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We are working with Yankee Candle in their search for a Social & Mobile Marketing Manager based in South Deerfield, MA)
The Yankee Candle Company is the leading designer, manufacturer, wholesaler and retailer of premium scented candles, based on sales, in the giftware industry. Employing approximately 6,000 people world-wide, Yankee Candle has a 42-year history of offering distinctive products and marketing them as affordable luxuries and consumable gifts, with sales from continuing operations of $785.8 million dollars in fiscal year 2011.
The company sells its products through a North American wholesale customer network of approximately 28,800 stores, a growing base of company owned and operated retail stores (552 Yankee Candle Stores located in 46 states and 1 province in Canada as of December 31, 2011), direct mail catalogs, and its website. Outside of North America, the company sells its products primarily through its subsidiary, Yankee Candle Company (Europe), Ltd., which has an international wholesale customer network of approximately 5,700 stores and distributors covering a combined 49 countries.
A key contributor to Yankee Candle’s success has been its vertically integrated business model, which enables the firm to control most every aspect of its business, from product development to manufacturing to distribution to marketing and sales. This structure allows YC to consistently provide high quality and innovative products, and deliver them in a timely and efficient manner to customers all over the world.
About the Role:
This position is responsible for leading the strategy development, planning and execution of social media marketing in support of all Yankee Candle Company Brands and businesses growth initiatives, creating comprehensive social media strategy to define programs that use social media marketing techniques, increasing visibility, membership and traffic across all Yankee Candle Company Brands. In specific, this position will be responsible for:
- Developing the strategic vision for the social media platforms, managing and executing the integration of new media channels to existing marketing lanes to actively engage consumers within the company’s brands and cultivate increased brand loyalty.
- Managing and developing social media planning and execution, developing communication strategies and content as needed.
- Working with cross-functional teams to ensure timely and effective execution of creative, powerful social media tactics to support marketing activities and brand awareness.
- Monitoring and reporting on brand activity on Twitter, Facebook and other on-line social communities as well as monitoring trends in social media tools/applications and appropriately applying that knowledge to increase the use of social media at Yankee Candle.
- Monitoring competitive activity and the general digital landscape to be aware of market changes and developments, defining and driving the product strategy roadmap for the Workforce Mobile products including mobile phones and tablets.
- Developing social media engagement metrics that provide a clear sense of value for social initiatives and drive towards defining ROI and, when needed, recommending new strategy, content and websites.
- Recommending updates social media policies, standards and guidelines, including distribution to YCC partners.
- Managing external agencies in the development of creative and content and collaborates with internal business partners , ensuring project outcomes align with program priorities and direction.
HARRY’S COMMENTS: As noted in my post for its Director of Ecommerce Marketing, Yankee Candle is beefing up its direct to consumer business. Naturally, that means the company will be doing more in mobile and social.
And why wouldn’t they?
According to recent research by ComScore, consumers are beginning to window shop online through social sites like Pinterest, while YouTube is quickly becoming a viable social commerce platform. Consumers understand that most retailers have YouTube channels, and increasingly they are clicking through to buy.
For companies like Yankee Candle, whose customers resemble more of a fan base than a database, SoMo’s upside is huge. According to a January 2013 article in the Harvard business review, mobile users spend, on average, 82% of their mobile minutes with apps (versus just 18% with web browsers), and they download about 40 apps to their phones (out of more than a million available) and regularly use about 15.
Social apps such as Facebook and Pinterest make it logical that Yankee Candle would integrate its mobile and social functions into one position, especially given that according to ComScore smart phones are used much more than tablets for social shopping activities like taking and sharing pictures, finding stores, and looking up product information on-the-fly.
Because consumers are using socially connected smartphones and tablets to inform their shopping decisions, Yankee Candle fully supports mobile and has a fully functioning mobile website. This role will be about leveraging Yankee Candle’s mobile assets and activities, in addition to understanding what the firm’s mobile 2.0 strategy will look like – and transitioning YC from mobile 1.0 to 2.0.
Given that SoMo represents a tremendous opportunity for Yankee Candle, the new Social and Mobile Marketing Manager will be expected to understand SoMo’s full range of competitive options for the company. This means having a process for bringing Yankee Candles brands to life in these channels, whether it’s through added convenience, by offering unique value or incentives, or simply connecting and entertaining Yankee Candle’s fans.
Is this job for you?
During these interviews, we would expect you to discuss concrete examples of how you have led mobile and social commerce initiatives in ways that delivered real returns to an online retailer. Because all etailers are different (like snowflakes), the way their customers relate to them is different. We understand that not every etailer uses the same KPI’s for social and mobile.
However, we do want to see that you know how to “keep score,” whether your firm tracked click-throughs to its retail website; total subscribers gained; unique visitors; requested actions taken; return visits; improved SEO; or whatever.
Additionally, it’s essential that you be extremely well read on the future possibilities of social and mobile, and we have a number of interesting interview questions to tease out your teachable point of view on the future of the space. We want to know that you know what YC should do next based on your own experience in mobile and social retail commerce.
Minimum Requirements:
- Bachelor’s Degree in related discipline or equivalent experience.
- 7 years marketing, communications or PR experience, with 2 years of dedicated social media experience preferred.
- Proven understanding of the Social Media community, social media tools, techniques and marketing (including both traditional and new media); preferably as it relates to the Retail environment
- Solid organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple, simultaneous projects with short deadlines.
- Clear and effective written and verbal communication with the ability to positively interact at all levels of the organization.
- Proficiency in MS Office suite as well as key Social Media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, etc.) as well as familiarity with web technology, page structure, and basic HTML.
This position has the ability to make certain day to day decisions within the team and will advise and assist senior management on significant decisions. In addition, this position is exposed to confidential information related to financial statements, payroll information and strategic initiatives undertaken by the company.
Applications for this position are being coordinated by Allan Seibert. To apply, CLICK HERE. Candidates, please be sure to email Allan for a packet of market research and company / competitive intel that will differentiate you in your candidacy. Due to the intensely competitive nature of this search, thorough preparation for these interviews with this proprietary material is strongly recommended.
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