Logic+Emotion

Why I'm Not Writing a Book (Right Now)

There's really nothing like a book—they are portable, intimate, useful, influential and the good ones tend to go "viral" in the sense that you share them with people you know. And of course today we have new ways to digest them: from audio to Kindles to iPads etc. A question I've been getting a lot lately is:

"When are you writing a book"?

I've had some interest—from publishers you've heard of. But the answer is:

"Not right now".

My logic is simple. One cannot serve two masters—and serve them well. Either my full time job or the book would suffer. So the time is not now. I've got things to accomplish before considering writing a book on any topic even though there's the temptation to ride the social media wave. At Edelman, there's a lot to be done both with clients and with our own manifestation of being part of the community (more to come on that later). There's still much for me to learn. There's still much knowledge to put into practice. And fortunately, being a very active participant in this medium has afforded me some of the benefits that published authors enjoy. A platform, influence, and the privilege of being sought after to speak on topics I am passionate about. I'm lucky to have this and to have you along for the ride (it's no fun driving this bus alone).

There's not shortage of excellent authors out there to choose from (Godin, Kawasaki, Anderson, Gladwell  etc.)—and if you are interested in some aggregated forms of content I've produced, you can visit my visual thinking set on Flickr, view my presentations on slideshare  , read articles I've written on Harvard Business or just browse the archive of this blog which I've curated since 2006.

There may be a time for a book—hopefully on a topic even broader than what we currently label "social media". I'd probably want it to be visual, succinct, memorable, and something that stuck to your brain like peanut butter. But for now, there's too much to do. Until then, I look forward to accomplishing other goals with your help. See you on the bus—next stop, make things happen.

Six Ways to Find Social Media Talent

More articles on Harvard Business

As organizations move their social media strategies from theory to practice, they discover a difficult truth they must confront: Finding the "perfect" social media talent is practically impossible.

To start, the field is flooded with thousands of self proclaimed "experts" who have reinvented themselves to take advantage what looks like a growing business opportunity. Maybe they do know social media, but many don't. They need to be vetted.

More broadly, most candidates for social media positions fall at the ends of a spectrum. On one end is the person who really gets it and has deep expertise in social media, but lacks the potential to plug into your business culture. On the other end, there is the candidate with plenty of practical professional experience who will fit in easily with your culture, but who maybe doesn't have deep social media experience.

Ideally you'd find the candidate in the middle of that spectrum, but that's proving to be a remarkably rare individual. Trust me, I'm in the middle of a job search for this person and it's a time-consuming, intensive effort.

But in the process of hiring, I've learned some ways to help move the hiring process forward to attract some of the best and brightest emerging talent at all levels. Here are six emerging practices for hiring social media talent.

Empower anyone to recruit. Candidates deeply immersed in social media usually participate across multiple networks--likely the same ones that your employees use both professionally and personally. Empower employees to use their networks to uncover people who may be looking for an opportunity.

Leverage your beacons. Professional activities tied to social media are still relatively new and everyone is learning. That said, if your organization has individuals who are well known in the space, be sure to leverage their social and professional equity in the recruiting process. For example, if one of your employees earns a following in the social space, reward them by supporting their initiatives. Harness their passion for the benefit of your business. A shining light will attract others to it.

Go where they go. The professional world has been slow to embrace social media events such as "tweetups" (meetings organized by participants on Twitter) or conferences like South By Southwest, a kind of spring break for technophiles. But the reality is that these events attract social media enthusiasts--many of whom may become tomorrows corporate superstars.

Show off your case studies. Candidates in this field are typically familiar with the more publicized social media case studies (Ford, Zappos, Comcast, to name a few) and are hungry for more. If your organization has had success on either an internal or external initiative, don't be shy about touting it. But be sure it's something worth talking about. Also, be honest and forthcoming--share failures as well. If you aren't failing, you aren't doing.

Upgrade recruitment tactics and technology. Contract with recruiters who are extremely proficient in engaging with prospects across multiple networks. They must also be conversant with typical social media job descriptions. Make sure your technology infrastructure is upgraded to help recruit socially. For example, simply tracking the links to your job descriptions with a service called bit.ly will show you not only how many times your ad was clicked on, but how the link was socialized and shared across a variety of networks. This data can provide valuable insights into the recruiting process.

Groom internal candidates. Don't forget you probably already employ good candidates for a social media job. They likely already have the cultural qualifications but perhaps lack knowledge or skills in social media such as being comfortable engaging with individuals in public. It's the responsibility of management to ensure that internal prospects can be trained and groomed for opportunities. This means potentially setting time aside for those who have the knowledge internally or bringing in expertise externally for assistance.

These are a few recommendations to consider as you look for quality people to make a social media strategy a reality at your company. If you have had success in recruiting and or training in this space, I'd love to hear what worked for you.

The 5 Reasons You're Failing In Social Media

1. You really don't want to engage directly with customers, employees, etc.—you just want them to hear what you have to say.

2. You're not ready to create new roles, update process, re-distribute resources and budgets, re-train people, and revise old policies.

3. Social media actually threatens how you make money—but you pay lip service out of fear.

4. Politics.

5. You see it as a career advancing opportunity as opposed to a significant business transformation.

Reverse any of these, and you've likely improved your chances of succeeding in a business environment that's becoming increasingly powered by people. 

10 Ideas For The New Decade

10 Ideas For The New Decade

View more documents from David Armano.

So as you can tell, I've been pretty heads down at the new job with Edelman. It's been very exciting working with a host of companies who are looking to move the needle through leveraging social technologies both outside of their organization and within. I did get to contribute some thoughts along some of the great minds here which you can find in this document. Download, print, share and read. It's worth your time.  

Do You Live Social?

From my latest contribution to Harvard Business

Some have asked, Where does social media live? Is it marketing? Is it public relations? Is it IT or corporate? Is it a combination of multiple business units and functions, and if so, who leads the efforts and how does an organization choose partners? These are valid and complex questions, currently with no simple answers. Social media is still emerging and being defined in real time.

There's a question missing from that litany, one that organizations or individuals rarely ask themselves: Do you live social? Many organizations simply skip this question because they assume that they themselves don't have to be social (open and collaborative) to reap the rewards (cost savings, marketing ROI, effective reputation management, and search engine juice) they think they might get from social media.

But social media's not a product you foist on others, or some rigid business process that, if implemented, yields results. You shouldn't treat social media like a temporary advertising campaign. Social media is more organic than that. It's a way of thinking and approaching business that requires passion and commitment and, above all, willingness to participate in social spaces honestly and freely and by the rules of the social network itself. When someone ridicules your organization in the social space, unfiltered in real time, how do you react? If you are trying to control rather than participate in the discussion, then you're not living social. When your own employees talk about your organization on a social network what do you do?

An organization which bans the use of social networks of its employees may have perfectly good reason to do so, but then turning around and hiring an ad agency, PR firm or business consultancy to go out and "be social" for them will limit potential success. One of the beautiful (or perhaps frustrating, if you're in marketing) aspects of social media is its ability to detect and look askance at posers. If you're not genuinely, honestly engaged in the social network, you're not going to get far with those who are.

It's not easy for organizations to adopt a social mindset, after decades of command-and-control marketing and PR. I believe that starting small is the way to go. Pilot initiatives that demonstrate success by being more open, collaborative and participatory pave they way for changes that can slowly influence the direction of an organization. Executive sponsorship will also help give social media efforts teeth. I've always been pleasantly surprised to see initiatives such as My Starbucks Idea result in new ideas getting implemented, like splash sticks. (Full disclosure: Starbucks is a client of Edelman, the firm I now work for).

Training can help get you started, too — some individuals naturally lean toward working/living in a social way while others need a bit of assistance.

So while managers debate who will control social media inside their organizations — marketing, PR, corporate, IT — I say stop and ask the bigger question: Do any of the people who make up your company, agencies, partners and so on actually live social? Do they demonstrate that they work and play in a connected fashion? Once we begin to resolve that (and don't underestimate the power of baby steps), then we can worry about which discipline, department or agency/consultancy is best equipped to help lead the way.

2009 in a Word

Support

That's how I'd describe 2009 if it came down to a word—at least from my perspective. We started the year in a bit of a crisis mode, deciding to help a family in need and were utterly taken back by the support that was shown by the online community. People I've come to know and regard as friends in many ways. We decided to do something and were simply amazed at the outpouring of support that came in. When we realized that we weren't in this alone, that became a life defining moment for me personally.

Several months later, I took a chance and shook up my career to try something less defined, less familiar. When that realization fully hit me, I again felt support from my social system. They were there for me when I needed it.

And through the months which composed much of the past year, that feeling was always there. We were building something new and I sensed a sort of patience (a form of support) from you. A willingness to see where things would go.

And as the year wrapped up with even more change—I experienced yet even more support. The year it seemed had come full circle and I sit here and feel a sense of awe even as I write this. Simply put, I feel extremely fortunate, undeservedly so.

Support

I've never felt that the passing of time neatly fits into "good" or "bad" categories. It's tempting to think we either had a good or bad year. But for many of us, the reality looks more like a rugged landscape with peaks, hills, plains and valleys. That's why I like to think about the passage of time as a vocabulary. Often times, there is a particular word which rises to the surface of that vocabulary. So for 2009, I chose support to be that meaningful single word. At least for me and perhaps for those of you who provided it.

Thank you for being such a significant part of my 2009. Here's to 2010, to a fresh new year with new hopes and realized dreams.