On the social media front, I’m excited to welcome David Finch to the team. A friend and fellow Social Media Club Louisville board member, David is an established blogger and thinker in the social media space, has a sharp mind and an astute business sense and happens to be pretty darn good at driving traffic to websites, too.

And from the development side of things, Seth King joins Doe as a web developer. He’s tremendously talented, has a nice blend of application work to go with an outstanding web design portfolio and even has some traditional design and creative experience that will come in handy as we try to forge a stronger relationship with our agency creatives.

I’m sure you’ll see David here as he’ll join the SME staff as a contributor along with Kat French. Seth may very well make a guest appearance as well. Certainly his work will on the occasion we launch and share some of our craftsmanship.

I’ve had several people ask me what Doe Interactive is going to do differently and, while I’ve been lost in the weeds serving as director, project manager and social media dude for the last month and haven’t had time or opportunity to formulate some formal plans, I’d answer by saying that we’ll do a lot differently. From the way the department is managed to the outcomes we expect of ourselves, I intend to try things that haven’t been done at an advertising agency. Below are some thought starters on what I want our philosophy, actions and outcomes to be. I’d love your input, opinions and thoughts on them as well.

What I hope for Doe Interactive:

• We build content-centric websites that engage audiences and drive them to the client’s intended outcome.
• We balance form and function in a way that produces both utility and beauty.
• We get out of the habit of building websites and into the habit of creating ongoing elements of the greater consumer experience.
• We bring search to bear fruits for all of our clients.
• We innovate, for our clients, for our agency and for our audiences.
• We are driven by results, excited by opportunities and enthused by collaboration with each other.

I’ve told my staff, which also numbers Kat, Jen Isaac and Jeff Hennis and will soon also include a project manager, that I am not the boss nor am I the coach. I’m the quarterback. We’re all on this field together and we all have roles to play. Everyone’s contribution is an equal part of our success, every opinion counts and the only bad ideas are the ones you don’t share.

Perhaps I’m being idealistic about it all. Perhaps we’ll get six months into this thing and the bottom line will prove I should give up the management part and go back to my full-time social media role. But with the team I’ve started to build, I have a hard time thinking we’ll be anything but successful.

Welcome David and Seth. Here we go.

The post Reinventing Doe Interactive appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

If you look back at that job posting, you’ll see I was looking for someone with a strong social media marketing background, even though the field is still in its infancy. The offering produced 25-30 legitimate inquiries, about 20 of which officially applied for the job, in as much as saying, “I’d like to be considered,” to me made it official. Of those, I had idyllic notions of picking three candidates to interview then selecting one. We had such a strong array of candidates, I could only narrow it down to seven. Eventually, and after phone conversations, discussions and many days of me pacing around the office with a scowl on my face, we picked three and interviewed them. Ultimately, however, one young lady stood out as the person we were looking for.

Next week, Kat French will begin the unenviable task of working for me. I actually think of more as us working together. Kat brings a diverse background in social media to the table. Her background includes a heavy dose of blogging, copywriting and other content production, including podcasting, a fair amount of community management, a good degree of search marketing and SEO experience. (I’m questioning her ability to take self-portraits in focus, but am obviously not hung up on it.) What impressed us the most is her brand experience and focus on the client’s audience and objectives first.

She’s spent the last two years at LeapFrog Interactive here in Louisville, a shop all of us here at Doe have a great deal of respect for. I’m thrilled she’s joining us and can’t wait to hit the ground running with someone to tackle the world with. I’m especially excited about the part where someone says, “Calm down, Jason. Don’t post that or Tweet that. You’ll kick yourself later if you do.” No, “Voice of Reason,” wasn’t on the listing of job requirements. It should have been understood.

Kat’s off-hours efforts include a personal blog, That Darn Kat. Her other blog (the gal can kick the content) is on hiatus but is called Internet Bard. She also did a pretty kick-ass interview with SEO ROI not too long ago you can read here. She’s @coffeecupkat on Twitter. I recommend following her. You might get a more honest assessment of me in doing so. And yes, you’ll see Kat on this blog as well. One of the responsibilities of her new job will be to offer occasional wisdom here on Social Media Explorer. Look for her first post soon.

Thank you to all the fantastic people who expressed interest in the job. Hiring is fun, but also daunting. Ultimately, you have to tell a lot of very good candidates, “No.” I hate that part, but tried to do it personally. I’ve connected with some very talented people as part of this process. I know I’ll stay connected to most of them as well. After all, if I do my job well, this won’t be the last time I hire someone.

The post Letting The Kat Out Of The Bag appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

NOTE: This position has now be filled. Thank you for reading and for your interest. If we hire in social media again, we’ll post another entry. Just in case, subscribe to our feed!

Early in 2007, a singular client came to Doe-Anderson asking for guidance in the social web. Since that time, almost all of our clients have either expressed interest, or expressly ordered up social media thinking. Not to mention we’ve added a few new clients to the fold based primarily on our social media capabilities.

We’re fortunate to now be in a position to hire a social media manager. I am the primary decision-maker. While Crystal Peterson, our Sr. VP for Human Resources, will certainly be posting the official position in various and sundry places around the on- and off-line world, consider this the job announcement.

WHAT WE NEED

1. An experienced (2-5 years) social media marketer. Someone who blogs or understands blogging and participates in social networks and online communities, has an understanding of web TV, podcasting, wikis and social bookmarking sites, and can translate that knowledge in to recommendations for clients.
2. Someone with a more than rudimentary understanding of search engine optimization.
3. A person who is comfortable teaching social media to others.
4. A person who enjoys engaging in conversations, both on-line and off.
5. An excellent writer.
6. An independent thinker and task master with the appropriate organizational skills to be a good one.
7. Someone with an insistence on honesty, transparency and integrity.
8. A person I can put in front of a client. (i.e. – You speak and present well, aren’t a slob and don’t smell bad.)

WHAT WE WANT

1. Someone with community management experience. And not just a blog with comments, but forums, message boards or small social networks.
2. A person with web-TV and/or podcasting experience.
3. Someone with an impressive social media profile in one or several of the popular social networks or social bookmarking/news sites.
4. A salesman who can help us grow our social media clientele.
5. Someone who can navigate their way around HTML and PHP code … or at least do so without screwing something up.

WHAT I GET OUT OF THIS

1. An easier, more social method of finding someone to hire.
2. Someone to tackle the world with.

WHAT YOU GET OUT OF THIS

1. A good-paying job with a visionary marketing agency working with national clients.
2. A competitive benefits package including medical and dental insurance, disability and retirement.
3. Staff blogging privileges on Social Media Explorer and Doe-Anderson’s blog.
4. Sole responsibility for accounts to build your resume and reputation.
5. The chance to live in a pretty damn fine town, some call it Possibility City, with a burgeoning pool of social media and tech talent.
6. A pretty swell boss.

HERE’S HOW YOU GET THE JOB

1. Don’t send me resumes. Connect with me. I’m easy to find.
2. Give me an elevator pitch on why you are the person we’ve described.
3. Send me (via whatever electronic method you deem most efficient) a short list of what you’ve done and where I can find evidence of it. Or have a full profile on LinkedIn. It’s easier that way.
4. If your profiles are hard to link to you on social media sites, tell me which are yours and what you’re hiding.
5. Understand this will be a competitive search and I’m hiring one person. Be outstanding.

The only other disclaimer I’ll throw in there is that if you have issues working in the alcohol, wine and spirits category, you’re not going to like this job. That won’t be the only category you’ll work in, though. Experience in travel, banking, medical, non-profits or B2B environments is a plus. Social media community influence in those categories is a super bonus. If you can talk circles around lawyers, you’re already at the top of the stack.

Ready? Connect with me.

And a hat-tip to Aaron Strout who invented this method. I have clearly ripped him off, but I’d guess he doesn’t mind.

[tags]social media, social media jobs, social media manager, job openings, Louisville, Doe-Anderson[/tags]

The post Do You Want A Social Media Job? I’m Hiring. appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

In January of 2007, Todd Spencer was named successor to Dave Wilkins as CEO of Doe Anderson. Spencer, who still hasn’t turned 40, worked his way up from an account manager (I’ll go out on a limb and report junior account manager) to president and chief executive officer of the company over the last 15 years or so. His marketing acumen is why. The guy is just brilliant. And I’m not saying that because he’s my boss. (Okay, maybe a little bit.)

As Todd took over the controls of the agency officially in the summer, he set in motion a process of self-discovery and assessment here that led Doe Anderson to approach its business differently. Ultimately, this process has led us to the following conclusions:

• Consumers are savvy to what agencies and brands are up to. Overwhelmed by mass advertising, people are less responsive to traditional marketing but happy to accept brand endorsements from friends.
• Word-of-mouth is more than 60 times more effective than traditional advertising. (According to Advertising Age, AdWeek and the Word-Of-Mouth Marketing Association.)
• Traditional advertising is also not cost-efficient. You spend lots of money to expose lots of people but reach a select few that will buy your product.
• Building brand enthusiasts turns the traditional advertising cost model on its head. Spending less money to reach those most enthusiastic about your brand produces a multiplier effect in which those brand enthusiasts spread the word about you.

I’ll explain more soon about what we believe brand enthusiasm to be, but for a 93-year-old advertising agency to come to those conclusions, you know something different is brewing.

And yet, the thinking isn’t altogether new. Until about 10 years ago, the logo for Doe Anderson was an acorn. And there was a story behind it.

“Mighty oaks from tiny acorns grow.”

From our “The Acorn Story” found in the bottom tab of our newly-redesigned website:

There are no shortcuts in growing a brand. Cracking open an acorn doesn’t give you an oak tree. And cracking one clever ad campaign doesn’t make a strong brand. It takes seasons of growth.

You can’t grow a tree from the top down, nor a brand. Only by starting at the grass roots can real growth begin. That’s why having a word-of-mouth marketing program is so important, and so effective.

We’ve re-branded ourselves, both in logo and spirit. We’ve gone back to a new, old look at Doe-Anderson. We have a new, old philosophy to go with the logo. It’s not about reaching a lot in hopes of a little. It’s reaching a little with eyes on a lot.

We have a system to take brands on the journey to build brand enthusiasts. And it doesn’t require us to be your agency of record to do so. Sure, we can handle above-the-line work, but our strategic thinking and expertise in creating passionate fans of your brand that lead to long-term growth is what makes us different.

And, I’d like to think my social media thinking adds a social computing element to the mix you’d be hard pressed to find at many agencies. Social media from a marketing perspective is rooted in grass roots advertising. It involves providing people the tools to become enthusiastic about your brand. At least Doe put a link to little ole me on the new website. Oh, pshaw.

I’m proud to work at Doe-Anderson. I’m proud to work for Todd Spencer. We aren’t always right and we don’t win every pitch. But we have a proven track record of creating communities of passionate consumers and connecting brands with people and vice-versa.

You can learn more about us at DoeAnderson.com or by searching for “brand enthusiasm.”

Thank you for the momentary lapse of self-effacement. You may now return to your regularly scheduled, non-self-promotional blog posts.

The post The New Old Doe-Anderson Emerges appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

My reaction? I’m surprised Jeremiah didn’t link to the Forrester report.

Let’s be frank. There are a lot of people out there who don’t trust us in the agency world. Mary Beth Kemp and Peter Kim’s report pointed out that one advertising director at a high-tech firm called agencies, “a necessary evil.” They say we’re all stuck in the mass media world, focused on above-the-line execution and out of touch with consumers.

And if you’re generalizing, sure, most agencies probably own varying degrees of guilt there. And I’m sure a big wad of them jumped up this week and said, “Oh, we’re connected. Forrester is brilliant. We’ve been delivering community and conversation for years. Thanks, Forrester, for pointing out you should be calling us!”

One major problem with advertising agencies is that they’re exceptional at believing their own bullshit.

So, here’s where you expect me to start touting Doe Anderson as the solution, right? This is where I roll out the sales pitch on why my agency “gets it” and other agencies don’t. Well, you’re right, but you’re wrong.

In all aspects of the advertising agency business, we’re not perfect. I could tout and brag, sure. But so did everyone else this week. You don’t want to hear my trumpet blast any more than I want to give it.

What Forrester’s report did say, and accurately so in my opinion, is that agencies must evolve to focus less on time frame-driven campaigns and more upon ongoing community involvement. Forrester’s report drew accurate conclusions from not-so-new rhetoric. It read like a Cliff’s Notes of top marketing blogs dating back a couple of years.

What Forrester does very well, though, is take anecdotal evidence and hang solid analytical numbers on it. Though some of the numbers are from Europe and not the U.S. (Does this bug you, too?)

So the answer is for agencies to focus on communities. And the plethoric cries of “we’ve been doing that for years” echoes hollowly down the blocks of Madison Avenue like the Yankees’ World Series hopes.

Eight years ago, Doe Anderson developed a community idea. We implemented it. It grew. We knew then we were onto something. Admittedly, it’s taken us a while to wrap our brains around the notion that this is how we should grow the business of our clients, but we no longer see ourselves as an advertising agency in the traditional sense. We see ourselves as doing something Forrester’s report shrugged off.

“Brands may be tempted to go it alone but will only succeed with small groups of brand advocates.”

Small groups of brand advocates are the new influencers, gang. They are your community. Without them you have little chance of taking any idea to market and being successful. What you should be doing is focusing on the small groups of brand advocates and empowering them to share your brand with their friends. By cultivating brand enthusiasts you’re fostering the community.

Community cannot be found somewhere else. It already surrounds you. Stop looking and you’ll find it.

For those of you hoping to build community for a new brand, the same principle applies. Your family, friends, neighbors and colleagues are your brand enthusiasts. Share your passion with them, give them the tools to carry that passion forward and your community will grow.

Some agencies will tell you they can help you do that. There are a few qualified ones out there who can.

Doe Anderson has spent the last eight years building and growing a, “highly interactive and intelligently integrated through multiple channels, one contact driving the next and with WOM as a given,” community. I’d be happy to tell you about it, but not here. Not this week. Because as much as I hate to say it like this, we’re just not like everyone else.

Other Posts You’ll Find Interesting:

1. The Connected Agency
2. Why You Don’t Need An Advertising Agency … And Why You Do
3. The Value Than An Agency Brings: Case In Point
4. A Moment Of Truth For Digital Agencies
5. Is This The Year Of The Un-Agency?

[tags]advertising, advertising agencies, ad agencies, Forrester, The Connected Agency, brand enthusiasts, brand loyalists, brand fans, Doe Anderson, community building[/tags]

The post How Many Agencies Claimed They’re “Connected” This Week? appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

“Advertising has always been putting the general public in buckets. Women 25-34 this and men 35-55 that. Advertisers put us in buckets, too. They do some quick demographic research on my target consumer and think they know my business. They throw out some slick, fancy artwork with clever words on it and think Iâ€m impressed.”

His chief complaint was the agencies heâ€d dealt with failed to accomplish what smart agencies consider perhaps the most important step: getting to know the client.

Last week I accompanied several members of Doe Andersonâ€s creative team and client services staff on an outing designed to get to know one of our clients. Weâ€ve had the pleasure of working with Knob Creek, one of the Beam Global brands of spirits, for several years now. A new creative project is coming up and was ready for kicking off. Perry Baldwin, our Sr. VP and strategic planning guru, decided the project was the perfect opportunity to haul everyone down to the distillery for a reminder (and for a couple new creatives, a primer) of exactly who weâ€re representing.

So, instead of sitting in a conference room going over a creative brief with the Knob Creek brand manager piped in over the phone, we all took a little field trip, the lovely Paige Guzman (Knob Creek brand manager) included, toured the distillery and met in the Knob Creek House, a guest house/meeting facility on the Beam property.

During our lunch break, I asked Perry and Ray Radford, our resident expert on just about anything having to do with marketing, whiskey or both, about the importance of such a visit.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHbDK7vgCxE[/youtube]

You can also check out some pictures we took below or on Flickr.

The end result of the day wonâ€t come to fruition for a while, but weâ€re more apt to get it right the first time if we capture the soul of the brand at the onset.

As for my friendâ€s notion, I only told him one of the first things Ray Radford ever told me about advertising. “Youâ€re a lot smarter if you start out with the belief there does not exist a 25-34-year-old anything.”

[tags]marketing, advertising, Doe Anderson, client, client service, effective marketing, how to[/tags]

The post Effective Marketing Step One: Get To Know Your Client appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

Evidence of Doe Anderson’s commitment to help clients succeed in this arena is now embodied in the creation of a new role for Jason Falls. Effective September 15, 2007, Jason will head up Doe Anderson’s social media activity. His title mirrors the title of this blog – Social Media Explorer. This is the first step in formulating an innovative new strategy that has agency-wide implications. More on this later.

The web site you are on is Doe Anderson’s toe in the water of blogging. Jason will be exploring all aspects of social media with opinions, analysis and discussion, and invites you to comment and join the conversation.

Please join me in congratulating Jason. In the coming weeks, he will be inviting you to learn more about social media and how everyone in the agency needs to think differently when applying these strategies for our clients.

The post Doe Anderson Explores Social Media appeared first on Social Media Explorer.