Hey, got a quick minute? Munish Gandhi and Mayra Ruiz-McPherson, are now regularly sharing what’s top of mind for them as they delve through the trenches of social media marketing and conversions on behalf of brands seeking to optimize sales and new customer acquisitions from their engagement efforts. So if you’ve got about 60 quick seconds, then we give you Just a Marketing Minute with Munish & Mayra!

Mayra: Hi, Munish! Ok, soooo…talk to me about a specific subject in our space of new media and social marketing that’s been taking over some of your thoughts recently? We both read a lot … what’s got your attention these days?

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Munish: Well, lately, I’ve been thinking about a recent blog post I saw — you may have seen it too, there was a lot of buzz created by it — about how social media managers need to be under 25 years old which, understandably for many just reasons, caused a huge uproar in the social media community.

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Mayra: Yes, I saw that right when it was just posted and the thread of comments as a response to the author, were intense, highly insightful and mostly critical … and that’s putting it mildly

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Munish: I agree. It was a very touchy subject for a lot of people and I definitely don’t want to debate the age issue for hiring social media professionals, but the article did make me think about offering a secret that so far in the debate, nobody has brought up. And it’s a very important thing for social media managers of all ages to consider. There’s a secret that the “under 25-year-olds” need to know if they really want to impress their CEO, CFO and COOs, if they work in the social media management world.

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Mayra: Aha, so what’s that secret? Please spill your beans…

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Munish: The secret is that when it comes to social media, the focus on tools and platforms is only half the battle. Today, the C-level suite cares deeply about how social media influences or impacts conversions and how to better “connect the social marketing dots” to further support conversion efforts online. So anyone seeking to establish their career in social media should understand the three fundamental aspects of the sales funnel; and those three parts are (a) the ability to attract attention, (b) driving desire and (c) converting customers.

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Mayra: Well, along the same vein then, what kind of factors do you think affect a candidate’s ability to understand these three aspects?

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Munish: Having a strong social media marketing background is powerful, but having other business skills in your toolset will make you a more attractive candidate. Individuals with strong business development or sales backgrounds seem to do quite well with the “converting customers” part of the funnel equation. That said, however, sales-experienced professionals of any age will need to further expand their knowledge and talents in the “attracting attention” and “driving desire” departments to better maximize their social conversion efforts.

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Mayra: All extremely, valid points Munish! Taking it one step further if I may…those candidates who have sales backgrounds, as you suggest, **AND** who are also strong communicators will be all that more attractive for social media marketing roles. Time and again, I am told repeatedly by clients that effective writing and strong communications capability is highly desirable. Makes sense, too. All these platforms require content for communication and engagement. The ability to create content that can entice, inform, entertain AND support the conversion process on the digi-social sphere is truly the secret sauce candidates seeking social media jobs — no matter their age — will need to master.

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For future Just a Marketing Minute convos and segments, please visit us back every other Monday to enjoy 60-seconds of insight and reflection! Of course, if you’d like to connect with either Mayra or Munish in between columns, please use the links below to reach out or stay in touch!

PS – If you are interested in the topic of the social media career or career trends in social media, you should visit our sister web site, SocialMediaJobsDC.com!