Step Into The Spotlight! Welcomes Guest Blogger, David Jones!

Here’s another one of our Top Marketing Bloggers, David Jones, answering the question:
What does a social media consultant really do all day?

There have been loads of blog posts written by well-meaning folks explaining how to tell if your social media consultant is selling you a bill-of-goods or if they really have the knowledge, experience and know-how to advise you in your forays into the brave, new online world.

This isn’t one of those posts.

You see, I am a real live social media consultant. My job title is actually VP, Digital Communications in the Toronto office of the global PR agency, Hill & Knowlton. And I spend all day, every day working with clients who are trying to figure out the best way to get involved with social media as part of their communications objectives. I’ve been in the PR racket for 17 years and have transitioned over the last few years to working exclusively in the online space…so you can teach an old dog new tricks.

So, I thought I’d give you all an inside look at what the day looks like for a guy like me who makes a living out of social media.

1. Keeping the tools sharp

I know, I know…it seems that all social media people do is play with the latest shiny object without any regard to the tool’s viability as a communications tool. But there is some method to my madness. The web is a giant sandbox of communications tools. Blogs, podcasts, wikis, photo/video sharing, microblogging…and so on. We have to keep our tools sharp and give everything a shot to see how it works, if it has merit, what clients may get value out of it, etc. Quite frankly, we have to be ahead of our clients because if they ask us what we think about them using FriendFeed for something, we better have an informed opinion.

2. Participating in the space

This is important on a number of levels. But for me, I learn by doing, not just observing. Using the tools with some purpose actually makes you a better advisor. I’ve got a blog, I co-host a couple of podcasts (Inside PR and Shill), I’m active on Twitter, I speak at conferences and schools and attend social media industry events. Each one of these activities helps me tell my clients what can possibly work for them based on their objectives.

3. Advising clients

I’m a consultant at a global PR firm. Advising clients is what we get paid to do. On any given day, I’m working with a major corporation (check out our award winning work for Molson Canada) on developing and executing social media strategies, or maybe advising on how better to optimize their PR content for sharing online, training client staff on social media tools and tactics or dreaming up digital ideas as part of an integrated pitch team for clients in all sectors from the pharmaceutical and health industries, consumer goods, retailing, government, technology and telecommunications.

4. Sharing knowledge with the firm

There are lots of people in the blogosphere who claim social media is the end of this or death of that. PR is often a target of those jibes. But, take it from me, PR firms aren’t about to fall behind the times when such a new and exciting opportunity to connect our clients to the publics they are trying to reach is right on our doorstep. Hill & Knowlton in Toronto, Canada and the world is committed to integrating digital into everything we do. I constantly share knowledge with the 100 or so PR consultants in the Toronto office, visit our other Canadian offices to run digital bootcamps and am always available for other office around our global network who are looking to learn a little more about digital strategies that they can use with their clients around the world.

5. Developing and growing my team

I’ve built my team over the last year as the demands on my time have exceeded my capacity. I’ve been fortunate to be able to build a team of great consultants who are as immersed in this space as I am. With the support of Brendan Hodgson, our national practice director in Ottawa, we’ve been able to grow the Toronto digital team to four with the addition of Sharon Fernandes, Collin Douma and a new hire I hope to make in the next few weeks. Even in these trying times, we’re able to grow because digital is an ever-expanding part of what we offer to new and existing clients every day.

I’m really lucky to be able to work in an area that’s of such personal interest to me and to work with a great group of major clients on a daily basis. Now, if I can only find the time to launch our new H&K Digital Canada blog I’ve been threatening for so long. Shoemaker’s children and all that…
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An early-adopter of using social media for PR purposes, Mr. Jones authors a popular Canadian PR blog (prworks.ca) and co-hosts the weekly Inside PR podcast (insidepr.ca) and is a frequent speaker at communications conferences on how to use social media as an effective PR tool. Mr. Jones is the VP, Digital Communications in the Toronto office of the global PR agency, Hill & Knowlton.