Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Bryan Bruce interview with Todd Bacile FSU Marketing Professor



Hello Bryan,
Thank you for taking time to share your insights and opinions! I would like to write a blog post discussing which skills are important for undergrad students to develop for entry-level or intern positions working within social media marketing. I want to position this not as an opinion piece of my own, but rather as a series of quotes from marketers, trainers, and educators as to what they believe social media ad agencies or brands operating their own social media initiatives are looking for in undergrad students. Feel free to provide your opinion in free-form or as answers to the following questions.  Add anything you feel is important!  Thank you!


What is your formal title and place of employment? Do you make hiring decisions for social media related jobs?
CEO and Founder of Your Brand Voice.  Yes I am involved in the hiring decisions for all jobs related to our business.

Which skills are brands and/or marketers looking for from students for entry-level / internship social media marketing positions?
The ability to work in a team setting but from remote locations
The ability to understand marketing analytics and how to measure enagement
The ability to communicate effectively in tools such as Yammer, Asana, etc. rather than email.
The ability to write copy
The ability to generate creative content imagery, etc. (not a requirement, but a huge plus)

Should students be familiar with particular social media monitoring software or applications? If so, which particular programs?
Absolutely, Hootsuite, Klout, Facebook Insights to name a few.  The more students are able to “grade” there own engagement performance, the more empowered they will be to act when necessary to keep things flowing.

Which social media metrics should students have an understanding of?
We have many ways of calculating engagement among our stars but the very simple metrics we track for new STARS (social trending assessment representatives)
Facebook talking about us percentage
Klout- how is a brands twitter score managing month over month.


Is it important for students to demonstrate their own ability to use social media in their own personal accounts?
Absolutely, we feel that if a STAR is unable to understand how to generate buzz around their personal brand, that they may have issues doing it for one of the brands we represent.  The skills are very similar- once you understand how to engage- it is all about finding the right brand voice.

Are firms Googling or searching for what students have posted via social to determine if a student is creating inappropriate content? Do firms take this into account during the hiring decision?
We will not hire someone without a personal social presence.

Should students understand how to create conversations via social media and how to create content other people want to share?
This is the essence of building a social presence online- connect with your targeted demographic using the brands appropriate brand voice.  A social voice full of marketing messages is not a very social voice- and typically is not a voice that is very engaging.

What is your opinion of social influence metrics such as Klout, PeerIndex, and/or Kred?
 We use Klout religiously as a simple metrics to track our STAR’s engagement.  We realize the metric is not perfect, but have found that giving the stars something to focus on allows them to gain traction and grow into generating engaging content consistently.

Thank you so much!

~ Todd Bacile

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