IBM Looking To Hire Social Media Marketing Manager

It's interesting to see, and I'd be curious as to how they're doing, as IBM posts a job for a social media marketing expert to join their software group. There was a time when working for IBM was the name to have on your resume.  Lots of technical people make sure you know they worked there even today.

It's an interesting job description, and one that probably lists the correct criteria, although it's disappointing to see requests for journalism/media studies backgrounds.  No offense, well, some offense to journalism studies, but it's not exactly going to prepare you for a career in marketing. It's more likely to hamper you with bad data.

Still, the job is posted for Oklahoma City, but listed in Kansas City, and it says you can work anywhere.  That's the cool thing about IBM - you can work anywhere.  Even with a kid and a successful business, it  is still tempting.

Job description below the fold.  Apply here.

If you're IBM and you're reading this, I highly suggest you contact Jim Durbin, the SocialMediaHeadhunter. It's not likely that you'll get the right people to apply for a job as a social media marketing manager through your system

Social Media Marketing Manager
Act as the leader and catalyst in moving SWG marketing into online and social media

Serve as SWG's lead strategist and evangelist on social media, responsible for articulating social media plans across SWG and helping lead their implementation

Set targets and timelines for social media programs and key initiatives

Develop a set of best practices and devise recommended rules of engagement and use the social media and evangelization/education opportunities to share best practices and knowledge, helping to build social media capability worldwide

Lead efforts to devise system of measurements and key metrics to understand SWG effectiveness in terms of social media penetration and impact of social media SWG reputation and perceptions of leadership and relevance

Deploy social media in support of both SWG product, brand, and marketing programs

The candidate should the following qualifications:

Deep experience in online and social media thought leadership

Strong understanding of social media in relation to the broader media mix; understanding of the interplay between online/social media and traditional media

Knowledge of agency and consultant resources in social media that add highest value to large corporations

Understanding of industry best practices, especially as they relate to social media at large corporations

Proven ability to be a change agent in a large, complex organization

Deep knowledge of social media tools, including Technorati, social bookmarking, tagging, dynamics of XML and blog publishing

Ability to counsel senior executives and marketing leaders on effective use of social media

Proven ability to work with PR and or marketing agencies

Strong understanding of Web design, applications, navigation, Web 2.0

Strong knowledge of user-generated content, Web video and viral marketing on the Web

Experience working with corporations or corporate clients who deploy social media

Proven ability to act as a leader and mentor of other people

Required

• Bachelor's Degree
• At least 4 years experience in Marketing
• Readyness to travel Up to 25%; travelling 2 days a week, home on weekends
• English: Fluent

Preferred

• Advertising/Journalism/Media Studies
• At least 2 years experience in Social Media Marketing and Consulting
• At least 1 year experience in Web 2.0 technologies
• At least 2 years experience in International Business exposure

Additional information
Our software marketing team is driving a transformation from traditional marketing to online social media marketing that represents innovative software makers. We 're always on the lookout for people who want to work for the-biggest-software-company-you-didn't-even-know-was-a-software-company.
IBM software group supports all our brands working together to meet all our customers' needs. IBM is looking for the next great hire.

Comments

[Albert Maruggi]

Jim how are you? I'd like to comment on the blog post specifically this section in quotes below.

"It's an interesting job description, and one that probably lists the correct criteria, although it's disappointing to see requests for journalism/media studies backgrounds. No offense, well, some offense to journalism studies, but it's not exactly going to prepare you for a career in marketing. It's more likely to hamper you with bad data."

I disagree with your point about journalism/media studies. I believe journalism at its core is a great background for social media. Journalism is about telling a story, not selling. Getting the facts and reporting them.

Marketing at its core, aside from excellent research and analytical skills, is about selling. Its about recurring revenue and profit margins and perhaps even how to "lock-in" the customer base. Social media is the antithesis of that paradigm.

I'd rather have a person who is a story teller first that needs to understand the business. Than a business person who has to understand the nature of social media.

Somewhat of a surprise here is that the job is posted at all, however, I suspect that has to do more with regulations than anything else. I bet a blog post and a few tweets, and a couple of mentions on social media sites like Jobs in Social Media on Ning is all IBM would need to get the cream of the crop.

all the best,