Convincing a company they need a social media manager

I would venture to say if you do not know the answer to this, then you should probably not attempt to sell a position you know nothing about.

I am not trying to convince a car company they need a DJ playing music in the car lot to boost sales, if I know nothing about DJ'ing.

HOWEVER:

If you want to show them how it can benefit them, you can show them numbers / trends / case studies of other companies that have used social media to increase their brand & sales. Explain the viral nature of social media.

I've created jobs for myself several times. What I did was get a copy of Think And Grow Rich, and make the "brief" it talks about. Then I gave that to the decision maker and let them do the rest. It works fast, if you have the right Whys in there.

Last time I did this was in 2000/01. Today, you might make the content on a personal website. However, there is something neat about having a booklet printed up at your local UPS Store or similar, that you can hold in your hands. Pick some nice paper and get it bound...probably cost you around $8.

The funniest one was approaching a company that I liked, without knowing who the Director of Manufacturing was, and dropping off my brief because he wasn't in. Next day he called, interviewed & hired. My total out of work time for that period was less than a week. And the money they offered me was exactly the same amount I'd been making at my previous job--without us ever discussing it. Now you tell me you don't get what you think you're worth!

Katied, make sure you have numbers in your proposal. Don't rely on pretty pictures. If it's an online one, try to build in some kind of interaction rather that just having static pages to read and a video.

If I wanted to create a position for myself as a social media manager this is what I'd probably do.

First: Register your name as a domain and put up your plan.

Research the company you want to work for a little bit and get the names of the top decision makers.

Find their profiles on Facebook by searching their names and even company name. Once you find them look at their the interests.

Create an ad with their names and make sure to only target the city an no other place and include their interests to ensure when they get on Facebook they have a chance to see the ad.

In the ad say something like. Hey name...I want to work for your company because you need a social media manager to help you send you're message to potential and existing clients. Learn more about why you should hire me here. Link to you're site.

Create an ad for each person whom you get a name for.

Make sure to explain on your site that you've partially demonstrated a simple method of created social buzz because they are now probably talking amongst themselves about who the heck you are! = )

Give it a spin! Its different and unique and much different then the norm.

Good grief Rus, that is GENIUS!!!!

[Edit] You have just given me a great idea. I wonder if this would work with a local offline company that I want to approach to redo their website. Something along the lines of "Hey Steve, your new business website (Company name) is ready for you - Click here to see it". When they click they are taken to their mockup site with my contact details clearly available. Going to give this some thought to see if it's viable.