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Word of Mouth and Social Media Job Descriptions

The last few months at SocialMedia.org and WordofMouth.org have been amazing, but I need a break. While I’m on vacation this week, I’m sharing a few classic posts with you. This one is from way back in June of 2008:

A client asked me for a sample job description for a person to be in charge of their word of mouth efforts. I posted the request on Twitter and got great suggestions from the community, as usual.

The best one came from Todd Defren:

  1. A person who blogs or understands blogging and participates in social networks and online communities, has an understanding of web TV, podcasting, wikis and social bookmarking sites, and can translate that knowledge in to recommendations for the Company.  The experienced individual should understand the importance of ongoing monitoring and response speed in social networks. 
  2. A person who is comfortable teaching social media to others. (Some internal evangelizing will be required.)    
  3. A person who enjoys engaging in conversations, both on-line and off. 
  4. An excellent writer. 
  5. An independent thinker and task master. 
  6. An insistence on honesty, transparency and integrity. 
  7. A quick thinker and witty conversationalist/writer. 
  8. The ideal candidate should have a LinkedIn profile, a Twitter account, a Facebook page, and should have his or her own blog already. 
  9. The candidate would be expected to create a private Content Calendar so that s/he has material to talk about based on the Company’s announcement schedules.  Of course, s/he can blog about lighter topics along the way.  The candidate should have the authority to conduct written or video interviews w/ execs and/or the occasional guest blog post.  S/he should have companywide authority to track down anyone at any level to get answers that have been posed outside the Company. 
  10. The candidate should be focused on content creation,  but s/he will also work w/ the PR Team and PR Agency to develop overall communications strategies and rapid response plans. 
  11. Recommended reading: on Twitter, the candidate should start following @Comcast_cares, @RichardatDell, @Zappos, @JetBlue, and @Southwest.  The candidate should also subscribe via RSS to Jeremiah Owyang’s Web-Strategy blog as well as other PR and marketing-oriented blogs found in the AdAge Power150.

Other great examples:

Please add your links and ideas in the comments! 

(Thanks to Twitter friends @TDefren, @kenburbary, @JasonFalls, @coffeecupkat and everyone I forgot)

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