2009 Job Title: Multichannel Social Researcher

This position combines social media with database marketing. Hint: You need a person like this.

The Multichannel Social Researcher is an important member of the multichannel retail marketing team. Reporting directly to the Chief Marketing Officer, the Social Researcher is responsible for understanding how current and potential customers view our brand and the brands we compete with.

Qualifications: At least two years of Social Media experience, preferably via blogging, active participation in micro-blogging sites like Twitter or Plurk, and a thorough understanding of the myriad ways that users interact with multiple social media channels like Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, and others. At least five years of corporate experience in a marketing or customer service role.

Job Responsibilities:

• Monitor and tabulate daily user sentiment about our brand.
• Identify areas of concern, and actively inform business unit leaders of negative/positive user sentiment.
• Develop a database of negative/positive sentiments, hyperlinks to key commentary, and primary social media users who influence brand perception. Database must be structured in a way that allows the database marketing team to actively query and mine information.
  
• Work with contact center staff to develop a micro-blogging participation program whereby staff interact with customers in real-time to solve complex problems.
  
• Attend and lead a monthly executive forum focusing on consumer behavior as measured by social media activities.
• Actively quantify the impact of social research on brand reputation. Quantify the impact of decisions made because of social research knowledge on net sales, and earnings before taxes, in close partnership with the Web Analytics staff and Database Marketing team.
• Develop a reward structure for customers who actively participate in user reviews, especially those customers who actively influence existing customers and prospects.
• Generate brand profiles for key competitors, based on user sentiment across social media channels.
• Lead organization with an annual assessment of customer interaction between physical channels and social media channels, collaborating with the Web Analytics team and Database Marketing team. Build an annual social media blueprint for the executive team to pursue.
• Closely partner with Marketing Research director on key research initiatives.
• Thoroughly understand leading-edge social media trends and tools.

Salary = $60,000 to $90,000 per year, depending upon experience and credentials. Employee is eligible for a bonus target of 20% per year, based on key social media targets and quantified impact on net sales and earnings before taxes.