Senior Manager Social Media Marketing at Webtrends
A couple of weeks ago I shared that I wanted to work directly with a local company. Since then many people have been asking me about my next steps. I am pleased to share today that I will be starting June 9th as Senior Manager Social Media Marketing at Webtrends. In that role, I will be working on the following:
- Developing a baseline program – Specify a structured program built on proven social media strategies, like blogging, that will deliver measurable value. Program definition includes infrastructure, business processes, and staff training.
- Campaign support – Assist the rest of the marketing team to support campaigns using the baseline program. Develop strategies to support camapaigns outside of the baseline program using knowledge and experience gained through R&D.
- Research and Development – Systematic evaluation of new tools, services, and networks to vet new strategies for application in the baseline program, campaigns, and further R&D.
- Subject Matter Expert – Assist management with the development of policies, tools, materials, and training for the global organization. Provide Subject Matter Expert support to consulting services, engineering, and product teams on social media mechanics.
We discussed the job description and title for quite a bit before selecting Senior Manager Social Media Marketing. At the end of the day, I work for the marketing department so my success is measured in terms of branding and lead generation. I was reluctant to use Social Media Marketing because there are so many people out there giving that title a bad name. It’s got a bit of a smarmy reputation for overly aggressive sales tactics and Big Brother style stalking of customers. We considered the title Community Manager, but that role is really about caring for a community owned by the company, such as a developer’s forum or a support community. So, we decided to call a spade a spade because trying to call the position anything else felt like an attempt to skirt around the negative connotations.
Social media marketing is in it’s infancy and struggling with reputation problems akin to the early days of email marketing and direct marketing before that. My goal is to help bring respect to the title by demonstrating that companies and customers can have a harmonious interaction through social media that helps both parties happily exchange value (fair money for desired products/services). My lofty goal is to show that social media is currently the best venue to achieve and scale truly consensual value exchanges. My experience tells me that informed consent is the most sustainable business model. I believe that consensual value exchange is the result of good communication and that it provides the optimal outcome for both parties.
I’m super excited to take on this challenge along side an energized Webtrends team. Wish us luck! 
