Quick Query: Comodo CEO on Hiring a Social Media Officer

Source: practicalecommerce.com : There’s much talk about social media sites and there’s also talk of how companies can use social media for marketing purposes. One company doing just that is Comodo, a firm that provides online security solutions. Comodo has recently created a “social media officer” job position and Comodo’s CEO, Melih Abdulhayoglu, is here to discuss it with us.

PeC: Why did Comodo create a social media officer position?

Abdulhayoglu: “Well, humans rode on a horseback for tens of thousands of years and then in less than 100 years, we went from a horseback to a jet plane. What caused that revolution? What was the trigger to get us from a horseback to a jet plane? The answer was the Gutenberg press, the invention of printing that allowed us to retain and share information.”

“The Internet is that printing machine on steroids. The Internet allows us to retain and share information. That’s where social media comes into place. We are using it for socially interacting with each other, connecting us together. It’s the connectedness that is changing the way that we behave, we act, we transact on Internet. That becomes as important as the printing machine itself and this is why we [Comodo] have a position for social media because social media is like the printing machine. It allows us to communicate and share information with people.”

PeC: What type of information does this person share? What are his duties in terms of representing your company out across the Internet?

Abdulhayoglu: “Pretty much anything and everything. In this age of Internet, you have to be open, you have to be frank. So, this person [Comodo’s social media officer] is the voice for the company, for us to be heard in many places, and act as the medium between the social capital [the end users on social media] and the company itself. Our social media officer is the translator. He is the link between us and everyone out there.”

PeC: Are there sites that he focuses on more than others? For example, does he focus on Twitter or Facebook, or other sites that he spends more time on than others?

Abdulhayoglu: “Some, yes. It depends on the discussions. It’s very much buzz-oriented, depending on the buzz, depending on where the buzz is. He tries to get Comodo’s views across and get views from all the people and pass it back to Comodo. So, depending on where the buzz is happening, that’s where the discussions are taking place.”

PeC: How do you know if it’s successful? How do you measure the success?

Abdulhayoglu: “That’s a very good question. There isn’t an exact tool for you to be able to do that. There are many tools out there that you can try to build metrics from, but you can see the ultimate goal is about creating brand awareness for the company itself. There are tools like Google Trends that you can take a look at to see if your brand awareness is increasing or not. There are other tools as well that are free that show you whether you are being talked about or not. So, there isn’t a single tool that I can point my finger to, but there are many tools out there that gives those good enough indication that whether social media initiative is working or not.” For full article read More >>

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