Yes, it’s true – in this case we’re hiring for our B2B group. And I know I’m supposed to say this, but I think we’ve created a pretty awesome place to work: SMG offers unlimited paid time off, stock option plan, performance and new business bonuses, quarterly staff events and weekly staff lunches, plus whatever other fun stuff we can squeeze in between. In exchange, all we ask is for total awesomeness.

Here’s the job description. If you are rock star awesome, we look forward to hearing from you. You can apply here.

Social Media Group: B2B Client Engagement Director: Summary of Duties

• Leads the day-to-day relationship, delivery and development of Social Media Group (SMG) accounts – with specific emphasis on the optimization of applied social media for organizations.
• Develops B2B client strategies and determines client objectives and defines programs and campaigns for social media marketing, digital communications, technology, measurement, monitoring and research.
• Creates client programs, and ensures quality control and effectiveness of programs from strategy through tactical execution and results reporting.
• Creates and fosters conditions for client and SMG success. Manages relationships with peers, colleagues, clients, vendors and partners. Supervises work of the account teams and ensures SMG process compliance as it relates to assigned accounts.
• Is a leader within SMG. Supports new business. Operates with minimal supervision, with latitude for independent judgment within the mandate defined. Meets internal milestones and client deadlines and ensures the delivery of quality work.
• Uses a deep understanding of social media that comes from active participation in online communities, blogs, presence applications, etc. combined with continuous exploration and learning about new developments to define and contribute to the development of innovative social media strategies and tactics for SMG clients.

Major Duties

• Leads the day-to-day relationship, delivery and development of Social Media Group B2B accounts.
• Leads client strategic planning projects within the defined SMG strategy process and structure.
• Prepares plans, campaign and concept materials for clients and prospects.
• Prepares budgets, and ensures project plans are set.
• Supervises and supports the tactical execution of account programs.
• Prepares and keeps current information about SMG clients and the evolving opportunities in applied social media.
• Represents the company at public functions and charitable events in a manner that reflects positively on SMG and SMG clients.
• Writes and edits client communications materials – presents materials to clients and works to build client understanding, buy-off and deepen relationships.
• Leads client communications as it relates to projects, builds client relationships and trust through consistent delivery of quality work.

Performs duties to support Social Media Group:

• Supports the ongoing development of Social Media Group as a leader in the social space
• Prepares reports for management including managing escalations and proactively identifying areas for team improvement
• Coordinates internal and external events and campaigns for Social Media Group
• Writes articles for the company blog
• Stays current on trends and development relevant to the Social Media Group practice groups and presents opportunities to management

Education

Bachelor’s degree and/or College Diploma in business, marketing, or communications.

Experience

Requires a minimum of seven to ten years of experience in communications and client relations in the broad area(s) of:

• Public Relations/Communications
• Marketing/Advertising
• Business Consulting

Requires previous client service work in social media marketing or equivalent applied expertise in social media for B2B clients, companies or organizations.

Skills

• Solid communications skills, both written and verbal
• Social personality and genuine love of relationship-building
• Excellent critical thinking skills
• Ability to work in diversified teams
• Self-starter with the ability to work with minimal supervision
• Ability to motivate a team
• Consensus building
• Client counsel and relationship-building
• A passionate interest in social media
• Relentless curiosity
• Comfort in a fast-paced environment
• PC/Mac and various software applications

You may or may not have heard about Empire Avenue, a social game modeled on the stock market. Basically, you set up a profile, connect it to your social channels, and the more you engage on the social web, the more “eaves” (currency) you earn. There’s a little more to it than that, but that’s the jist. It has also been described as a real-time way to measure digital influence (which is pretty interesting).

Of course loads of individuals jumped on board (myself included) to check it out. As one might expect, folks with significant social profiles (lots of channels, lots of followers, lots of content) quickly saw their share price rise and hey, buying shares in someone was a nice social gesture – a vote of confidence, if you will.

Monday I checked in after several weeks of not really engaging on the platform in quite a while. I started to notice something. Quite a number of brands had jumped on EA, some of them publicly traded companies – with actual, real stock prices. You know, the kind set by the real world – the kind that actually matter to people. In essence, those real-world valuations (the ones on which a penny or two loss on can translate into a decline of hundreds of millions of dollars in market capitalization) were tied to pretend stock prices being set by a bunch of social media geeks playing a game.

So that made me uncomfortable. I had a conversation with an industry colleague about it, and he said “Well, it’s hardly a very significant platform!” And this is true – no more than a few hundred people seem to be online at any given time. Not exactly facebook. But of course that begs the question, WHY ARE YOU THERE IF IT DOESN’T MATTER?

But I digress. Looking into my inbox, I came across something that turned discomfort into disbelief. I had a communication from one of the brands on Empire Avenue, explaining that while there had been a run on their stock price, they were firmly committed to turning thing around and delivering shareholder value!

I swear, I just about fell off my chair. “Who on Earth,” I wondered, “Would expose a publicly traded company to the risk of having a real share price compared to a fake one? Putting them in the position of having to message shareholders on why everything was ok – with their pretend share price?” (Nevermind the inevitable prayer, “Please-don’t-do-a-news-story-about-how-our-fake-share-price-plummeted-last-week!!”)

To me this is a governance and a commonsense (which we know is not all that common) issue. Just because it’s social doesn’t mean you get to ignore your responsibility to your real shareholders, exposing them to unnecessary risk. Deciding where, when and how your brand engages online is a strategic decision that should not be taken lightly.

Let me know if you think I’m making a mountain out of a molehill.

This debate, often (in my world) framed by anger and shock over the under-representation of women in technology, keeps popping up, like some sort of endless game of whack-a-mole.

A few years ago the pot was stirred by a speakers’ group who didn’t include a single woman on their roster of social media/tech thought leaders.

Last week, it was a startup incubator in Montreal that had 85 male members and not one woman listed as participants at launch.

I continue to be amazed at the “blissful ignorance” out there (that’s often how the resulting apologies are worded – the excuse that’s often given is that “women are hard to find” – here’s a helpful link for that one.) but honestly, I’m sick to death of the discussion. In fact, I think the discussion is all wrong, and if we want to get through the glass ceiling (or whatever you want to call this stubborn mindblock), I think it’s time to re-frame it.

The issue here is not boys vs. girls – it’s diversity. Study after study after study (and book after book, whitepaper after whitepaper) has shown that more diverse environments (that is, environments where there are not only really smart people, but really smart people with diverse backgrounds and viewpoints) are more innovative. Diverse environments get better results.

Logic would indicate that if you don’t think about all forms of diversity when you’re assembling your team/club/incubator/roster/advisory board, you are at a significant competitive disadvantage, especially in a space moving as fast as this one.

In other words: if you don’t think diversity is important, you are, frankly, an idiot.