Monkeys can do this
PR agency Porter Novelli’s derailed Twitter competition to find a member of staff makes the whole industry look bad because it legitimises the view that anyone can develop a social media strategy, argues Sputnik’s Eaon Pritchard.
The cliche of “social media strategy” being the domain of the hapless intern is a cliche for the simple reason that it is still very common. And my guess is that this was behind the #SocialCV kerfuffle this week around PR agency Porter Novelli.
The agency ran a ‘job ad’ via Twitter, in order to hire an account director. Applicants had to tweet their ‘application’ as a cute one-liner and tag it #socialcv. Predictably the hashtag got hijacked and turned into a joke.
I agree with most of this Eaon, but to be fair, the position on offer was a far more junior account executive role, not account director.
Just to clarify, the search has always been for a graduate/account executive – not an account director.
This is important because we are looking for someone who shows potential, who we can train and develop – they wouldn’t “manage a client’s business” from day one.
And the top three candidates will be called in for an interview.
Just in case you missed it too, here it is: http://www.porternovelli.com.a.....log/?p=733
Eaon, you have a new fan.
Bang on.
The commentary surrounding this folly has been focused, wrongly, on the troll/pre-emptive strike execution of the campaign.
The strategy at its heart is what’s clearly flawed. Client’s of PN will no doubt be reeling at the thought they may just be landed with a suit who’s suitability to advise their business was judged by their ability to, in effect, use twitter.
Now, I’m really fuc*ing good at passively engaging with tv, you should see me, flat-out on the couch with all manner of food stuffs around me and a phone in hand to make any instant purchases an ad tells me to, so I guess I should give my job the ass and start applying for MD roles.
bob is a rabbit – the amount of grammar mistakes in your comment make you look undereducated. I hope you’re not an aspiring communications professional!
There’s a flaw in the original article: “…continue to have any credibility in business…”
Social media is yet to establish any credibility in business. Coke, Unilver and General Motors are already pulling back their ‘investment’ and the people that count when it comes to budgets – shareholders and CEOs – are yet to believe.
@Skylo – ‘makes’
My biggest issue with this whole campaign is that once it was realised as a minor failure, PN came out saying it was ‘all part of the plan’.
I found this lame and would have preferred to see them come out and admit that it went in a different direction to what was expected, but didn’t really do any brand damage.
Eaon, you’re very naive if you honestly believe that ‘children were left in charge’ here, the original idea would have been conjured up by ‘some grown-ups at Porter Novelli’ who had to ‘intervene and save some face’ because it was their idea in the first place.
Wholeheartedly agree, Eaon! It’s something I’ve been fighting against for a long time.
@Ted – ‘social media’ has definitely established it’s credibility. Look at the investment and return companies like Dell and Zappos are getting, and Ford attributed 6% increase in sales to social media. IMHO ‘social media’ is just an evolution of the web, so saying it doesn’t work is like saying the internet doesn’t work and nobody should bother with it.
BAD social media, like any business endeavour not well-executed, certainly won’t yield results and will continue to hamper the efforts and the credibility of those doing it well. And I don’t blame companies who are pulling back if their main efforts have been throwing money at advertising to build massive ‘LIKE’-bases on Facebook, there’s a lot more to social media and online community than that, a smaller investment on the right strategies and tactics will garner better results.
@Skylo, “amount” is volumetric. I think the correct word would be “number”.
everyone is taking this WAY too seriously.
to think that an idea for interns to apply for a position via a tweet has a far reaching impact on the general public’s perception of the advertising/marketing industry is delusional.
if you’re really worried about people undervaluing what you do, then perhaps you should stop picking someone else’s work apart for self exposure and try doing something of your own that proves the worth of what you do.
disclaimer – i have nothing to do with PN
@skylo – I done good for a rabbit.
Oh FFS Julie.
Ford increased sale sby 6% last year. They used social media as part of their marketing mix.
Therefore social media increased sales by 6%. RIght?
A rebounding US economy had NOTHING to do with it.
All hail the power of twitter…..
What this incident proved is that social media is creating a bland, humourless society where earnestness is a currency and pretentious corporate head shots is the goal.
Social media IS done by monkeys. Profitable marketing isn’t.
@ellymc @Povel ok account exec it is.
@lucio @bob @julie cheers
@ted yep. See also Sturgeon’s revelation.
@janelle those were metaphors
@sean I’m inferring the particular from the general not the other way round.
I’m not sure if using a Mad Men episode to justify standards of practice is really credible. We are talking about a Porter Novelli job, are we not? Their goal was to gain awareness of a position. Goal completed.
I’m so surprised at how seriously #socialcv was taken. I think everyone is missing the point. All it is is a challenging and creative way for young graduates to get the attention of a large PR agency with the potential to gain an interview. It doesn’t reflect badly on the industry at all, it reflects the times we are in. Almost, if not all employers are looking at their potential employees on social media; why not cut to the chase and use social media as an employment tool. I think people are angry about this simply because it is a novel way to find potential employees and no one likes change, but I believe that this way of finding employees will become more apparent as time goes on. Also, the idea of pitching yourself in 140 characters or less is practicing the basics of public relations; it’s creative, conscise and designed to attract engagement.
Love them mad men analogy – in a sad way:
just to be clarify PN it was for an Account Executive or Senior Account Executive and they would most definitely be handling clients’ account for their $50 – 80K
PN – you say in your post of 11.16 ‘just to clarify – the search has always been for a graduate/account executive – not an account director’
maybe you need someone who can check the facts before you post
Here’s a thought, which also highlights certain double standards. Remember back when Kellogg’s placed their faith in twitter to look for a new PR agency. https://staging.mumbrella.com.au/kellog…..orry-48232
People back then said this was genius. Let me guess – the real reason why the ‘trolls’ or ‘social media elite’ didnt bag this is because they wouldn’t dare offend a Marketing Director who could be a potential client one day.
Now the shoe is on the other foot, it’s a different story. I still think this was a good way for PN to get potential candidates to showcase their social media prowess. I also loved reading some of the humorous replies that helped the hashtag go viral. Some!
Unfortunately some people in the industry then went on to question their social media qualifications. Some were actually very nasty. Businesses work very hard to establish reputations and maybe we should all be more mindful before putting down an entire company due to one campaign. Just my thoughts. And just so you know, I don’t work for PN – I actually work at a different agency.
Agree wholeheardely with Ruby. I thought it was a good idea. It’s actually a challenge coming up with an engaging tweet, good enough to capture attention, and Porter Novelli was then going to interview the applicants. Clearly, they wouldn’t hire on the basis of one tweet – now that would be stupid. I’d love to hear the tweets all the ‘baggers’ of this idea would have come up with! But more to the point, if Porter Novelli wants to run with this idea, that’s their business – I’m getting a bit over the communications industry being so nasty all the time, bagging each other’s ideas out constantly.
The fact that a quote from Mad Men was used to make a point in this context is a joke unto itself. And the quote chosen shows how elevated some people in the ‘industry’ consider themselves to be. Giving air to this and dumping on the industry about another social media ‘disaster’ like a vulture waiting for fresh meat is such a waste of time. Some perspective wouldn’t go astray
It think Porter Novelli are confused about what they were trying to achieve – they came out yesterday saying it was a ‘succesful brand campaign’ – (and if so, what does it say about their ‘brand??). Now they are saying it’s a legitimate search for a candidate. Whatever the case it’s just another PR firm devaluing their ‘profession’ with a silly stunt.
@observer if you’re in the advertising business you should know the importance of perceived value.
Oh, and if one has to explain their ‘metaphors’ and what they are trying say to readers, then perhaps one shouldn’t be writing op eds. It makes it look like any monkey can do it.
Has anyone used a ‘social media strategy’ to create a successful brand?
Well said, Eaon.
A rising tide floats all boats – and unfortunately a large portion of the rising budgets in areas of social media and digital are being “spent” by n00bs on online gimmickry, rather than being “invested” to drive profitable business outcomes.
More good people are needed in this industry; people who realise the channels are secondary – that the key to success in marketing and communications is still all about getting more people to remember your brand more often in more places and making it easier for them to buy it at their point of need.
Anything else is simply falling in love with the channel, eg: Twitter, over the reality of falling in love with the business objective. Also known as industry navel gazing by amateurs. To a man with a hammer, every problem looks like a nail; and there are a lot of people hammering away on Twitter, wasting their clients money in this industry currently.
And my view?
Social media is a wonderful customer service channel
On a similar level with email / direct as a brand driver
Excellent as a pure distribution mechanism, eg: YouTube (which isn’t really a social media channel, purely the world’s best video distribution platform)
A good way (in a wider mix of quant and qual) of understanding perceptions
No offense Eaon but if you’re in the advertising business you should know the importance of attention to detail, proof reading etc. Don’t you teach that to all your executive/directors?
Director Vs executive is a pretty big difference. Like investing 10K vs 10c. I see the sentence has changed to “member of staff”.. so maybe now you can inspire us by singing the praises of online vs print journalism. Because you can at least try to correct your mistakes online, even if you can’t hide them. There has to be some ironic comment about how PN at least saved face, instead of panicking and changing /deleting, while someone willing to criticise their approach decided to hide his error.
Personally I thought the idea wasn’t bad. It was always bound to get some cinical responses… trolls also engage in a bit of effort reduction framework here and there.
@dan not guilty. I didn’t write the intro.
No offense Dan but it’s ‘cynical’ not ”cinical’. It’s all about attention to detail and proof reading, isn’t it 🙂
“the key to success in marketing and communications is still all about getting more people to remember your brand more often in more places.”
like on Twitter for example?
Nice one Eaon. Well said.
“the key to success in marketing and communications is still all about getting more people to remember your brand more often in more places.”
Yes, but it’s an associated memory.
So.
Brand X employs people who know how to type a joke into Twitter.
@ermmm – love it.
My great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great grandparents were monkeys
Chill out everyone. Who would you rather employ? A boring, unenthusiastic junior burger who thinks the world owes them a living OR someone who shows some initiative, crafts a twitter response to a recruitment campaign and performs with intelligence in interviews.