Interim Social Media Consulting, Something to Think About

I was reading a post by Mike McGrail (of Velocity Digital) titled “Social Media – Stop Thinking Tech & Start Thinking Why!

It struck me that after all this time a professional like Mike still sees the need to write a post like that.

The Interim Social Media ConsultantApparently we still stumble headlong into social media without thinking and planning.
Like Mike says, at least social is on the agenda, but at what cost.

Point of the matter is that by now we know better. We know that without proper goals one is just poring time and money down the drain.
Not to mention the frustrations that go along with an inevitable failure.

At some point some manager will want to know if the whole endeavour is worth it, if there is a ROI. And the person in charge might only be able to show a graph of the number of Likes the Facebook page has, or how many Retweets (if any).

And if that same manager has been reading up on social media he or she will know, by now,  that these are not key performance indicators.

Then, like with any other failed process there comes a time to clean up.

This is where the Interim Social Media Consultant comes in (I just made that up, but it sounds good and really plausible).

“So what does a ISMC do?”, I hear you ask.
“Good question”, I say.

There is a difference between a ‘normal’ consultant and an ISMC.
Because, with any luck, a normal consultant starts out with a clean slate. A pristine environment where an enlightened manager gives you free reign on how to set-up their SoMe.

I know, this never happens, we do not live in an Utopia. Although, if you ever encountered a situation like that, tell us about it in the comments, please?

A Mess

Anyway, the difference between a situation where a client is enthusiastically looking for something new and a client that is looking for someone to clean up the mess can be quite striking.

And it will take a different, more ad-hoc approach to get things done.

The Manager

For instance, the manager hiring you is quite likely frustrated through the lack of (real) results from his team. She also, probably, has to answer to somebody higher up. Making results an urgent matter.

And we know that results take time. Building significant relationships take time.

The Appointed Social Media Person

In many cases somebody is made to volunteer for ‘doing’ SoMe. Preferably somebody young, because they understand all this modern stuff. Or an intern, the cheapest we can find.
Or, if we’re lucky, somebody who is really trying, reasonable dedicated, but no expert.

In any case, here too you might find a lot of frustration. The ISMC will be in a position where they need to explain what went wrong and bring this person (or multiple persons, depending on the size) really fast up to speed.

No, multi-week training schedule here.

Politics

120518- Chicanes!When stepping into a new job/assignment/project you always have to be aware of the internal politics.

With social business, and a more open and respectful structure, we hope to limit the amount of politics, but until then it is something you have to be very sensitive about.

In a situation where things have gone wrong even more so.

Neutrality is very important, but you also have to make a stand. There is a right way of doing things and the ISMC has to find the balance between all involved to get things done.

The bigger the company, the bigger the investment done, the more politics are involved.

And somebody might be looking for a scapegoat.

A New Breed

In many different disciplines the Interim Manager is a common appearance. For the financials, the human resources, the IT processes, the customer care. All have their experts in cleaning up.

This is because most departments, where things can get messy, have been around for quite some time.
People have come up and grown out of these departments, and now they use their expertise to troubleshoot and get things back on track.

The discipline of Social Media has not been around long enough for people to already have grown out of it. Many are still learning, and with the current rate of change, we probably always will be learning.

So, it’s the “before” experience that counts, the seniority if you will. Combining years of working in different environments with the (relatively) fresh SoMe learnings.

Has any of you ever been put in a mess to clean up? I would love to hear about you experiences as an Interim Social Media Consultant.

Oh No, It’s Weekend!!

Stuff that caught my attention this week, or posts that are worth mentioning.
Something to do or read over the weekend.

A Day in the Life of a Digital Marketing Consultant

For starters I liked Mike McGrail‘s post “A Day in the Life of a Digital Marketing Consultant“.
(Actually, this post is from the week before, but it kinda popped in my head when I started this post.., so I’m putting it up here anyway.)

A cool (and funny) post, the title says it all. For me this came exactly at the right moment. I wasn’t aware of how much I needed a schedule until I read this post.

It stimulated me to focus on my own daily routine. A routine which is, at the moment, dominated by our puppies. Eating, sleeping, pooping.., that kind of stuff. And in the meantime I have to focus on my start-up and this blog.

Mike is, and writes for, Velocity Digital.

To Almost Die

On the heavier side of things there is Geoff Livingston‘s post “To Almost Die“. A strong post questioning our mortality and asking the question how we feel about death.

Geoff writes very openly about his adventures which, give or take a split second or half an inch, could have ended his life prematurely. Having a daughter and plenty of positive things in his life, he questions the validity of walking the tight rope.

Sometimes we just need to read a heavy post to make us stop and think, to keep us grounded. You can’t walk with your head in the clouds all the time.

Geoff shares his thoughts on geofflivingston.com.

A Webinar

I stayed up late for a webinar by Stan Smith of Pushing Social fame and co-author of Born to Blog. Stan caught my attention through Mark Schaefer’s blog and because of the book. When I caught wind of his webinar “Side-Income Blogging” I decided I needed to attend. And it was worth it.

When you read a lot of blog posts about blogging then at some point you know a lot, you know how to set up a blog and how to write. Getting feedback is not that hard, a few comments, a few Tweets.., not that hard (especially when you use Triberr).

You think you know it all, but you don’t. There is always something new to learn. Stan teaches how to put all that knowledge into practice, and that’s where it counts.

Find out more about Stan and his webinars on Pushing Social.

And A Tutorial

Dino Dogan posted about Reblogging through the Triberr platform. It’s something that takes more shape with every iteration of the platform and frankly, I think it’s a great concept benefiting both the author and the blog that reblogs the post.

So, I decided to reblog the post about reblogging only to find that the post was already reblogged by Dino. So, I searched for the original post so I could reblog it properly.

I found it, written by Brent Carnduff on EchelonSEO.com. Then I started thinking and remembered I had written a similar post.

Triberr has many friends and supporters. And the more popular it gets, the more posts will be written about.
I mentioned it before, but the Triberr Team created a great and supporting community.

It’s textbook. And we can all learn from it.

Happy weekend people.

Just take it easy, man. – The Dude

 

Take Triberr to the Next Level with Reblogging! by @BrentCarnduff

Triberr Reblogging

Have you discovered reblogging on Triberr yet?  If not,  you’re missing out on a great opportunity provided by Triberr!

Are you . . .

. . . looking for more exposure for your content?

. . . looking for Guest Blogging opportunities?

. . . hoping that your content might be shared in syndication?

. . . needing more content to publish?

. . . interested in content curation?

. . . wanting to improve your SEO?

. . . trying to increase reader engagement?

If you’re on Triberr already, it’s pretty safe to assume that you’ve answered “yes” to at least one of these  questions, if not all of them – and that reblogging could be your solution!

What is Reblogging?

The Triberr Reblogging option allows you to repost other “Triberr Reblog” member’s content on your blog.

How Does it Work?

You need to be a member of Triberr (free!) and to be using the WordPress.org blogging platform.

Begin by installing the Triberr plugin on your blog.

Now, as you scroll through your Triberr stream, you can identify other “rebloggers” by the inclusion of an image in the introduction to their content, and the “reblog” link in the options at the bottom of the listing.

Identify reblog

To repost an article on your blog, click the “reblog link”, and the article will appear as a “draft” in your list of posts for your blog.

reblog draft

Preview the article and make any formatting changes that are necessary, and “Publish”. The article will appear on your blog, and thanks to the Triberr widget, the author’s bio and a Triberr Comment Box will appear at the bottom of the post.

reblog author bio

Additionally, any comments that appear on ANY copy of this article, from another post or the Triberr platform, will appear as a running commentary stream on all blogs that carry it!

Did Someone Say “SEO Benefits”?

It’s in my nature to view everything from an SEO perspective, and Reblogging definitely offers SEO benefits. As well as providing more fresh content, each reblogged post will provide, at minimum, a link back to the original post from the author’s bio. In addition, any links within the body of the article will also remain live and become backlinks to that content.

Hard to believe it, but Triberr just got even better!

Thanks for reading. As always your comments, questions, or reblogs : ) are welcome and appreciated!

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