CHAPTER 5
DEAL BREAKERS

On the hit TV show “30 Rock,” Tina Fey’s character, Liz Lemon, doles out relationship advice on TV shows and even lands a book deal around a single catchphrase: “That’s a deal breaker!” The phrase is used to highlight a trait or behavior that is so significant that it outweighs any positive aspects of a relationship or friendship and requires ending things or cutting things off. “If your boyfriend is over 30 and still wears a name tag to work—that’s a deal breaker.” “If your man has to sneak you into his house at night to avoid his mother—that’s a deal breaker.” “Your man leaves in boxers but comes home in briefs—that’s a deal breaker.” Fey’s dry, no-nonsense delivery of the line “Deal breaker!” made for big laughs and propelled the catchphrase into the cultural vernacular.

Within the context of social media, we might use the phrase in the same way. The relationship between a big brand and its social media lead might well be seen as a marriage of sorts. Despite the fact that the other party seems like a perfect match, there is still an overriding trait or behavior that should serve as the proverbial deal breaker. Just as in “30 Rock,” there are a few telltale signs or situations that represent trouble down the line. The reasons vary depending on your perspective and which side you’re on, but they’re there if you look for them. We’ll start by looking at it from the organization’s point of view when assessing a candidate aspiring to be its social media evangelist. Then we’ll reverse things and zoom in on the company or brand, looking at red flags an individual might look for that would be warning signs to proceed carefully or not to take the job.

If You Are Hiring a Social Media Lead

Deal breaker 1: Overemphasizing personal brand. As we’ve discussed, an individual’s reputation and online savvy can draw credibility to a brand’s social media efforts. There is value in the personality of a social media evangelist. But if a candidate spends too much time during the interview talking about the value of his “personal brand” and how it can help your organization, watch out.

So many marketers—not to mention many would-be social media practitioners—have focused so heavily on “personal branding” and becoming an invaluable social media resource that they’ve started elevating their personal brand over what they bring to the table for a potential employer. The personal branding cottage industry has become a monument to big egos and self-importance, and in the minds of many critics—Geoff Livingston, Olivier Blanchard, David Binkowski, and quite a number of others—it is emblematic of what’s wrong with social media: an overemphasis on individuals with an inflated sense of their own value, too much focus on what people think of the person as opposed to the employing brand, and conflicting loyalties when it comes to bottom-line goals.

You don’t want someone who’s going to overemphasize the external element of the social media leader’s job at the expense of her internal responsibilities. You also don’t want someone in that role who will be more about her own “brand” than yours. If she is already talking during the interview about how much her brand can help yours, how confident can you be that she’s going to place your brand first at all times once she gets online for you?

Conversations during an interview should revolve around strategies for making the brand more prominent online—and nothing else. Talking too much about how someone’s personal brand will help your brand … deal breaker.

Deal breaker 2: No formal marketing or PR background. You don’t have to come from PR or marketing in order to be generally successful in social media. Plenty of people who aren’t from these fields have developed widely read blogs, achieved hundreds of thousands of Twitter followers and Facebook fans, and get invited to speak at conferences based on their followings and insights. But we’re not talking about general social media success. We’re talking about representing and promoting a brand within social media. This task requires at least some sort of understanding of an organization’s goals, branding across other media, maintaining consistency in brand identity, handling critical questions about a brand or company, and other tricks of the PR and marketing trades.

A manager would never consider putting an employee with no formal communications or marketing training on television or letting him speak to a reporter unsupervised. In fact, many companies have policies specifically prohibiting noncommunications personnel from talking with the media at all. Given the speed at which gaffes can spread through the social Web, it would be twice as crazy to put an untrained or inexperienced employee into the fray as your social media lead. If a candidate for social media lead lacks at least some experience marketing or representing a brand, that’s a deal breaker.

Deal breaker 3: Not enough homework. You’re not necessarily looking to hire an expert in your industry or on your company and its products. (Hell, I still couldn’t tell you the details of how an internal combustion engine works, even after having been at GM for four years.) But you do want someone who at least understands the basics. After all, he’s going to be representing you within social networks and online.

This isn’t unique to social media roles. Regardless of the position you’re hiring for, companies generally look for candidates who’ve done their homework and who know at least a little bit about the organization and its products or services. Social media is relatively new and still intimidates some companies. Some may be tempted to overlook a candidate’s lack of basic research in order to land a “social media expert.” Don’t fall victim to that temptation. Your candidate need not be an expert—you can teach him about your business once he’s on board—but he needs to be able to talk with you about your business. Failing to do the research doesn’t just show that he didn’t prepare for the interview. It telegraphs that he may similarly fail to prepare for other programs or engagements while representing you. If your candidate seems to know a whole lot about social media but hasn’t bothered to do much research about your business or industry … that’s a deal breaker.

Deal breaker 4: Social media–speak. If social media isn’t your day-to-day work, you’re not going to necessarily know every last detail about the latest social network, nor will you be up on the slang and etiquette on every possible platform. In an interview with a potential social media lead, the candidate will probably use some terms you’re not familiar with. Obviously, you’ve got to talk about social media. And some words are used with good intent and for good reason; for example, influencer in and of itself is a decent catchall descriptor of someone whose opinion carries disproportionate weight. (It only becomes a problematic word when it’s overused or when it’s applied to oneself.) But beware the candidate who spends all her time talking about the importance of “authentically and transparently engaging your audience in the conversation” or who promises to develop a content strategy to create and deliver viral marketing or video without actually addressing your business, targets, and goals or setting tangible measurements for results. Simply put, an overreliance on jargon or buzzwords should be a red flag.

Don’t fall prey to someone who uses jargon or technical terms to obscure a lack of knowledge or business savvy. If the candidate can’t be clear and jargon-free with you during a job interview, how clear is she going to be when talking with the skeptics in your organization? If she can’t clearly articulate for you her vision for your program without jargon or frequent use of buzzwords … that’s a deal breaker.

Deal breaker 5: Does he have a catchphrase? This one’s simple, and related to deal breakers 1 and 4. If upon researching your candidate’s online public record, you discover frequent use of a catchphrase or slogan, your candidate is not only investing far too much time in promoting himself or his “brand” but also doing it via a gimmick—which not only is cheesy but also usually has an expiration date. Your social lead will be interacting with your customers online and should leave them with positive feelings about your brand. That’s not going to happen if banal catchphrases are dropped at the end of every post or tweet. If your candidate has a recurring phrase he uses for effect or to punctuate his posts, theories, or outlook on social media … deal breaker.

Deal breaker 6: Professional immaturity. Related to deal breakers 1, 4, and 5. In some circles in the social media world, it’s become vogue to refer to oneself as a social media “ninja,” “Jedi,” or “guru.” Supposedly, this is meant to convey not only levels of expertise and skill that exceed that of the average professional but also a superior grade of hipsterism and nonconformity. In reality, these self-granted titles scream immaturity and don’t have anything to do with the job you’re hiring for. (Unless you’re really looking for an actual assassin or intergalactic quasi-religious warrior, that is—in which case, the winning candidate likely won’t leave business cards.) Calling oneself a ninja, Jedi, guru, rock star, etc., reveals the candidate to be far more concerned with image than results, style over substance. No one who wishes to be taken seriously as a professional should use the same business title as a bunch of cartoon turtles with a fondness for pizza. And any business that wants its social media leader—and by extension its social media program—taken seriously both externally and internally will reject this kind of silliness. If the candidate refers to himself with cartoonishly self-aggrandizing titles … that’s a deal breaker.

Deal breaker 7: Bottom lines. As mentioned in Chapter 1, companies and big organizations don’t just get into social networks for the sake of “the conversation.” Sure, a company may use social media to improve customer service, extend the relationship with customers beyond their purchase, or promote products or services via conversations, relationships, and events. But at the end of the day, a company does social media for the same reason it does other kinds of marketing: to drive business.

A good social media program is designed around a company’s business goals and objectives, and a social media evangelist should understand those goals but also how to build a program and online presence around them. When evaluating a candidate for social media lead, look for tangible results that she has generated—signs that she knows how to deliver against a bottom line and contribute to someone else’s revenue growth, not just her own.

When you ask the candidate for her results, does she give you something concrete? A list of endorsements of her book or referrals from people who’ve heard her speak is not enough, unless those referrals and endorsements are accompanied by real results achieved for a client. Alternately, if you’re looking to promote somebody from the inside, you’ll want to look at the results she’s achieved for you rather than just picking an employee with a popular blog. Did she deliver against the objectives set out for her in your business environment? Has she shown an ability to work across multiple parts of the organization and build bridges rather than taken a scorched-earth approach to teamwork? Has she been rated highly more often than not in yearly reviews? Do the people who work with her most directly feel comfortable that she would represent the entire organization well in social networks? There’s a lot more to the job than just being able to write blog posts that draw in an active community.

You’re looking to turn the keys of your program over to this person, so you’d better make sure that she actually knows how to deliver the goods for someone other than herself. If book endorsements, speaking referrals, and Twitter followers are all you get when you ask for results … that’s a deal breaker.

If You Are Applying for a Social Media Leadership Position

When it comes to social media, there are two sides to the interviewing coin. A candidate for the job should also be on the lookout for warning signs. Companies and big organizations can screw up social media no matter how good the evangelist is, and there are several indications that the company or brand may not be “the One.”

Deal breaker 8: Lack of clarity in the organization as to authority for social. Who’s hiring you? Which department has determined that it can bring you on board? Do the rest of the functions inside the business recognize this department’s authority for social media? Or will you be brought on only to spend much of your time fighting turf wars with other departments that believe they have responsibility for social media or that might even go as far as hiring their own social media lead? Will your authority to lead social media be recognized inside the organization—leaving you free to focus on figuring out how to build your program or winning online initiatives?

You have to ask your prospective employers these questions during the interview process. You must be assured that you really are being brought in to build a program rather than to be one department’s foot forward in a jump ball for social media leadership. Winning in this space is hard enough without having to get bloodied before you get out the door. If the company or organization can’t tell you with certainty that you are the man (or woman) and that all divisions or functions in the company are on board with that … that’s a deal breaker.

Deal breaker 9: No clear champion for social media or for you. We’ve already discussed the importance of an executive champion, someone in senior leadership who will carry the ball for social media to her peers and who will mediate or settle any disputes. This isn’t just vital to the company’s social media success; it’s critical to yours as the social media evangelist. As social media continues to draw audiences and attention, there will be differences of opinion internally about its implementation. Some opportunities and ideas won’t have enough internal support to get off the ground. Even if everyone in the organization agrees at the outset that authority to lead social media efforts rests with you, there will eventually be challenges to that authority from inside, perhaps even by those who agreed to your authority at one point. And try as you might, you will make mistakes.

When these challenges arise, you’re going to need to know who’s got your back. Who will stand up among leadership and endorse what you’re doing? Who will help you fend off efforts to do social media the “wrong” way? Who will help you tin-cup for budget or other resources if you end up short, or otherwise support you when the going gets rough?

Of course, internal politics can shift, leaders move on, some fall out of favor, and even your most ardent supporter can withdraw that support if you repeatedly fail to justify it. Just because someone’s your champion at the interview doesn’t mean he’ll always be around to have your back. But there needs to be someone committed to you at the beginning. If no one in the organization is appointed or willing to be the one to have your back and advocate for you during the internal political battles that lie ahead … deal breaker.

Deal breaker 10: No commitment of resources. It’s worth repeating: the biggest myth about social media is that it’s free. Social media may have lower costs than traditional forms of marketing, promotion, or communications, but it’s definitely not free. Your program may involve bringing online influencers to your events, providing your product or services to online influencers for review, hosting contests, or sponsoring social media events—everything from smaller, local events like those put on by Social Fresh to one of the big social media gatherings like SXSW, BlogWorld, or BlogHer. You might want to explore partnerships or applications with emerging platforms or networks (a Gowalla or Foursquare badge, for example). You will also need monitoring tools such as Radian6 or Trucast (among others) in order to measure results, glean insight, and eventually justify your department’s existence. All of these things take money.

Even at the biggest organization or company, no director ever has “enough” money to do everything he wants. As a social media evangelist, you’ll need to make value judgments as to how to allocate your limited resources.

Still, the organization must make some sort of financial commitment to the program. You can’t be expected to pull results out of your hat through a handful of conversations online or a few good blog posts. Before you accept a position as social media lead at a large organization, try to get an idea of what you’ll have to work with. It’s much easier to keep your commitment to certain accomplishments if you have a sense of the limitations involved. How can you promise that your brand will have the most effective social media promotion at SXSW or that you’ll reach 500 environmental bloggers this year if you don’t have the resources to make it happen?

Resources aren’t all financial, either. The most important investment in social media success will always be time—yours, and if you’re fortunate, the time of others. Will you have a team helping you execute social media programs and initiatives? If a team doesn’t currently exist, is there a decent possibility of getting head count or approval to hire someone a little further down the line? Or will you be a one-person shop, making things happen for your employer solely through your own efforts? (That’s not a deal breaker in and of itself, by the way. Several of the more well-respected corporate social media programs are largely the work of one person. It just helps to have as full an understanding as possible of the environment you’ll be taking on.)

A potential employer should be able to give you at least an approximate answer on the anticipated budget and a candid reply on the staffing question. If the employer cannot give you a budget estimate or refuses to commit to providing resources for your program … deal breaker.

Deal breaker 11: Failure to understand the basic currency of social media. Engagement and interaction are the basic currency of social media. Two-way dialogue between organizations and people—both customers and potential customers—is expected by social network audiences. This interaction and engagement is what distinguishes “social media” from other channels or media. So it’s critical that the company have a grasp of this dynamic and a willingness to embrace it.

Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case. Sometimes, a company’s marketing or communications leadership still looks at social media as little more than a series of alternate channels in which to deploy traditional tactics. Producing content specifically for the social Web is a great idea—in fact, as we’ll see later, if you’re not doing it, you’re missing a huge opportunity—but it can’t be the whole of a social strategy. Placing commercials on YouTube or having a one-way Twitter account that just pushes links to your content without ever answering anyone back or letting the community control the conversation at times isn’t social media; it’s just placing digital assets into social networks.

Part of your role as a big brand’s social media evangelist will be to create or commission content that online audiences want to see and share. But if that’s all the company wants to do, it doesn’t recognize the full value or scope of social media. Great content is supported and enhanced through the conversations you have about it and the relationships built through those conversations. If the company wants you to simply push marketing or advertising content or PR messages into the social Web … deal breaker.

Deal breaker 12: Social media is pushed to the kids’ table. As we saw in Chapter 2, one of the most critical elements within a brand context is integration with the rest of the company’s marketing and communications efforts. Social media initiatives that happen independently of marketing campaigns, desired brand positioning, a brand’s target demographic, or company news and announcements are of limited value. They may generate some decent conversations and build a few solid relationships, but what good does that do the brand if the message the audience receives doesn’t represent what the brand is supposed to stand for?

Social media should be taken into account from the very beginning of campaign and announcement planning. The social media evangelist—or her delegates—must have a seat at the strategic table; she has to be in on the discussion as marketing and PR campaigns are conceived and planned. Building an entire campaign and then bringing in the social media tactics at the very end as an add-on or afterthought greatly reduces the effectiveness of social media in that campaign. In many cases, the social evangelist or team with knowledge about the plan from the beginning can devise or conceive ways to extend its reach and more effectively spread it across social networks. They might also be able to suggest online influencers who should be briefed on or included in the campaign or initiative. The social evangelist could also collaborate with the rest of the teams involved in the marketing or communications initiative to identify ways to make content being developed more social Web–friendly.

As someone directly interacting with the public on a daily basis, the social media strategist is attuned to what audiences will expect, appreciate, or reject from the brand. If a campaign or message is falling flat with an audience, he will likely be one of the very first people to hear about it. He might even be able to float a trial balloon in private with a few trusted influencers to gauge their reaction. Companies spend millions of dollars every year on focus groups designed to predict the impact of major marketing efforts; why not take advantage of the social media lead’s unique insight?

If the choice of evangelist is made wisely, he will have a strong marketing or communications mind-set and a good track record as a successful and smart marketer or communications professional. He’s earning his position—and he is going to be trusted with the brand’s reputation online—because he knows what he’s doing and has good instincts. Those talents warrant inclusion in strategic and confidential internal conversations.

The brands doing social media most effectively—in the automotive industry, the IT industry, and the airline industry, among others—all include their social evangelist in higher-level marketing and communications planning. Ask whether, if hired, you would be included in strategic discussions beyond social media and whether social media could be considered from the outset of communications or marketing campaign development. If the answer is no, you as that brand’s evangelist will nearly always be playing catch-up with the rest of the organization’s efforts; your ability to be as effective as possible will be hamstrung. If social media isn’t seen as a critical enough element of marketing and communications to afford the evangelist a seat at the strategic table … deal breaker.

In any successful marriage, there has to be a lot of common ground. Sure, there is room for individual needs, hobbies, and interests—but for the relationship to work long-term, there must be consensus more often than divergent views. The two parties need to see eye to eye on priorities and values, or there’s more likely to be a somewhat turbulent relationship in the future, and the odds of things working out decline significantly. Similarly, for a marriage between brand and social media evangelist to succeed, you need common ground—the brand and the individual have to see eye to eye on everything from the extent of the role the individual’s personality should play in the brand’s presence, to the authority of the individual to set direction in social media, to the amount of resources needed for success. Just like in a marriage, if there isn’t agreement from the outset about values and priorities, the relationship is likely doomed to a premature and unhappy end.

Of course, to determine whether the relationship is working, you first have to decide how you’ll define what success in social media looks like to both the brand and the evangelist. And once you’ve defined success, the next critical step is determining how you can measure your progress against that goal and establish whether you’re getting your money’s worth for your efforts.