Getting a job with social media is about relationships, not content

One of my primary points on this blog and to clients is that relationship building should be a primary tenant while entering into and building out social media communications. Social media and the tools used to operate in the landscape are a means to building relationships, but that is often forgotten.

Social media presents a platform to build relationships with clients, consumers, influencers, competitors, recruits and more. The preamble to developing relationships is content. The content has to draw people in, but ultimately content won't deliver on new business or new partnerships.

There is a common phrase in the communications world, "content is king." I respectfully disagree with that adage no matter how entrenched it is in our industries mindset. Content is clearly important, but relationships are much more important. The time it takes to produce an abundance of content can be better spent developing meaningful relationships with people attracted to slightly more sparse content.

I know this to be true with brands and businesses, but it might be even more true when marketing oneself on the job market. Content alone may initially attract a would be employer, but he or she won't stick around long if their isn't a line of communication opened and harvested. Experts say that over 75% of jobs are filled when the employer has a personal connection of some kind to the applicant. Social media can be your tool to developing that personal connection, but content won't do it for you. A relationship has to be built in order for you to leave a lasting, meaningful impression on a person.

This means you have to cultivate conversations, reply to comments on a post, respond to @replies on Twitter, send a message back to people on LinkedIn or whatever other platform you use.

In the ever-growing world of social media, the way to get noticed will increasingly be going above and beyond in building relationships. It will be an exception to the rule when a person is noticed and benefits greatly just from their content.

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What it takes to get a job in social media

I don't purport to know what every company is looking for in a social media, emerging media or new media expert, but I do know what I am looking for when evaluating resumes that arrive on my desk.

Obviously knowledge of the tools and platforms is important. Since tools like Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Ning, Vimeo, discussion boards, blogs and all the rest will be central to the work, having a base of knowledge makes a candidate much more appealing. In addition, knowing things like how to analyze the analytics of a blog, evaluate the content value for a Facebook fan page, create a Ning group, review keyword conversions and more would set a candidate apart from others who know the very basics of online media.

Even more important to the job than knowledge of the tools is an understanding of people, relationships and market tendencies. There is a real aspect of social sciences to new media that needs to be applied with every decision. Demonstrating a comprehension of market and individual behavior on social media platforms puts a candidate on a pedstal for me.

In my mind, this understanding of social nature and new media culture is much harder to learn than the functional side of the tools and is therefore more valued.

Ultimately, when I'm sifting through resumes and cover letters I'm looking a basic understanding of new media tools, but I'm really looking for experience that tells me that candidate can develop relationships with online influencers, understand what drives a response and predict the outcome of a campaign or specific message.

There are obviously a number of other factors like adding to the office culture, work habits, ability to communicate effectively, writing skills, analytical mind and more. These are very important variables to finding the right candidate, but the quality of work that can be produced is usually the first thing I think about.

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