In defense of “Social Media Manager.”
Life is so much easier when smart people say what you’ve been wanting to say. In this case, the smart person is David B. Thomas of SAS, who takes up the defense of “Social Media Manager” as a job title.
Why I am right and Chris Brogan is wrong.
(At least about this one thing.). . .
Right now my title might sound odd to people on the cutting edge, but it sounds pretty forward-looking to the people I most need to influence. By the time it starts sounding odd to them, I’ll probably be out of business cards anyway. Plus, I’ve been saying since before I got the job that if I do it right, I will eventually make my current position irrelevant.
A few weeks ago — after returning from Chris Brogan’s Inbound Marketing Summit, as it happens — I took the picture at the top of this post. Chris and I are friends, and I certainly understand and respect his take on “Social Media Manager,” so I thought it was funny that I wore that badge at his conference.
Anyway, I considered putting the photo to use in a post of my own on the subject, but let the idea slide once other things intervened. Now I’m glad that Dave (who, by the way, has a delightfully scorching dry wit in person) has laid out the case so clearly.
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Tim, I think there is a tiny portion of a small percentage of a minute group that has the loudest voice on any web-related topic because they find their influence in sensationalism or clique-ism.
It’s a game of semantics, who cares? These are the same people that are “social media ninjas” and scoff at those with a desk because their last real job was telemarketing.
If you do your job well, it matters not the title.
Hi, Tim. I completely forgot about the badges. My badge at IMS09 said the same thing. Funny.
Lani — I hear what you’re saying, and I similarly have little time for the self-proclaimed gurus of social media. Let me be quick to add, though, that I would not put Chris in that category, not even close. I understand his take on this issue, but prefer David’s critique of it.
Lani, I promise not to take your socialmedianinja swipe personally.
On having “social media” in your title… well, good for you. I agree we are in a point of redefining ourselves, as ninjas, experts, consultants and yes… telemarketers. “Social Media Telemarketer” it’s got a ring to it. (sorry for that one)
It is the WE who are defining ourselves. I do agree that the words are semantic, but by getting “social media” into your title you are at least in a position for people to ask, “oh social media, what’s that? facebook? my kids has a facebook page.”
And that is where the dialogue begins, both within the company and with customers and clients.
@jmacofearth
http://uber.la
In what will go down as one of my more controversial (read: ticked lots of people off) moments, what I’m trying to get at is this: the TERM is too fluid. It won’t last. The concept and the role is important. The term won’t last.
Does that make it any better? Not sure.
Still love YOU. Label-independent.
So does Community Manager work better? Cause we sure as heck have a lot of those popping up.
Thanks for the comment, Chris. I agree (and I suspect David does, too) that the term is fluid and won’t last. But it’s useful for now, at least in his company and mine. As much as anything, it’s a pennant to signal people “Get your social media questions addressed here” or “Want to know how social media can help *your* part of the business? Ask me!”
And hey, I’m a label-independent fan of yours, too. :)
John — I get where you’re coming from, but (a) Community Manager is a specific role that’s much better defined, in my experience, than “Social Media Manager”; (b) I am a Social Media Manager but clearly not a Community Manager, at least at the moment; and (c) I definitely think that Community Manager will be a viable term 10 years from now, whereas SMM may not be.
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