It seems like many job candidates today want to work on only social media. I can understand the excitement and the desire. It’s the cutting edge, and makes them highly valuable to their next employer.
At the same time marketing and PR pros who becomes specialists limit themselves to tactics. All current marketing execs started as experts in tactical execution, such as media relations, web site development, advertising, etc.
But to break out of that role and excel in a career path, sooner or later strategic approaches to marketing communications became necessary. Great executives are strategists.
Strategists possess a core understanding of value propositions, stakeholder needs, and corporate/organization objectives. They comprehend marketing’s role in the larger organization, how it supports sales, attracts talent, and builds investor value. Executives understand how a brand works and motivates constituents, and that outreach mechanisms are just tactical means to achieve those corporate objectives. True executives understand the big picture.
Managers get the nuances of tactics. That’s why they work for the strategist, they are the elements of basic blocking and tackling. Together as teams, strategists and tacticians achieve results.
Social media consultants ultimately will become tactical role players. Right now there’s great demand, but in 3-5 years social media will be integrated into most marketing departments and the community manager will be just like the analyst relations person: A tactical line manager.
For some folks, social media is the end all, be all of professional life. That’s cool. I respect that. But if career advancement is the objective, people should focus on strategic marketing and PR, not just tactical execution.
Makes a lot of sense.
Geoff,
Well stated…
Chris
http://www.mobilediner.com/
Geoff:
Great reminder. It hit me last week that on many (too many) PR and marketing blogs I read, I saw the author as a “social media consultant.”
While specialists will always have a role and be needed (depending on the situation), very few companies work in market where you can be that specific.
Offline. Online. Direct Mail. Advertising. Media Relations. Video Production. SEM. All are valuable, but should be chosen to solve particular need(s) of the business, based on the strategic plan. (Granted, far too many businesses don’t invest in the planning part.)
Take care,
Mike
Geoff – Toss of that pink boa to you Geoff. Social media/web 2.0 can be a valuable tool/s. The challenge for many agencies is not to relegate smm to the most junior account managers who have little experience in understanding how the pieces integrate and support a master strategy.
Nice post…I agree. We all, for the most part, start in some tactical bucket and gradually climb out and increasingly engage at the strategic level. I think it’s a mistake to focus solely on a specific tactic for too long without coming up for air and getting involved in the bigger picture (strategy, other tactics). It does make sense, however, that many have been diving in and focusing so much on social media, since its so new and nascent. But come up for air and don’t pigeonhole yourself is very sound advice.
Great article Geoff and Toby has a good point.
Mike: Absolutely. As you say tactics must “solve particular need(s) of the business, based on the strategic plan.”
Toby: Yes, you are right. Don’t give me the intern!
Andrew: Totally agree. I’d advise becoming a master tactician before approaching strategy from a holistic standpoint.
I’d also recommend becoming a bit of a general practitioner. For example, I’m not going to a creative director this lifetime, but I have more than rudimentary knowledge on advertising. It’s necessary to build marketing plans.
Hi Geoff, Agreed. It’s not about forcing social media tools into a business just because they exist; it’s about using them at the right moment with the right project.
Really great post Geoff. I differ a bit on the approach of what always comes first as it has developed in the comments, but the post itself is spot on.
When I teach, I like to provide an understanding of strategic thinking behind something and then guide them toward applying it in a tactical format so they see the connection from both perspectives. But that is the luxury of teaching. In the field, sometimes there is no time to do that. When there is time though, giving a tactician the bigger picture sometimes improves tactical proficiency because it makes more sense in context.
Best,
Rich
Very well stated.
I absolutely agree with you when you say the growing graph doesn’t end at tactical execution :)
Excellent post. I agree that social media’s role in marketing will change over the next few years. And demand for specialists in this area will likely diminish. If you haven’t gotten experience in other areas of marketing, you may be hurting when social media gets adopted as a mainstream tactic.
Geoff and friends,
Any suggestions for a book that is a good introductory book for someone who want to start developing their strategic marketing communications muscles?
Thanks!
I would go with Al Ries on Positioning and the Origin of Brands. Ogilvy on Advertising is another good book.
Some of the things that social media specialists get paid well to do today will be the job of the intern in 5-10 years. It pays to know what business you are in and to keep progressively developing both your skill set and your proficiency as a strategist. As for me, I am in the business of relationship devlopment.