Social Media decision maker: are you thinking long term?

In a 27-page report Career Path of the Corporate Social Strategist: Be Proactive or Become Social Media Help Desk, web strategist Jeremiah Owyang explores the two possible career paths for the social media decision maker in a company (he calls them Social Strategists, but you might just as well think of them as Conversation Managers).
In short:

• Most Social Strategists and their programs lack maturity, with only 23% of Social Strategists having a formalized program with long-term direction.
• They are overwhelmed with six major challenges – with little relief in sight:
  1. Resistance from internal culture,
  2. Measuring ROI,
  3. Lack of resources,
  4. An ever-changing technology space,
  5. Resentment and envy of the role,
  6. A looming increase in business demands.

With demands just about to increase, they have two possible career paths:

1. Fall behind in requests from vocal customers and internal business units, thereby becoming reactive which we call the “Social Media Help Desk”, or
2. Develop a proactive program that gets ahead of the demands, and operate from a strategic planning position.

Further reading:

• Altimeter Report: The Two Career Paths of the Corporate Social Strategist. Be Proactive or Become ‘Social Media Help Desk’ @ web-strategist.com
• Report: Career Path of the Corporate Social Strategist: Be Proactive or Become Social Media Help Desk