Social Marketing: Make communication 'special,' says Eric Miltsch (@emiltsch) of DrivingSales

What are the most important skills for graduating college students if they want to have a future in social marketing?

Eric Miltsch

I’m asking three questions of some leaders in the field of social media marketing and this is what I learned. This is the ninth in the series (see the links below for other posts in the series).

Today: Eric Miltsch, Director of Product Strategy at DrivingSales.com, a site that helps auto dealers across North America stay on top of industry trends, and author of the blog The World of Location-Based Services. He can be found on Twitter at @emiltsch:

Making every communication 'special,' is the key to social marketing success, says Miltsch.

Today's graduates must be able to communicate on every level: In-person, writing, phone skills and video, he says, because "every one of these is an opportunity to connect and have an impact."

"Today, everyone uses some form of these channels and only a select few make the 'hot-button' connection with their audience and create something truly effective, memorable and unique which leads to further action," Miltsch says.

Today's college grads also need to "understand the power of the data behind all of this social marketing activity," he says.

Young marketers should seek out Google analytics website data, customer-relations-management profiles and social platform insights. That way they can understand how their customers find their online properties, interact with their products/services and engage with their brand throughout the relationship life-cycle.

"There's gold in the data and so many miss the opportunity to learn from this information," Miltsch says. 

"Successful graduates also need to think like a CEO," he adds. "Executives want results.

"Are you driving traffic to increase leads? Are you increasing impressions while lowering average cost of sale? Are you driving more foot traffic? Are your customer satisfaction scores and customer reviews improving?

"Delivering positive results will always make your executive team happy."

So, what do you think? How important will social marketing be in the future and what MUST graduating students know?

Related posts:
Social Marketing: A good marketer 'walks the talk,' says Kodak’s Jennifer Cisney
Social Marketing: Its 'part of a nutritious breakfast,' says Christopher Penn of WhatCounts
Social Marketing: Make music to an audience’s ears, says Mahei Foliaki (@Iconic88)
Social Marketing: Clearly connect business objectives, says author Aaron Strout
Social Marketing: Don’t be timid, says Ford’s Scott Monty
Social Marketing: Communication is the key, says Cheryl Burgess of Blue Focus
Social Marketing: Hubspot's Sam Mallikarjunan Tells All
Social Marketing: Mark Schaefer on What Students Must Know