Can Marketing Skills and Aptitude be measured?
We are all used to IQ tests, EQ tests, management aptitude tests, behavioural tests, what kind of juice are you tests and more. Many of them have evolved over a long period of time and are well respected in the industries that they are relevant for.
There seems to be a gap in the marketing space in terms of the ability to measure an individual's skills and aptitude. While interviewing candidates for positions at Circus Social, this thought struck us a few months ago and we decided to
do something about it.
We felt that while ‘marketing’ is a very broad term and needs more research to come up with a comprehensive testing mechanism, we could get started by focusing on a sub set. We picked what is closest to what we do - ‘Social Media Marketing’. This space is crying out for a uniform measurement process because:
- Everyone claims to be an expert and it is difficult to separate the grain from the chaff just over a cup of coffee or beer. Not many have a lot to say except - post more visuals!
- Social media marketing has evolved rapidly from a time where every marketer used to put their newest intern on the job to a situation where the best and brightest talent is busy figuring out the best way to utilize social marketing channels for brands and companies.
- Social media marketing has become a lot more ’specialist’ with many sub specialization areas - like Content, Analytics, Engagement, Search Analytics etc. This makes it a good mix of subjective and objective areas where we can test people.
- The first thing we did was to collaborate with well respected experts from all over the world. Experts who are specialists in many of the sub specialisations of ‘social media marketing’. We worked with these experts to research these areas, finalize the questions and the mechanics of the quiz.
- We then went on to create 10 rounds to co-relate with the 10 areas of specialization that we had identified. This also makes it easy for users to take breaks and attempt different rounds in different sittings - so for those of you pressed for time, this is a perfect solution.
- We created an elaborate system of positive and negative marks (for incorrect answers) and allocated a time limit to every question to make it even more challenging!
- Finally we tied up with amazing sponsors who are giving away rewards for every round a user completes (worth over $4,000 in total) and we tried to 'gamify' the entire experience.
- The 'Social Marketers Quiz’ has been live for just a little over 2 days now and we are getting a tremendous response. We have had over 300 marketers grill themselves and compete with each other.
- As more and more marketers take the quiz - we will periodically release insights that we've gathered from the quiz for free for the social media marketing community. Something along the lines of:
- Are women better community managers than men?
- Are young people better at creating content?
- Is it actually true that older, more experienced marketers are better at handling a crisis?
- Are social marketers general stronger at engagement and content related matters compared to analytics?
Do take the
quiz and share your feedback! We will incorporate it in the next round :)
Would you like to collaborate with us in this initiative? Get in touch!
Founder & MD @ Neuron | Asset Management & Investment Advisory
10 年The best measure in any field: results.
Following the acquisition of Radarr by Genesys, I am thrilled to contribute to the Product leadership team at Genesys. I will spearhead social & digital initiatives, leveraging my expertise to enhance Genesys's offerings
10 年If you are a marketer, you can not afford not to take this quiz. Check out how you compare against other marketers from around the world.
Head of Marketing
10 年This is a really nifty and sleek platform, and it's not just me saying this - the response from everyone has been amazing. The battle in the leaderboard is so tight and really heating up, so many in there with scores of 200+. Not sure if anyone's going to ever catch up with Tia Kelly though. Jessica Quinn - keep up the BC girls' name and get in there!