What’s an Interactive Producer?
Many different hats. Photo by Franco Folini
“What’s an Interactive Producer?” I’ve gotten this question a few times when I tell people my job title. To answer it in 5 seconds-or-less, I compare it to other types of producer jobs often explaining that, in the same way a Television Producer is ultimately responsible for a show, an Interactive Producer is often the person in charge of web sites or mobile projects.
It’s primarily a content-focused job, but depending on the company you work within, you may be producing very different types of content (writing, audio, games, video, etc.). For example, in the past week I have fulfilled the role as…
- blogger
- photographer
- video producer
- director
- editor
- script writer
- marketer
- designer
- front-end developer
- community engagement
- strategist
- new business developer
Yes, just this past week — and these aren’t the only tasks I’m called upon to do.
Every Interactive Producer I know has a different background and each of these backgrounds is a strength. As you can see from my list of tasks this week, we’re called upon to do a lot of different things. Lines blur between roles and as such a developer could be just as good of a producer as a writer or photographer.
I recently found myself explaining my job to someone who really wanted to break out of communications and into the interactive industry. She was worried her skills wouldn’t translate. Fortunately, due to the communicative nature of our industry, her skills will be quite valuable. My advice to her and to anyone who wants to work in the new media industry is to simply learn as much as you can about lots of different interactive pieces. You never know what you’ll be called upon to do, so every skill is a strength.
The jobs page on this site should be up & running shortly. I’ll be focusing on posting jobs that relate to the new media industry and offer some tips about working within it both as staff and entrepreneur.
RECENT POSTS
Categories
AboutNewMedia.com is run by Guinevere Orvis. I'm an
June 5th, 2008 at 8:46 am
T’is one of the main titles I’m looking to fill somewhere, so I’m looking forward to your job postings!
August 4th, 2008 at 6:34 am
It’s interesting that even though the title Interactive Producer has been around for a while, most managers would have a fairly limited understanding of the full breadth of tasks that can fall under this domain.
Another point worth raising is that producers who want to work on international content need to either have specific cultural knowledge of the areas the content is reaching, or know how to bounce their work off those that do.
September 23rd, 2008 at 8:08 pm
Nice post. I love your *short* list
I’m seeing interactive producers naturally align with disciplines from their own background, be it community development, social media engagement, web analytics, development, etc. Yet we maintain a working knowledge of all parts of an integrated campaign.
I would encourage anyone entering this field to get a handle on project management and effective communication. Approach your teams & clients with a servant’s heart. You’re going to need to be a teacher, mediator, cheerleader & drill sergeant and you’ll need to know when to be which.
And be passionate about emerging trends in media as well as past memes & case studies. Don’t be intimidated by technology. Read as much as you can and be ready to relate what you learn to your current campaigns. This role a good blend of strategy + tactics.
http://twitter.com/shannonswenson
December 14th, 2008 at 6:01 pm
test