Veritas Hires Social Media Leader
With social media all the rage, it has been interesting to see how the business world has reacted to capitalize on the phenomena. Case in point is Veritas Communications hired Globe & Mail marketing reporter Keith McArthur as senior director, media innovation (whatever that means!). McArthur will focus on traditional media relations and media coaching as well as leading a new division within the agency specializing in social media.
“After covering the marketing industry for the last few years, I have come to the conclusion I don’t want to be just writing about the industry, I want to be part of it,” McArthur said.
Social media has quickly become an important part of the modern marketing mix, he says, but marketers and agencies are still struggling to figure out who should be involved with social media, and what can be done with it.
McArthur’s decision to leave the Globe & Mail for the world of public relations is akin to Derek Jeter leaving the New York Yankees to play in a high-level softball league..or something like that. Still, it is interesting that social media is attracting so much interesting. Last week, the University of Toronto said it is looking for a social media officer within its communications unit - although it might have to cough up more than $42,000 a year to get the right person.
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3 opinions for Veritas Hires Social Media Leader
Neil Sanderson / Journalist McArthur moving to social media marketing
Jun 18, 2007 at 1:32 pm
[…] Mark Evans reports today that Globe & Mail marketing journalist-blogger Keith McArthur is to become Senior Director - Media Innovation at Veritas Communications, with responsiblity for social media. These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. […]
AndrewK
Jun 19, 2007 at 1:44 am
“After covering the marketing industry for the last few years, I have come to the conclusion I don’t want to be just writing about the industry, I want to be part of it,”
Hmm sounds a bit like a journalist turned pro blogger with some good blogs.
As for the UofT job posting, my hunch is they probably do not want a real marketing wiz despite the description. While their offer seems very low to those in the know, They probably are willing to settle for a graduate (from another university) or retiring professor of marketing.
One needs only to look at the University of Waterloo to see that their approach is to run everything through a single communications position. It’s not perfect but it works in the interim.
Keith McArthur
Jun 25, 2007 at 4:47 pm
I think my move is more like a sports reporter leaving the broadcast booth to play. When you love the game you’re covering, it’s hard to stay on the sidelines. And the more I wrote about social media marketing, the more I knew this was a game I wanted to play.
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