I remember back to when I was first looking for jobs.

It was 2008, I was fresh out of my MBA, a degree that was supposed to give me a leg up on the competition.

I browsed the job boards. I leveraged my network.  Once in a while I would stumble upon an entry level marketing job but, nearly all of these entry level positions required 5 years of experience.

The hilarity of this, of course, is that I was looking for jobs in the world of Social Media Marketing.  Something that, as a concept, had emerged only a few years prior.  Literally no one had 5 years experience.

Fast Forward

So now it’s 2014, my company has been around since 2011.

  • I’ve been obsessively studying Social Media Strategy since 2007.
  • I was talking about social business since back in 2008 before anyone was even calling it “Social Business.”
  • I’ve seen and used every major social network in the United States; the ones that stuck around, and the ones that failed.
  • I’ve read virtually every major book on the subject matter.
  • I’ve spoken at conferences around the world.
  • I’ve written more than 500 blog posts about the subject.
  • I’m an Adjunct Professor at Drexel University teaching a Social Media Strategy course.

In short, I’m no rookie.

Not long ago…

We spoke with a very large company about designing a social media strategy.

It was right up our alley:

  • A large, and complex organization, with plenty of industry guidelines and regulations.
  • A need for navigating cultural hurdles to adoption
  • A well known, recognizable product
  • Current social media efforts are underwhelming and in need of fresh perspective
  • Tepid enthusiasm from upper management

Everything that we have been working on in my company is around the utilization of social media tools and processes to drive business value.  We work to understand cultural issues, technology issues, and process issues.  Each of these challenges are areas that we have studied in-depth.

To navigate these issues, you need more than clever social media marketing campaigns, you need to understand business change management, how to identify the right players, what metrics to watch, and how to create a process that will work.

We pitched, they liked it, we got passed up the ladder.  And then…

Entrenched Players

Much like the entry level marketing position that requires 5 years of experience, some people are looking for an agency with more experience than ours.  And typically what they mean by that is a bigger agency, that has been around longer (doing something else that seems related), and that will charge them more money.

“No one ever got fired for hiring IBM.”

So now as part of the due diligence, other, much larger agencies, will be brought into the mix.

Mind you, we’re not out of the running, we’ve just hit a roadblock.  We’re perceived as small, and less experienced.  There’s concern that our small team would not be able to step up and deliver.

The frustration is the same as in those early days.  We’re great at what we do, but if no one ever gives us that chance to take on the big campaign, no one will ever be able to see what we’re capable of.

I’m frustrated, but I refuse to lose.  Not having 5 years of experience didn’t stop me before, and our small agency will not be denied.  See you in the big leagues.

Similar Posts