Larger groups are devoting teams of employees to digital engagement; smaller organizations beginning to employ dedicated staff

Shields

A year ago, the $157 million-revenue National Association of Realtors had one person dedicated to social media. When he left, NAR replaced him with two director-level staffers—each with eight years' experience as a Realtor.

"We learned from the first hire it was too much to expect one person to lead our interactions with the industry as a whole and also teach the rest of our staff how to engage in social media and be available to them across two cities," NAR Senior Vice President of Communications Pamela Geurds Kabati told CEO Update. (The 421-staff NAR is based in Chicago but has an office in Washington, D.C. Kabati is based in Washington.)

NAR hired Director of Social Business Practice Heather Elias to lead social media efforts internally—working with departments to get their messages out—and Director of Digital Engagement Nobu Hata to focus on members, such as showing Realtors how to use social media to their benefit, Kabati said.

Elias, with roots in Virginia, works in the Washington office while Hata—who sold real estate in Minneapolis-St. Paul—is in Chicago.

NAR now has 42 Facebook pages and 25 Twitter accounts, all representing different communities of interest.

NAR's efforts have been successful by the numbers. The association now has 430,000 Facebook friends, up 28 percent from a year ago, and 323,000 Twitter followers, up 66 percent from a year earlier, Kabati said.

NAR is not alone among big groups, said Lindy Dreyer, strategist at ICF Ironworks and a founder of association blog SocialFish. Dreyer is a consultant who advises associations such as NAR on hiring social media staff and setting up programs.

"In larger associations, there is enough work to have at least one and probably more dedicated to social media," she said. "You can even start seeing specialization—you might have someone in PR dedicated to monitoring and responding, someone in customer service and someone doing digital marketing."

Taking the plunge

Many smaller and mid-sized groups are just beginning to hire employees dedicated to social media.

The National Business Officers Association—a professional group of CFOs at day, boarding and prep schools—just hired Melissa Zinder as manager of social media and online initiatives, CEO Jeff Shields said. She started July 8.

Shields said NBOA is a rapidly growing $3.5 million-revenue organization and that Zinder will be its 11th full-time employee.

Zinder earned a bachelor's degree in politics from the University of Virginia in 2010 and a master's in political management in 2012 from The George Washington University, according to her website.

Previously, the association's social media efforts were split among three staffers who all had other responsibilities.

"It was a very ad hoc approach and I don't think the individual parts added up to a whole lot. It really didn't seem to be gaining traction. It was never on anyone's top of mind.

"One person needs to wake up every day and be managing these multiple channels and working with staff on what strategically needs to go out there," Shields said.

Keeping up with the latest

Katie McBreen, vice president of communications and public affairs at the $36 million-revenue National Retail Federation, agrees.

NRF hired Tony Fontana, a 2009 James Madison University graduate, in February last year. Last February, he was promoted to manager of online communications.

"Having a dedicated resource enables us not only to keep up with our different audiences but with the latest technologies," McBreen said.

NRF previously had a mid-level and junior staffer working on social media, but they had other duties as well, she said.

Still, the social media effort is not a one-person job.

"Anyone in communications has to have an understanding of social media and while we do have a dedicated resource, he works throughout the building and with the communications division—there are a lot of folks involved in what sorts of things we should be pushing out to our social media channels," she said.

NRF's Twitter followers and LinkedIn group members have each more than tripled in the past year, while Facebook "likes" have more than doubled.

Not just for the young

While many social media coordinator jobs are entry level and therefore filled by a younger person, the experience of NAR's Elias, 40, and Hata, 35, shows that social media is not just a junior staffer's game.

"There are cases where you're looking for a community manager, someone who can interact person-to-person in social spaces, when you might need someone with enough expertise to be able to hold a conversation," Dreyer said.

Dreyer and NRF's McBreen said essential qualities of social media managers regardless of age are curiosity and a knack for being early-adopters.

"Look for someone who's engaged and interested and curious about the social media world, because it's constantly changing. If they don't have that curiosity you're not going to be able to keep up," McBreen said.

"I also think you need someone who's strategic about what works for your organization," she said. "You can't be distracted by bright shiny objects that are cool and new [like new social media platforms] but might not resonate with your audiences."