A client of ours contacted me recently because his department wants to start a social media campaign — and they want him to do it. The client would be in charge of the blog, which would be edited by him and written by other employees — employees who already work long days. The client contacted me because he knows that adding a blog and social networking to the employees' workloads is not a sustainable strategy, and needs to convince some decision makers to take social media more seriously. We ran through several scenarios, from using internal resources, to outsourcing, to hiring a new employee. My suggested strategy combined internal resources with an outside consultant, but the client pointed me to a competitor of theirs that employs a full-time social media consultant. I found this interesting, since managing a company blog and social networking is not usually a full-time job. Many consultants recommend spending six hours a week on social media, and even if we double that to include a researched, well-written blog, it doesn't add up to 40 hours a week. Unfortunately, we don't know what was included in the competitor's job description, but we do know some of the responsibilities of the position.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Maintain the blog, which has posted about six times a month on average for the last twelve months
• Update the Twitter account with corporate news and relevant industry information
• Manage the Facebook Page

I could not find the Facebook Page, but the Twitter account has a respectable Klout Score of 50. The blog is well-written and well-presented in a standard blog format using the Thesis WordPress Theme. The job is done fairly well, but does it take 40 hours a week to do? If our client were to hire a full-time social media specialist, what other responsibilities should they include in the job description? We would love to hear from our network of social media professionals. What's your social media job description?