While the rest of the company certainly
seems to be getting the value of having marketing / promotional /
educational video on YouTube, there’s one part of most
organizations that seems to be totally missing the boat on YT video –
the Human Resources manager. Well, if not him, then at least the guy
who writes the “help wanted” ads.
I was chatting with a friend of mine the other night – we’ll call him Skip (because that’s his name). He’s a serial internet entrepreneur – you know the type, several companies, great ideas, future-think kinda guy from the broadcast / online video space. He recently decided to close his mid-sized shop and go back to the big corporate grind. When pressed for answers, he mumbles something about cleaning toilets, health insurance and aging collection reports – but regardless of the reason, he’s going back.
Now, all things being equal, Skip is a pretty talented guy: innovative, big-name company experience, awards etc. and he wants to land in a video development / product manager role that focuses on the creation and / or management of YouTube video. And hence the problem. Skip showed me a half dozen ads on indeed.com (a big job search site) which all echoed the same requirements, they were mainly around SEO “must have experience in and be able to contribute to Facebook promotions, Twitter, Google+, YouTube and other social media sites.” Now, hold the phone – wasn’t YouTube just lumped in with a bunch of social media sites?
So, let’s look at the skill sets required to actually fulfill this position:
Facebook – Navigate the endless shifting sands of FB, create business pages, manage them, acquire “friends”, engage them, create brand-identity without being self-serving, etc. This is pretty much the job of a writer / PR / webmaster combo – one talented person can do this.
Twitter – Write everything in 140 characters, endlessly “#” and “@” vague and shifting groups of people with fickle interests who, because of the lack of even basic information, could be your prime target or your worst nightmare. Again, writer / PR - a highly-caffeinated New Yorker type can easily do this.
Google+ - I wish it wasn’t the case, but you really don’t have to worry about this one. The last time I checked my Google+ feed, the only thing active was the daily article from the Denver Post. Not a player.
YouTube – Shoot video, edit video, hire talent, light the set, run a camera, do voice over, motion graphics, encoding, etc., in other words – a full-bore video production expert.
So, what this company wants is a writer with PR experience who writes killer code and is also an ex-broadcaster. Uh-huh…is this what they’re looking for or does the HR department (or someone higher up in the company) consider video creation on the same level as writing 140 characters of text?
Skip was right – there are two distinct skill sets on play here, but they seemed to get lumped in under the umbrella of Social Media. I would venture that YouTube and video creation is NOT social – that it comes from a group of multitalented individuals who can tell stories with moving pictures. The “social” aspect of YouTube and it’s interaction with other media occurs AFTER the heavy lifting (video creation) has been completed. So unless these corporations want YT video that’s created with one hand on an iPhone, they need to differentiate between managing social groups and creating great video.
And, at the end of the discussion – creating great video is why we’re all here, isn’t it?
I was chatting with a friend of mine the other night – we’ll call him Skip (because that’s his name). He’s a serial internet entrepreneur – you know the type, several companies, great ideas, future-think kinda guy from the broadcast / online video space. He recently decided to close his mid-sized shop and go back to the big corporate grind. When pressed for answers, he mumbles something about cleaning toilets, health insurance and aging collection reports – but regardless of the reason, he’s going back.
Now, all things being equal, Skip is a pretty talented guy: innovative, big-name company experience, awards etc. and he wants to land in a video development / product manager role that focuses on the creation and / or management of YouTube video. And hence the problem. Skip showed me a half dozen ads on indeed.com (a big job search site) which all echoed the same requirements, they were mainly around SEO “must have experience in and be able to contribute to Facebook promotions, Twitter, Google+, YouTube and other social media sites.” Now, hold the phone – wasn’t YouTube just lumped in with a bunch of social media sites?
So, let’s look at the skill sets required to actually fulfill this position:
Facebook – Navigate the endless shifting sands of FB, create business pages, manage them, acquire “friends”, engage them, create brand-identity without being self-serving, etc. This is pretty much the job of a writer / PR / webmaster combo – one talented person can do this.
Twitter – Write everything in 140 characters, endlessly “#” and “@” vague and shifting groups of people with fickle interests who, because of the lack of even basic information, could be your prime target or your worst nightmare. Again, writer / PR - a highly-caffeinated New Yorker type can easily do this.
Google+ - I wish it wasn’t the case, but you really don’t have to worry about this one. The last time I checked my Google+ feed, the only thing active was the daily article from the Denver Post. Not a player.
YouTube – Shoot video, edit video, hire talent, light the set, run a camera, do voice over, motion graphics, encoding, etc., in other words – a full-bore video production expert.
So, what this company wants is a writer with PR experience who writes killer code and is also an ex-broadcaster. Uh-huh…is this what they’re looking for or does the HR department (or someone higher up in the company) consider video creation on the same level as writing 140 characters of text?
Skip was right – there are two distinct skill sets on play here, but they seemed to get lumped in under the umbrella of Social Media. I would venture that YouTube and video creation is NOT social – that it comes from a group of multitalented individuals who can tell stories with moving pictures. The “social” aspect of YouTube and it’s interaction with other media occurs AFTER the heavy lifting (video creation) has been completed. So unless these corporations want YT video that’s created with one hand on an iPhone, they need to differentiate between managing social groups and creating great video.
And, at the end of the discussion – creating great video is why we’re all here, isn’t it?
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