Sometimes, no I take that back, A LOT of times I am just amazed at the work that comes from others. Either via the written word on a great blog, or an incredible viral video, or a killer ad or a killer presentation. In this case, I’m talking about David Griner of Luckie. I had the pleasure of meeting David in Birmingham, Alabama during the Social South conference. We didn’t talk long but nevertheless his skills were evident to me then and are certainly on parade in this deck titled, The Tipping Points of Social Media.
Tag Archives: David Griner
The Ideal Skillset for a New Hire for an Agency
I made a comment earlier to someone that it is really hard to find someone or people that have depth and breadth across the board. In fact this exact discussion took place at Social South late in the Summer by a pretty smart group of folks worth following on Twitter. The group included Scott Schablow, Tom Martin, Jason Falls, David Griner, Beth Harte and myself.
The question or challenges continues to present themselves to me and that is, trying to find someone with a blend of skill sets that can take on the challenges that this new marketing and communications world has presented us with.
What types of skills are needed? Here’s a quick list that I threw together, I know I’m missing some obvious ones, if so let me know.
- Understand the nuances of customer service and why the customer matters
- The ability to understand technology’s big picture as well as the small stuff
- PR skills-“the how tos”, “the whys”; and “the what fors”
- Soft listening skills
- The ability to write a blog post with tags, links and proper attributes
- Know how to comment on a blog and why
- Know how to post a blog post and where
- SEO skills-How to write for SEO
- How to write PR releases with SEO in mind
- An understanding of social media
- A deeper understanding of social media
- How to use Twitter and what the purpose of twitter is
- How to write an email-I know it sounds simple but…
- How to create an email blast and send it properly
- How to write a proposal
- How to monitor a brand across multiple channels
- An understanding of basic HTML. CSS would be nice
- The ability to use Photoshop to some degree
- The ability to use a MAC or a PC well.
- The ability to present in front of a group-speaking skills, remember them?
- The ability to create a PowerPoint presentation
- An understanding of UI-know what sucks and why
- The ability to manage your time effectively
- Know how to prioritize
- Know what web tools can make your job better and make us better
- Don’t be afraid to voice your opinion,it matters
- The ability to share and be selfless, it’s important
- The ability to learn quickly and absorb it
- The understanding that everything that you create digitally, now is this close to being consumed publicly.
- The ability to change direction on the fly
Though it would be nice to find the person that had half of the skills mentioned above or perhaps knowledge or understanding of 3/4 of them, I know that might be asking too much. If I can get someone who knew a few of them, that’s a start.
Does this seem like I’m asking too much of college graduates? I don’t think so. This is a new world where having expertise or a degree in one discipline just won’t cut it anymore. Our industry requires that you have knowledge in lots of areas. It almost demands it. The good news is that a lot of graduates and individuals are already armed with these skills. The bad news is, it might be changing tomorrow.
Why Social South Worked
Of all varieties of fopperies, the vanity of high birth is the greatest. True nobility is derived from virtue, not from birth. Title, indeed, may be purchased, but virtue is the only coin that makes the bargain valid.
– Robert Burton
Did you know I have a tattoo on my arm with the saying “Virtus sola nobilitas.” on it? It’s part of my family crest. As cool as that is, what’s more important is what the words mean. Essentially, it means that virtue is the only coin that makes the bargain valid.
Why do I bring this up? Because the words mean a lot to me. They resonate. I like people who carry themselves without pretentiousness. Especially when they so easily could. I think it’s an amazing quality to possess. Humility. Especially in today’s personal branding, all about me world.
At Social South I was amongst the most unpretentious, unassuming, group of high profile social media thought leaders assembled in one place at one time. Sure, I could have gone to a half dozen “larger” more visible cities and had just as many social media thought leaders assembled. And I have. But I would have gotten the attitude thing along with the assumptive title of social media thinker, high brow, I’m better than you, thing.
There would be none of this at Social South.
Beyond a list that included the incredibly down to earth Beth Harte, the humble Mack Collier, the classy Toby Bloomberg, the social media handyman Paul Chaney who has a book coming out, the incredibly smart Jason Falls, the genuine Christina Kerley, the effusive Kellye Crane, the solid Tom Martin, the refreshing An Bui, and of course the giving Lionel and talented Richard from Dell, There were a host of “other” people that deserve recognition in their own right.
From Andrew Keen, Dave Barger, Mitch Canter, Robert French, David Griner, Tammy Hart, to Dana Lewis, Andre Natta, Phyllis Neill, Will Scott, Jeff Vreeland, Stacey Hood and of course Ike Pigott all of them brought value, humility, a sense of community and a sense of “leave the ego at the door and lets learn from each other.” You don’t get that at 95% of the conferences that you attend. That’s why Social South worked.
Of course I would be remiss to not bring up 2 more people. The first is as finest an individual that I’ve met from practically meeting for the first time. This person essentially pulled Social South together and shaped it into the conference that it was and did it in a way that it was seamless and looked effortless. Scott Schablow you rock.
Esra’a Al Shafei
What can I say. This person gave one of the most riveting non-keynote keynotes I have ever heard. And it was via Skype. The night before Scott Schablow mentioned that every time he heard her speak, it gave him goose bumps. I had no idea what he was talking about. Yet, this was no exception. Not only did it give me and everyone else goose bumps, it also reduced more than half the audience to tears and the rest were giving her a standing ovation.
Esra is the founder and Executive Director of MideastYouth.com, and what she did was she showed the crowd gathered at Social South the true power of crowdsourcing people for the cause of freedom and human rights via social media, via video, via the internet and really any other means possible. She showed what’s possible. What is possible.
In short, it was the perfect keynote for a group of people who were so into what they were doing. People who were so genuine, that it made perfect sense for them. As I said, you don’t get that at other conferences. You hope to, but you generally don’t. And That’s why Social South worked. Thank you #Soso!
I could go on, but it might take days to highlite everything! But one more thing before I go, here is that tattoo and remember,”Virtus sola nobilitas.” 🙂
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