The Internet is a twitter this month about a job posting for a social media manager for Britney Spears. While it’s certainly a newsworthy announcement for us social media types, it shouldn’t come as a surprise given that Britney is big business. The pop star rakes in nearly $9 million a year and the entire Britney Spears industry generates between $120 and $150 million annually. A company of that size in a fan-based business without an online component would be reckless, and someone needs to be in charge of it all. (See also: Is Kanye West really that prolific a blogger?).
So what is Britney looking for in a social media manager?
The job posting blogged by TechCrunch shows three must-have social media skills that, if you don’t know them cold, will put you behind the curve in 2009: Web Analytics, Search Engine Optimization, and Online Monitoring.
#1: Web Analytics 2.0
Ask Yourself: Do I know how many sales/leads my company got from our Facebook Page or Updates? Each of our blog posts? Which ones got more? Each connection on LinkedIn? Our YouTube videos?
Marketing and communications are no longer separate functions. You may have different departments in your company, but every time you speak as a PR professional for your organization on Facebook, YouTube, or even a blog you’re doing marketing, too.
Unfortunately, there’s a fallacy circulating in the industry right now that says it’s hard to measure social media. You know what? It’s not. “It’s hard to measure the ROI of social media efforts” is a myth generated by PR people who are too nervous to have anyone connect their writing to sales numbers. Measure yourself by the sales and leads your efforts generate.
Or. in Britney-speak: “Adore metrics because they show off your success and help you determine new goals.”
Your 2009 Resolution: Good analytics software to track these items is free from many sources, the best of them being Google’s free and powerful analytics package. If you think you can make it through the current economic downturn without showing that your online communications have sales value, you’re in for a quick surprise.
#2: Writing For Search Engines 2.0
Ask Yourself: Is Search Engine Optimization (SEO) that thing that is done for your company by a third party on Web site pages nobody ever sees? Do you have the eight keyword searches that are most important to people searching for your company’s products and services memorized? Do you use one of these in each piece you write regularly?
When companies hire third parties to do SEO without integrating it into their regular publication process they really miss lots of opportunities to both manage them well but also to tune their SEO efforts to their full communications pipe. You end up with some tweaked landing pages that don’t have a lot of value, but exist to redirect people to your main Web site, and these pages have a high “back out” rate as people are turned off by overuse of phrases.
Your 2009 Resolution: Take the time to use one of the free or cheap keyword research tools, like the one built into Google AdWords, and establish the seven or eight key phrases that are keyto your brand. Incorporate at least one of them into each piece you write. As you learn more about how the process works, then think about bringing on additional resources to write for your site for SEO.
#3: Online Monitoring 2.0
Ask yourself: If you went home on Friday night and a brand crisis with your name broke out on Twitter, would you miss it? Do you usually find out about critical blog postings or online chatter because a college or a customer e-mails them to you? Do you respond (or ignore it) and move on with relief to the next item on your to-do list?
If any of these are true, you don’t yet have a 2009-caliber online monitoring program. As our previous case studies have shown, what happens in the first 48 hours determines the success of resolving an online crisis in a way that is most beneficial to you. When Circuit City faced their crisis late last year, their team was on top of it very quickly. Circuit City’s self-effacing funny, and apologetic response drew kudos from even the most die-hard critics, and their PR people literally chased down critical wire stories with more positive updates.
You’ve already taken the time, we hope, to learn about the different products out there, especially Radian6, and you know the conversations that are happening about your brand or product. You might be e-mailing yourself the daily results of a Twitter search on your brand—that’s a start.
Your 2009 Resolution: Take the next step to Online Monitoring 2.0. Take the information you learn from daily monitoring, and as they do at Britney Spears, Inc., “deliver key learnings to advise content strategy and brand positioning.” Figure out how the work that you put into monitoring for daily crises can be useful to your broader online strategy.
This is the time of year that you can easily establish new habits and practices, take advantage of it and you’ll see benefits all year long.
This article was written by Shabbir Imber Safdar and Jason Alcorn, Virilion Inc.
Jason and Shabbir teach you new online techniques at http://www.truthypr.com