Canadian Press article points to Social Signal for social media tips and open-source resources | Social Signal

Day one of Open SoSi, and it's already in the news as a potential resource for professionals starting out in social media.

Today's Canadian Press article by Tamsyn Burgmann, Companies seek social media experts to keep online conversation rolling, includes the following reference to our newly open-sourced materials:

Samuel, 38, and her husband Rob Cottingham, 46, are Vancouver-based social media gurus who founded one of the world's earliest social media companies, Social Signal, in 2005. On Thursday they publicly unveiled the company's strategies for running a social media company, including techniques for training social media professionals.

This article focuses on how young people can get started in a social media career, drawing on advice from Social Signal staff and clients.

SoSi staffer Channing Rodman, who manages the BC Children's Hospital's Be a Superhero! campaign, summed up the qualities that make a great community animator:

You don't have to be a tech-genius, you just have to be someone who's interested in playing, who's interested in conversation and who's willing to play with the medium and see how you can get people not to just talk, but to talk about something that matters.

And over at MEC's TheBigWild.org, which we helped to relaunch earlier this year, Theodora Lamb focuses on the role of animators in creating compelling content:

A social media animator at heart needs to be a storyteller, because that's how you're going to engage your audience...(You must) be honest, tell true stories, bring people into it, get them to tell their stories and keep that story going.

Tamsyn also shared four of my tips for launching a career in social media:

1. Clean up your current online social profile. Ensure anything with your name attached to it on the web appears as you'd want a potential employer to view it.
2. Don't limit yourself to Facebook. Start participating is professional-oriented social spaces, like Linked In.
3. Start a pet project. Show you have initiative and ability to engage others by starting a small project and getting participants.
4. Pick up some traditional communications skills. While social networking may be second nature, you'll win over employers if you also have some classic knowledge under your belt.

And don't let the salary range cited in the article daunt you: $40-50k seems typical for an early-career community manager, but the dollars go up significantly if your career takes you into strategic or management roles.

Check out the full story for a handy, engaging take on how to get started with a career in social media. It's the perfect story to send to your favourite recent graduate.