This is only in the US – globally Facebook still trumps all other sites by a large margin

If you are practicing PR in the US, and you’re including social media to extend the reach of your news content, you should reach to the 15 million loyal SU users in the US, enggement them and nurture those relationships.

Here’s how:

1. If you have not yet done so, create an account and set up a profile
2. Link to your SU profile in your About page or in your press contact listing
3. Add the StumbleUpon button to all your news pages (instructions here )
4. Start to build your network on SU, just as you do in any other social site
5. Get to know the members of the community
6. See who Stumbles the kind of content you have in your news releases, articles and videos
7. Stumble their content – it is not considered good form to Stumble your own content
8. Use the SU ads feature to promote your release headlines – it costs just 5c per impression and more than 60 000 brands have already used this paid discovery option
9. SU recently added a search feature to their site so it is more important than ever to have your news content indexed there

What makes this search function different is users are searching by interest, introducing thousands of new interests and millions of new websites.

As with any other social site StumbleUpon is not a quick fix. There is no one-shot way to tap into this traffic. You have to do the work and become a genuine member of the community. But at leastyou are investing time in the #1 social referrer.

If you have not used Stumble Upon before it will obviously not show up as a referrer to your website. Give it try – wouldn’t you rather spend time on a site that has the potential to send you 50% of your social traffic?

Caveat: do not drop out any currently successful actions. Keep doing what you are doing and add Stumble Upon to the mix.

Check out The Proactive Report for more articles by Sally Falkow

In what he calls a “marketing and PR experiment,” Robert Shoesmith is camping outside a London Apple Store until the iPhone 5 is released. Of course, as you know from our extensive coverage, the iPhone 5 has not even been announced yet. Rumors place the release date sometime in either September or October, however.

Shoesmith has set up a blog for what he calls the “iPhone 5 Experiment.” On that blog, he describes what he plans to do for the next month or two (maybe longer).

I will be camping out on the streets of London for the launch of the iPhone 5 in a marketing and pr experiment. There is one rule! I can’t spend any money on anything I take with me. I’m asking for companies to donate products and services to test out whilst I’m there. Can you help?

That’s right, he has left his wallet behind and will be living based solely on what people give him.

And so far he isn’t doing too bad – He has already received packages of lithium batteries from Energizer, a webcam kit from the folks at Skype, and candy from an online distributor. Some of the companies who have already agreed to sponsor the “experiment” – Cadbury, Mountain Dew, Domino’s Pizza, Kenneth Cole, Weight Watchers and Gillette.

He has a Flickr gallery dedicated to all the stuff he’s already received.

The blog also contains Shoesmith’s wishlist for his camping excursion. This includes items like table cloths, picnic sets, travel sized deodorants, hats, scarves, handheld video game devices and iTunes vouchers. If you help Shoesmith out you get your company listed as a sponsor, blog posting about your contributions and the “strong possibility of a book release after the experiment has been concluded.”

This is a full scale marketing extravaganza, as Shoesmith is also advertising mobile apps that he is playing while patiently waiting for the iPhone 5. He is also schduling entertainment –

During my stay in Covent Garden I’ll have a personal trainer helping to keep me in shape, many products to publicly test, and I’ve even managed to secure a number of live bands to perform. There will be much to see and do, so please make the trip if you can, and don’t forget to bring some friends too!

Do you have a talent? Can you juggle, act, or dance? Can you breathe fire?! Whatever your talent, I’m eager to help you get noticed. As I’m going to be in London for quite some time, it’s important for me to keep the experiment fresh, so I’m actively searching for talented individuals to visit me in Covent Garden and perform.

Call the “iPhone 5 Experiment” what you want, but it is inarguably inventive. A true marketing for marketing’s sake deal where the goal is win-win publicity for all. Plus, for Shoesmith, it’s a chance to score a bunch of cool shit for free. And you can’t fault a guy for that.

[Hat tip to Tech Crunch]

Do you think Parsons was right or wrong to kill the elephant? Comment here.

Clearly there are people standing up for both sides of the argument. PETA has been the most vocal opponent, and much of the piece is for all intents and purposes attacking that organization. It’s not just animal rights activists that were outraged by the elephant killing, however. Many people claimed they were pulling their sites from GoDaddy domains, and some of GoDaddy’s competitors took advantage of this by offering special deals (with donations to elephant-related causes) for switching to their respective services.

Parsons has staunchly defended his actions from the beginning, in the press, on Twitter, and even in unrelated GoDaddy press releases (which were about donations to Hope for Haiti), though interestingly enough, GoDaddy never put out much in the way of damage control following the outcry over the video – no press releases directly about the incident, though the video was later heavily edited to give it a completely different tone. More on Parsons’ defense here, and in the NRA article.

The video has even drawn parody on YouTube:

Regardless of where you stand on Parsons’ elephant-killing ways, it seems clear that the whole thing has done little to help GoDaddy in terms of PR, which is why I find it fascinating that Parsons keeps bringing it back up, rather than letting the story disappear into the past. It seemed like they were finally focusing their PR on charitable donations, but Parsons recently tweeted the following, bringing the elephant back into spotlight:

WARNING: GRAPHIC ELEPHANT BUTCHER IMAGES BELOW

It gets more interesting, when you look at the actual article and find a different video with more footage from the elephant outing. There’s no AC/DC soundtrack in this one like there was in the other one before it was edited, though I have to wonder if this one has been edited as well. Before editing, the other one also showed many villagers wearing GoDaddy hats. This seems to be lacking in this video as well. It’s not embeddable (if you have a link to embeddable version, let us know, but you can see the video in its entirety in the article here), but here are a few screenshots. Please note that all captions are from the actual video. We did not add these.

Since tweeting the link to the story, Parsons also tweeted a link to a new GoDaddy video where he talks about how to make good decisions.

Is Parsons helping or hurting GoDaddy’s image by continuing to bring up the elephant? Tell us what you think.

During this same time I’ve seen several blog posts and articles suggesting that websites are a thing of the past and that Facebook and Twitter will dominate business communication online. There is some truth to that, but it is not the whole picture. Websites with no social features and no connection to the brand’s social presence are becoming irrelevant. Facebook,Twitter and YouTube are essential tools in your online strategy, but they need to be connected to a very robust and informational website.

Take a look at this research from Jeremiah Owyang, industry analyst at the Altimeter Group.   He calls 2011 The Year of Integration.

Good question, right?

A number of blogs and Web sites came to mind immediately, but then I thought more about the term TJ used–”resources.” We’re talking about more than blogs here. What would really help someone looking to break into PR learn more about our profession, who we are and where we’re going in the next 10-15 years.

After giving that some additional thought over the weekend, I came up with the following list. I really think the blogs, sites, podcasts, lists and other resources below would give someone thinking of making the switch to PR a pretty good glimpse of our industry:

* Journalistics. Follow the heart of PR by subscribing to Journalistics, where Jeremy Porter and crew talk about all things at the intersection of PR and journalism. What I like most about Journalistics is that it doesn’t tend to cover the trendy, social-media-based topics of the day all that much. Sure, there are posts that include discussions of Twitter, Facebook and social tools du jour, but for the most part the blog sticks to topics PR and journalists would care about–tips for creating a great elevator speech, how to think like a reporter (for PR wins), and how to keep your news release from getting deleted.

* #pr20chat. A fantastic weekly Twitter chat hosted by Heather Whaling and Justin Goldsborough that focuses on the PR “2.0″ world. Topics range from social analytics to educating the next generation of PR pros to writing and consulting basics. I can’t think of a better way for someone looking to break into PR to get up to speed on what’s happening in PR right now.

* For Immediate Release podcast. One of the longest (if not *the* longest) PR podcasts on record (since April 2008). Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson typically record two podcasts a week taking on various topics in the PR and corporate communications industries. They usually use one podcast as the “report” for the week–think of it as a 45-minute CNN-type newscast for PR types. And, the other podcast each week is dedicated to an interview or panel discussion of sorts (just recently they featured a great discussion around social media analytics). I don’t listen to Shel and Neville as much as I used to (all due to time constraints), but when I did, I loved the fact that they included their audience in their shows. They had regular correspondents. They respond to voice mails. Real interaction with the audience. And, it makes the show. But the real reason I suggest this to those considering a career in PR–it’s a podcast; you can listen to it on the way to work, over your lunch hour, or while mowing the lawn (hey, I think I just convinced myself to start listening again!).

* Follow HARO for a week. Like it or not, media relations is a big part of PR. And, contrary to popular belief, I don’t see that changing anytime soon. What better way to learn more about what reporters are looking for and how they frame up stories than to follow HARO for a week? I mean, really follow it. Read the inquiries. Try to understand what they’re looking for and what kind of story they’re developing. Reading HARO for a week will definitely help you get a sense for the kinds of stories and angles reporters take–and what they want, need and expect from PR pros as a result.

* HAPPO. (Disclosure: I’m a co-founder of HAPPO). If you’re looking to make the move to PR, this may be where you find your first job. That’s the hope at least. And, it a part of the reason HAPPO exists. However, HAPPO isn’t all about jobs. It’s about helping other PR pros. That can mean, providing news and information. Connecting others with potential mentors. And, meeting new pros from across the world–all via Twitter. All of which I would think would be hugely beneficial to someone just looking to start a career in PR.

* Bad Pitch Blog. Sometimes as much as it makes sense to learn how to do a job well, it also pays to learn from others mistakes. Exactly why I would encourage newbies to read the Bad Pitch Blog regularly. What I’ve enjoyed most about Kevin Dugan and Richard Laermer’s takes over the years–they’re not afraid to take on tough issues and “A-listers.” Case in point, this post which was fairly critical of Peter Shankman and his Klout-based holiday party last year. Of course, they also talk about everyday issues and lessons that impact us all–like the recent post on typos and proofreading. For either reason, I’d suggest BPB as a must-read for those considering a career in PR.

* PR Breakfast Club (diclosure: I’m a contributor to PR Breakfast Club). Founded by Nathan Burgess, Keith Trivitt, Marie Baker and CT Michaels, the Breakfast Club is a great place to get all things PR–on a daily basis (sign up for the daily email–always one of the first things I read in the morning). Here’s why I would recommend the Breakfast Club to PR newbies–you can get a sampling of a number of PR voices in one daily email. Just since April 1, the Breakfast Club has featured a whopping 20 different authors and bloggers from across the Web (and country). So, you don’t just get one person’s perspective on PR–you get a number of different views. And, many of them are younger professionals (30 or younger), so you get a glimpse into what it’s like to start out in PR. One of the better group PR blogs on the Web.

* Start following some great PR blogs. I mentioned a few already, but start a list of 10-15 PR blogs and follow them religiously for two months. I guarantee in those two months, you’ll learn a ton about the industry. Start by pulling blogs from lists that already exist–Journalistics, Paul Roberts and Jeff Domansky’s lists are good places to start. If that doesn’t do the trick, check out Alltop for a more comprehensive list of potential PR blogs.

* PR books. While the online resources I’ve listed here are great, I’d still recommend picking up a good, old-fashioned hard-cover book every once in a while (or download one to your Kindle, if you prefer). Obviously, there are hundreds of books to read around the topic of PR–where to start? I compiled a list a couple years ago based on PR pros recommendations–still a good starting point. I particular like Kellye Crane’s suggestion of Elements of Style and Lauren Vargas’ recommendation of Never Eat Alone (not a PR book technically, but a wonderfully useful read). If that’s not enough, you can see what I’m reading this year–a number of great PR reads in here.

What about you? What online resources would you suggest to someone considering jumping into the PR industry?

Originally published on Communications Conversations

Burson was caught out in a covert anti-Google smear campaign on behalf of Facebook when it reached out to a US blogger who promptly published the email conversation between him and the Burson executive. In its outreach, Burson had refused to name its client. The mainstream media has been all over this since then along with much commentary and opinion about the fiasco from people in the public relations industry.

While such commentary and opinion will no doubt continue, Burson isn’t saying much following its formal statement on May 12 and the odd  tweet here and there, other than that it won’t fire the two executives concerned.

Instead, says Burson, both will receive training in ethics.

That’s a very interesting approach to an issue that is arguably an actual crisis where not only is Burson’s reputation under assault but also its credibility as knowledgeable and skilful practitioners in public relations is being questioned as a consequence.

Now the firm’s coming across as a bit clueless in how it’s addressing collateral issues (I almost said ‘damage’), eg, deleting negative comments from its own Facebook page.

In my view, it is admirable that the firm clearly supports the two men at the heart of this fiasco and is willing to publicly say so; and is equally willing to state that, in effect, they will get some help to regain that straight and narrow path of best practice as enshrined in ethics codes such as that of the PRSA, never mind the WPP Code of Business Conduct (Burson Marsteller is ultimately owned by  WPP) as explained on the firm’s website – check this statement in particular:

The WPP Code of Business Conduct sets out the expectations we have of our people.

[...] We will not undertake work which is intended or designed to mislead, including in relation to social, environmental and human rights issues;

We will consider the potential for clients or work to damage the Group’s reputation prior to taking them on.

But is this enough from a reputation point of view, both for Burson Marsteller the firm and for the two individuals themselves? Is such unethical behaviour deeply ingrained in the firm? You have to wonder, especially when you see scathing commentary such as this excerpt from a lengthy post yesterday by  Terence Fane-Saunders, past Chairman and Chief Executive of Burson Marsteller in the UK, entitled “Furtive and Creepy“:

[...] It has been suggested that at least some of the information that B-M was hawking to its contacts was not merely secretly sourced, but also actually false and misleading.  I have no idea if this is true.  For all I know, that’s negative PR from the other side. Once the paranoia box is open, its difficult to close it again.  But that’s not really the point here.  In this  grubby little attempt to seed negative stories without disclosing their source,  they were denying the media (and that means the public, and that means you and me) the opportunity to assess the value of those stories.  If you don’t know the source, you can’t judge motive.  In this case, source and motive were absolutely central to the story;  so central, I would suggest, that the story itself becomes incomplete and  misleading if that information is withheld.

Throughout its history, the PR profession has struggled with the damage caused by its grubbier practitioners – the PR hacks, the press agents, the fly-by-night corner shops who live by false promises,  operating in the shadows, spinning half truths or downright falsehoods. But that struggle , generally, has been a successful one.  And it is firms like Burson-Marsteller who deserve the credit for establishing the profession as an ethical, valuable and often admirable part of the management process.  They have led by example. But if senior B-M professionals are now seen to be operating like shadowy, backstreet spin merchants, you have to wonder about the continuing value of that example.

I think candid comments such as this from credible opinion-formers are hugely damaging. While I believe Burson Marsteller can look forward to reputation recovery over time – clearly depending on what they do and how they do it now and in the coming weeks – one foundational thing their CEO Mark Penn can and ought to do forthwith is come out with a frank, clear and genuine apology for the actions of the two executives, not the sanitized corporate-speak of the formal statement the firm put out.

And maybe ethics training for those two isn’t enough – the firm needs to be seen to be addressing this and any hidden thoughts by anyone (such as clients) along the lines of Terence Fane-Saunders’ worries he stated in his post.

Burson Marsteller could take a leaf out of Edelman‘s book by examining how that PR firm addressed their own kerfuffle with their client Wal-Mart back in 2006 by:

1. admitting to and apologizing for their unethical behaviour,
2. mounting a training programme for employees at all their offices worldwide,
3. publicly communicating their plans and their actions, and
4. engaging in conversation with anyone who has an opinion about the issues and solutions.

It’s very unfortunate for Burson Marsteller that all this has arisen just after they won the Holmes Report award for US Agency of the Year 2011.

Originally published at NevilleHobson.com

Obviously with Facebook being criticized for its own privacy practices frequently, this is an interesting turn of events in the ongoing battle between these two companies, which has included not only an increase in competition among products,but Facebook’s poaching of Google employees and a more general competition for top engineer talent.

Dan Lyons at the Daily Beast points to an email pitch from the PR firm to privacy advocate and blogger Chris Soghoian, who thought the story, centered around Google’s “Social Circles” was way overblown, and sensed something shady was going on when the firm wouldn’t reveal the client it was representing.

The whole pitch can be read on PasteBin.

Lyons says he got a Facebook spokesperson to confirm that it was indeed the company behind it. Lyons writes, “Confronted with evidence, a Facebook spokesman last night confirmed that Facebook hired Burson, citing two reasons: First, because it believes Google is doing some things in social networking that raise privacy concerns; second, and perhaps more important, because Facebook resents Google’s attempts to use Facebook data in its own social-networking service.”

In an interview with BetaBeat, Soghoian said, “I really think this was an attempt by one large company to stab a dagger in the back of a competitor. For five or six months Microsoft has been making noise about Google’s privacy problems. Microsoft was the first browser to include a do not track options, and they realized privacy is an area where they can compete with Google and get good press.”

“The difference is Microsoft can do it publicly, because they don’t have their own privacy problems,” he added. “Facebook is no better than Google on these issues, so to make these attacks they have to hide behind these PR companies. If they tried it in public, under their own name, people would laugh in their faces.”

It’s worth noting that Microsoft and Facebook are partners, with Microsoft providing web search results to Facebook’ search feature, and Facebook providing data for use in the Bing search engine (it will be very interesting to see how that relationship develops in light of Microsoft’s acquisition of Skype as well).

What’s most interesting about this whole thing is how Facebook’s strategy of trying to bring negative attention to a competitor has basically blown up in its own face, as press coverage has mainly focused on the company’s sneaky tactics, rather than any privacy concerns with Google – at least in relation to this story.
There’s no question Google is the focus of a great deal of privacy concerns on an ongoing basis, with numerous critics happy to slam the company. In fact, just this week, Google has been testifying in Washington regarding privacy issues.

It’s very interesting that Facebook is targeting a rarely talked about Google offering that it appears to fear on a competitive level. The pitch said, “Google Social Circles does not ask ‘permission’ from individuals who will have their profiles, connections and other personal data shared in the new network. Google will simply ‘scrape’ their information from dozens of sources and compile the data into one massive dossier aligned directly with user’s personally identifiable information.”

For the record, USA Today reports that “Google said that Social Circle in fact allows Gmail users to make social connections based on public information and private connections across its products in ways that don’t skirt privacy.” The publication quotes Google Senior Manager of Global Communications and Public Affairs as saying:

“We have seen this e-mail reportedly sent by a representative of the PR firm Burson-Marsteller. We’re not going to comment further. Our focus is on delighting people with great products.”

Even the privacy advocates don’t seemed very concerned about it.

“I would never have agreed to the pitch no matter what, but I was surprised at the case they were trying to make,” Soghoian said. “I’m a fairly outspoken privacy advocate and there are many things Google does that are really bad on privacy, but this isn’t the thing that is keeping me up at night. It’s something that I had never really worried about.”

What do you think? Is there cause to be concerned?

Have you ever been on either side of this situation? Tell us your experience.

While there are blogger outreach platforms that offer some assistance to this dilemma, they are known for having their own set of problems. For example, services such as Vocus and Cision have been around for a long time but are often discredited for being too big. As a result, they have trouble keeping their databases current.

This is where new blogger outreach platform BlogDash comes into the game. The platform hopes to connect both businesses and bloggers/journalists in a way that brings both parties benefits.

“The idea behind BlogDash is to create an open communication platform so that all the needs and expectations from bloggers and businesses are matched up,” said David Spinks, Co-founder of BlogDash.

Bloggers and journalists create bios that include their experience, what they write about, how often they write, and other noteworthy facts. BlogDash uses this data to match businesses with media that have the same goals.

To avoid facing the volume challenge that others deal with, Spinks said that BlogDash would keep its focus set on building a good product. In addition, it plans to obtain the most accurate data and the highest-quality bloggers.

These media databases also raise another potential issue in regards to the responsibility of PR professionals. Although solutions such as BlogDash can be very useful for media and PR professionals, some people who work in PR tend to rely too heavily on the results in the database and slack on their own research. Have you noticed this trend?

It’s a conversation I’ve been having with friends and industry colleagues, and should be front and center for people in the industry.

But no, this is not a PR is dead meme, or blogging is dead meme or any of those memes that crop up every year (heck, just today Journalistics had the “PR doesn’t change” version of the dead meme).

This is questioning where PR falls now, through a few recent incidences. When PR blogs, are we bloggers our journalists? And extending that with Jay Rosen‘s SXSW post – why is there still that division? And with that division, where is PR fitting in – or should we not worry about the division, especially with the rise of community relations, aka social media?

So it comes down to this: when PR professionals blog, are we bloggers or are we journalists? As gatekeepers and bridges and, well, examples for our clients, should we hold ourselves up to a higher level and standard than other bloggers? Should we take that extra step to verify and report?

While I can understand the desire for opinion pieces, even those can and should be based on facts. I should know – it’s what I did in the college paper: opinion pieces that were still verified with sources. Picking up a phone (or emailing) isn’t that hard.

So as PR bloggers (and yes, I am purposely ignoring social media blogs), do we have an obligation to get the full story, to tell a full story?

Do we have a professional courtesy and obligation to other PR people to get their client’s (or clients’) side of the story, to present the other side, even if it’s just an opinion piece?

If we are supposed to showcase best practices internally and externally for both our junior staff and our clients, we have no choice but to go the extra mile, to take the extra step.

To take it further, as PR bloggers, can we just use the excuse “I’m a blogger” and get away with it? Should there be that line anymore between blogger and journalist? And, well, isn’t that line a bit tired and old, and let’s be honest, f***ing lazy?

With all these fights between bloggers and journalists, is there really that much of a line anymore? With the disappearance of trade press (especially B2B technology), where do you go besides bloggers who specialize in those verticals? If we uphold those bloggers to a higher degree of veracity, why should PR bloggers get a pass when they are just “blogging” and not being a journalist?

When we approach (or, come on, pitch) bloggers, we hope that they post the story with as much background and news as possible, and if there’s a mistake, we go back and tell them and hope for a correction. Nay, we should demand a correction if there isn’t one forthcoming.

Shouldn’t we demand the same from ourselves? Is there really a line anymore between blogging and journalism, or is that all just the lazy excuse for not doing the homework, possible due diligence or good writing?

The funny (sad?) thing is that this debate of blogger versus journalist still going on out there.

The one panel I would have liked to see at SXSWi was Jay Rosen‘s on the psychology of the blogger versus journalist fight (also read his pre-SXSW post on the subject).

Both blogging and journalism serve a function, both give the public information and tell stories. But as noted by Rosen, “blogging cannot replace the watchdog journalism that keeps a government accountable to its people.” And on the flip side, Rosen notes that bloggers try to keep that “outside the system” cred that allows them to say “I’m just a blogger” – which also means we can be lazy and biased (as bloggers).

As he notes, neither are right. Bloggers can no longer be outside the system as the Internet has flattened everything. And while journalists DO put themselves out on the front lines quite often – a great piece by Simon Dumenco in AdAge encapsulates with a bit of snark – there are also bloggers out there that are on the front lines of war zones, disappearing and dying. The Internet has flattened and equaled many things out, and that includes content.

As for PR people, what does that all mean? For PR bloggers, stop doing the whole “we’re allowed to be lazy and bias” because it’s bullshit. Man up, and own up. For PR people and outreach, well, the best line is from Animal Farm: All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.

At times, we need to draw a line in the sand for outreach and community relations. We can’t hit everyone; but at the same time, we’re that bridge for media and bloggers to our clients and companies, and we can engage and help out there (which is why Facebook, Twitter and other forms of electronic media and communications have become so valuable).

BTW, yes, I do hold PR bloggers up to a higher standard than social media bloggers; PR is based on journalistic values and social media is based on well, who knows sometimes. There’s so much less transparency in social media, that that is a whole other blog post.

Originally published at POP PR Jots

Getting the Lead

LinkedIn is a great way to get headhunted, so make sure your LinkedIn profile is up to date.  I get a few recruiters a month, pinging me about community related jobs.  I don’t think it’s because I’m all that special.  I always ask how they found me, and they usually tell me they found me by searching Linked In.  As someone who is always concerned about SEO, I made sure my profile was well-stocked with popular (and relevant to my experience) keywords that a recruiter looking to fill a community position might use to search.  In addition, I know that people who are connected to the person searching, rise higher in the search, so I take care to connect to people that I have met, especially if they work at a company that might interest me later in my career path.  However, the last two jobs I have had in this area I did not find through LinkedIn, so don’t forget to do the traditional networking as well.

Landing the Interview

To get the interview, you want to be honest, but not brutally so.  Save those perks and salary requirements discussions for the face-to-face.  If a recruiter has your resume and maybe a dozen others, he’s not going to call in the bossy candidate unless he has to do so.  And, like any other position, you need to be well prepared for the phone interview.  Dig into the company’s site.  Find out what others are saying about them.  Come up with at least 3 things you would do differently, and remember to communicate those things with a gentle, but firm, style.  ’Here’s what I noticed you could do better’ is received much better than ‘Here’s where you are screwing up’.  You have to show the person that you are not only well qualified, and able to think strategically, but that you won’t be a pain to work with.

Nailing the Interview

Dress, dress, dress.  Don’t ever come into an interview in a Tshirt, I don’t care what the rest of the office is wearing.  Even if you snag the job, you’ve set a tone that you are not upper management material (ie not serious about your job), in the first meeting.  I do work in San Francisco though, so in my local you can absolutely wear jeans to an interview, just pair with clothing that would work with slacks.

Bring a notepad filled with ideas that are specific for that community.  This communicates that you are already working and you’ll hit the ground running.  It also shows them that you are well prepared for this interview.  Ask questions.  Not salary/benefits quite yet, but more like ‘What’s the environment like here?’ or ‘Is this a meeting-heavy company?’ and ‘Are employees encouraged to share ideas and feedback with upper management?’  These types of questions will really give you a better look at what you might be getting yourself into, which is the point of an interview anyway.  Getting the job is not always the end goal.  Landing a job that you hate doesn’t help you, it just ties you up so that you can’t get the job that is perfect for you.  Remember to ask questions that help you understand the personality of a company, so you too can make an informed decision.

Experience?

Let’s say you haven’t been a community manager, but you’ve worked in customer service, PR, online marketing, or something similar.  That’s ok.  When you list those jobs on your resume, bullet out the points that are tailored to community.  A person who has done any of these roles is almost always charged with some level of community building, so make those things pop out for a recruiter or HR person who is scanning a dozen resumes.  Note your successes.  Bring those things up in your phone interview, and drive them home in your face-to-face interview.  I’d hire a person with heart and knowledge much faster than a person who has 4 community management jobs, but no success metrics to go along with it.  If you increased membership by x%, or increased engagement across the board, bring it up and drive it home.  Remember, they are looking for someone who can deliver results, work well internally, and not require tons of oversight. Be that person and you’ll find work.

Money

The typical community manager makes between $40k-90k per year.  With experience, a 6 figure salary is not uncommon.  If this is your first job in this type of role, be prepared to make less than what you might normally earn, but let them know in the interview what you typically make and that you would like to be on a path to make x number of dollars within x number of years.  If you do have significant experience, remind the interviewer that this is a crucial role and as such, your experience is worth paying for.  Remember, it’s on you to let them know what you want.  No one is going to pay you what you are worth unless you ask for it.

Passion

The key to snagging a community job is communicating that you are the best person for the role.  If the company makes TV, let them know how much you enjoy the medium and how knowledgable you are in the industry.  Remind them of your connections, and your influence.  If they make video games, let them know that you’ve been playing games for x number of years, and are already hosting a weekly video podcast that is viewed by industry insiders and is often cited by well-known gaming blogs.  If you’re vying for a shot as a community manager in the fashion industry, show them your fashion blog and your regular column in Variety.  You get the drift…  Let your passion and expertise shine, and you’ll get the offer.  If you know you want a job in a certain industry, and you don’t have impressive credentials like the above, spend some time getting them.  It’s not difficult, but it does involve passion and effort.  If you aren’t willing to go the extra mile, a job in community is really not for you anyway.

Originally published on Practical Blogging