Salesperson on new business development and closing.
* Strategize with and educate the client management team and others across the company on incorporating relevant social media techniques into the corporate culture and into all of the company’s products and services
* Create and deliver presentations on the scope and scale of individual projects
* Aid in the development of RFP responses
* Work with salesperson to generate sales leads using social media contacts and profiles
* Develop new product and service offerings with corporate

Experience – the ideal candidate will have experience in the following areas:

* Social media tools and techniques
* Management, Technology, or Marketing Consulting
* Product marketing
* Public speaking and client presentation
* Business development
* Web Analytics

The positions are for the Chicago and New York City markets.  There is no relocation, and very little travel (there may be the occasional day trip to someone in your region if corporate lands a prospect.  This is not a junior or even mid-level position, and it's also not an executive position.  We're looking for practitioners with experience in community management, social media consulting, and corporate sales or project management.

To apply, send an email to socialmediaheadhunter at gmail or contact me through a social media site.  My handle is smheadhunter for most, Jim Durbin for others.  If you're going to call in, be prepared.  You need to research me and this post, and have a good sense of what the job is before you call.  I will be judging you on that call, so make it count.  Salary is base plus commission. 

Jobaphiles Makes You Bid On A Job?

I first saw a posting for Jobaphile over at Edgelings and thought that indeed the gates to Hades had been cracked open, and the souls of the undead had taken over Human Resources departments.  There's a good reason not to believe headlines, as this job auction site is really just a version of eLance or other freelance gigs.  It seems that you're bidding on getting jobs, but you're not actually paying for the right to get hired, you're bidding on how low you'll work for a project.

It really is a reverse-auction site.

Still makes it creepy.  I've been in staffing for 10 years.  Nothing new is under the sun, and that includes social media and job auction sites.  Jobaphile, in addition to being poorly named, is another example of people wanting to get something for nothing.  $15 for a Ruby on Rail developer?  Not in this country, bub.  And if that's your max bid, what do you really want to happen?

If you're a candidate or an employer, know this - the old idea that something is worth what someone is willing to pay for it is true, but if you treat human labor like a commodity, you've got to add in the cost of compliance and legal fees.  You may be able to get someone to be a deli clerk for $9 rather than $10, but the cost in getting someone who doesn't hurt your business is usually worth the extra buck.

Chalk it up to another story sensationalized by poor reporting.  Move along, and careful what you read on the interwebs. 

St Louis Freelance Copywriter

I need a St Louis copywriter for a project. It's heavy on SEO and Branding, simple text coveying powerful messages for a website redesign. You'll be working with me through DurbinMedia (http://durbinmedia.com).

Shoot me a message or DM me on Twittet at smheadhunter.

St Louis Marketing: High End Design Firm

I'm working with a small business located in St Louis that is looking for a marketing whiz to take their substantial competitive advantages and turn them into new business leads.

This 10 person company is run by an entrepreneur, and has seen steady growth for the last five years, with positive cash flow, a well run operation, and a reputation for service and quality.

The company sells a high-end design product that retails in the $20-$25,000 range.  The company currently only uses Yellow Pages and Direct Mail, although they have used multiple marketing packages in the past.  Your monthly marketing budget is $15-20,000.   

This is an internal position at the home offices in South County. The office is moving to a more central location in the next year (they're looking), and remote work is possible.

You need 5 years of broad-based marketing experience with small businesses, selling a high-end luxury product or design services. Experience with direct mail, media buying, online marketing, and copywriting is essential.  Your creative and web design services are taken care of, which leaves you responsible for vision, strategy, tactics, and execution.

You must be a result-oriented marketer with the ability to explain what you're doing without marketing speak.  I'd say detail oriented, but you're the type of person who labels their sock drawer, so asking you to document what you're doing shouldn't be that hard.

And if you can't forecast and track the ROI of your program, then you probably shouldn't be in marketing anyway.   

If you're interested and want to hear the salary range, send an e-mail titled Design Marketer to socialmediaheadhunter@gmail.com with a description of your experience marketing high-end products to the consumer.    

Building A Job Description For A Social Media Position

What does it mean to be a social media expert?  Seeing as just two years ago, no one would know what it even meant (and few do today, as well), it's not like we have degrees, or titles, or even a standard list of questions that can be used to hire someone into a social media position.

To complicate the matter, many social media experts (myself included) started out in fields separate from Marketing, Corporate Communications, or Information Technology.  How then can we determine what someone's value is in terms of their background, when the tools we use define our position, but not our experience?

What exactly is a social media consultant, and how can we build the business case to hire one internally?  How do you go about writing a job description?

 

1) Define your goals:  The biggest danger of Enterprise 2.0 projects is a desire to have a social media team without having a clear business goal to achieve.  We talk about metrics of traffic, SEO, reach, influence, and transparency, but what are these  supposed to achieve? Have a point, and you'll find metrics are much easier to create and sell.

 

2) Search for relevant experience: If you can determine what your business goals are, it should be easy to determine what skills are needed to reach those goals.  An example would be building a social network to improve customer service communication.  Knowing what you want, allows you to pick the tool, and then hire a community manager to run the process.  Only after the goal is defined, can you determine if someone's experience building a not-for-profit online community is an experience you need, even if the individual has no customer service management background.

 

3) Base salary range on the business metrics.  Many people want to leave their careers for a job in social media.  That's okay, but you shouldn't be paying for them to make an equal salary jump.  At the same time, creating an entry level salary isn't going to get you the talent you need to succeed.  Once again, it comes back to the business goals you wish to achieve.  If your goals are increased revenue, paying someone in the six-figure range is acceptable.  If your goal is increased publicity online and testing the waters, you can achieve that for $50-$70,000.

Hiring a social media candidate is not as simple as other positions, but it also shouldn't be a guess or a shot in the dark. Understand what you want to achieve, and then set the salary for a level that makes sense for your organization.

 

Looking For SEO/Web Analytics In St Louis

One of my clients is looking for a team of SEO and Web Analytics Consultants to work on their global website.  The job is open through a few agencies, but the advantage of working through me is the interview preparation you're going to get ahead of time.

As a practitioner in this field,  you'll be working with the only recruiter in St Louis who understands what you do in in SEO, SEM, and social media.  If you're curious about the details, or just want to get into the queue for future jobs, drop me a line - the database will be up next week to upload your resume directly into my ATS.

I'm posting some keyword fodder below the fold.