Are Social Media experts surplus to requirements in a recession?
Shel’s post and about 200 follow attempts on Twitter from various “Social media experts, Social media ninja’s or Media experts got me thinking.
What really are Social Media experts and who decides they are experts?
Number of followers?
Expert in their field?
Published?
Connected?
Looking at a list by Charlene Li which Jeremiah Owyang mentioned on Twitter I am still unsure what this group could bring to our business. I notice from Mari Smith’s profile that she is a Facebook expert, Mari probably is one of the nicest people in the world and has a beautiful smile but what do you have to do to become a Facebook expert.
I know most of the people on the list and am huge admirers of them but I still don’t get it.
What am I missing here, seriously I need help understanding this
What could a social media expert do for MAXroam?
Can they help us sell more SIM’s?
Should we hire a social media expert? are we wrong by not having one?
How much do they charge and how is their influence on us calculated?
Imagine it took 24 comments before a real business idea emerged from the commentators suggesting a real social business idea.
Thanks Sabrina
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Twitter: shanekny
Funny you should blog this today Pat as i just published a post on that very matter…. http://www.ifoods.tv/blog/using-social-media-to-grow-your-business/
It annoys me that so many people are claiming to be experts or even having the audacity to try to earn a living out of it. There are some true pioneers out there like Gary Vaynerchuk who are building up communities and monetizing them but your business is slightly different. If I were you I would be using one of your employees to do it for 3 hours a day. Could you sell more sims by using this technique? Yes. As I said to you before people on yachts and boats would love your service as they are in a different country every day and pay massive roaming costs while often having 3 phones. Why not try to interact with these people on Facebook, Twitter etc and get a buzz going. I am pretty sure none of them know about your product but if they did word would spread fast. This is only one example of how you could increase sales through social media and it costs nearly zip
There is only one measure of a social media expert; results. It doesn’t matter how many people follow them, or how well their blog ranks. What matters are the results they have provided for their clients. Look for ones that ask as many questions about your business as you do about theirs. Look for ones that have real experience in actual SM programs, and not simply a book or blog about it.
Finally, look for ones that talk about goals, and calibrate how you will measure a win.
Look for integrity, social media has a new set of ethical principles. They may have to push back on you a bit, but also look for flexibility. So much social media theory is not actually applicable in real world business communications.
Leave the rest to tweet and blog at each other on social media theory.
Hope this helps
@niall
Vaynerchuk is a genius and his work sells wine which is the whole point
thanks for your comment
Twitter: topgold
23rd November, 2008 at 4:25 pm
Client references and case studies cut through all the smoke and snake oil.
Pat being so well connected you are the best SM expert for your business. Just as Gary V is for his.
In reality there are very few people/experts I would turn too in this space because like you and many of the people I follow – we are connected with most of the trends that are occurring across the multiple social gathering spaces. e.g Twitter, Qik, Fb, Ff etc.
The people/experts I would turn too include Chris Messina, Tim Bray, Joseph Smarr, Mark Birbeck, Dave Recordon, Kevin Marks, Marc Canter, Jeff Barr etc who are ACTUALLY driving the OpenSocial Network forward through technology and know what they are talking about.
That said however some so called “SM Experts” can help companies who are not up on the latest trends or well connected. I call this good old fashioned consulting which aims to sell just what they learnt last week or overheard at an event/meeting.
God I would love to name the A-list people I meet at various events who call themselves “experts” and have no idea what they are talking about.
heh..I like the post Pat. I suppose some of these social media gooroos know something, but honestly, how many people “follow” them on twitter, jaiku, facebook whatever…means feck all.
How long have twitter, jaiku, facebook been around? A few years?
being an expert in something like this, means nothing.
How do you become an expert in these things? As far as I can see: you have to waste, sorry “invest” alot of your waking hours “engaging the community” etcetera, etcetera…
This stuff isn’t rocket science to use. It *is* rocket science to create (jaiku inventors, twitter inventors).
Your question about selling SIMs, getting you customers..no I don’t think these gooroos will necessairly do this.
They will get your name known in the small group that use twitter, jaiku, facebook (actively).
Like someone above said, see if one of your current employees would like to do this. Although you do a good job yourself…
All this social mumbo-jumbo reminds me of SEO (search engine optimisation) in the 90′s-2000.
Everyone was an SEO expert, but when it came down to actual *results* very few were able to deliver.
I’m sure I’ve insulted a few people, but if so, let’s have a conversation.
Its more than just social media, it’s about blending SM/SC with Blogger Relations, Media Relations, Analyst Relations and conference activities.
You know the story..you’ve heard it, and seen it in action.
These “experts” in a single niche need to look at the whole picture, otherwise its nothing but an echo chamber.
Sorry just read Charlene’s list and at least three people on that list that i personally know are NOT experts IMHO.
Most are PR/Media lovies or professional event attendees. i.e name the event and they are there.
Ask any of the people on that list why Oauth is important to the future of a distributed social network and how it should be implemented with SREG and they wouldn’t have a clue. Ask them why Facebook Connect threatens OpenID. Ask them how Chrome and Webkit relate and how this will help the open mobile platform for Apple and Google. Finally ask then how RDFa and cloud computing are related .. I’ll stop there
@andy
totally agree, should have mentioned you guys as an example of how its properly done.
It’s as simple as this: If it increases your long term profit you need one. However as social media is al about interaction you need to watch out for two things: 1) how much does your “expert” interact, how long have they been at this game (avoid FB heroes) and what is the quality/standard of their interaction. 2) while the expert can advise you, it is you that has to interact & contribute to your social media effort. It is not just another outlet for your PR blurb.
It’s like hiring someone to make sure the bottom of your webpages reads well while ignoring the rest of the website. I greatly dislike the term “social media” since it’s a falsely created new product that people will market to extract more money from a client.
I’m an expert in the word AND, the number 3 and the question mark. Surely I should just say I know how to type?
Every “expert” I’ve met says the same shit. i.e. Start online conversations with your customers, get a twitter account, get a group on Facebook, start a blog etc.
I can’t see where their expertise lies, and I’ve only seen a couple deliver measurable results that matter.
Marketing, Advertising, and general business Cop On ™ are getting a shitload of fancy new names these days.
I think Collin and Bernie’s points are both helpful and true.
I think there are two extra things to take into account from my perspective running a large specialist social media agency in the UK:
- expertise being on a spectrum
Not many of today’s hordes of social media experts will have much to offer you Pat. You are an ‘expert’ yourself.
I reckon all expertise is relative, and in this field is relative to the client community so (broadly speaking) in this list you refer to they are probably *all* experts.
Every time we train or work with marketers at prominent UK brands we are reminded of the gulf between the web industry’s knowledge and that of the average UK business person. There are lots of exceptions, and thankfully this is changing as the behemoths catch up with ‘online’, but the average smart marketer in the UK does know what a blog is, but hasn’t written or commented on them, they don’t know what RSS is or use it, they don’t know about social bookmarking, aggregators or digg-like sites. They have heard of SecondLife and think it’s for dribbling sociopaths (debatable!). They do heavily use TripAdvisor, Facebook and the ratings and reviews on Amazon.
In terms of the principles and ethics of social media, they totally get it but need reminding to drop their traditional control / ‘no negativity’ and overly formal shackles.
So at the moment, a social media expert is someone who does understand all of these and can *translate* both the technology AND the marketing opportunity for their clients.
To someone like you, Pat, you don’t need this. You don’t need an ‘expert’ because by this definition you are one.
- the value of agencies/consultants
So then, the answer to your questions comes down to:
- can they save you time?
- can they produce ideas and implementation that is a bit better than you’d do, which may in turn effect ROI and ultimately influence number of SIMs sold
I think that’s all an expert can offer you guys.
Secondly, I understand where most of the comments here are coming from, and seen from our viewpoint as web insiders they are fair and true: ‘get a blog, get a twitter account – so what?’.
To say that, though, is to underestimate the value in helping the business community move towards these changed ways – value for consumers, employees, shareholders. And is to underestimate or forget how radical it is for a large corporate to ‘permit’ or even ‘invite’ public feedback, to engage directly and openly with consumers, and what that means for the fears and anxieties of those commissioning the work.
We have moved a long way on as a web community, but we need to bring the business community with us IMHO for the benefit of all.
Hi Pat,
As Chris Brogan said at the Podcasters Across Borders conference earlier this year, saying you’re a “social media expert” is like saying you’re an email expert.
The real experts are the people who understand how social media tools (as tactics) and social media more broadly (as a strategy) integrate with other functions, and how to make that work.
Cheers… Dave
This is a great comment. It’s funny to me how just about *everyone* I meet is a social media expert…
But then again, we’re in social media…
How many “PR Experts” or “Marketing Experts” or “Advertising Experts” do you meet? How do they prove themselves?
Case studies…ask to see successful campaigns, those don’t lie.
The beautiful thing about social media is that anyone can portray themselves as the expert as Guy Kawasaki entails. I don’t think there is a min requirement to become one its all bout the way your present yourself imo.
I agree with Bernie: Ask them for real references. And results. My sense: Not a one of them can cite a single reference.
Here’s my take: Calling yourself an “expert” or a “guru” certainly means you aren’t one. Beyond that, it takes real client succes to generate business results. I’ve been in the employee communication business for a couple of decades; I’ve worked worldwide with some of the biggest and most successful multinationals; I’ve done hundreds of projects and M&A. And still I would never tell a prospective client that I’m am expert. It’s up to me to show my bona fides. I can’t just claim I’m an expert — my clients tell prospective clients what’s up.
Social media…hah. It’s a tool. So is television. I’ve watched a lot of television — does that make me a television expert?
I see a lot of losers and poseurs in social media. None of them are real businessmen like you. They’re PR people with no clients except themselves.
Pat, it seems like you are weighted towards Forrester references and Twitter profiles. Those would be two ends of the spectrum of so-called expertise I suppose.
I’d echo many of the points @will makes above.
(See? I used a @ in front of a name because that is how social media works and surely I’ve created some monetary construct by doing so and there is probably a social media expert that can break down the deep global impact of using the @ as a way to reference the dancehall sized conversation area that is the unthreaded social meda destinations — yes, this is a tongue in cheek example of what “experts” provide)
One of the areas that mobile wireless companies and telecom are concerned with is the not so surreptitious land grab for social connections — more commonly called “the network”. Another area is regulatory maneuvering since communications are an interesting path to deal in CPNI and how such CPNI is leveraged.
For the vision and big picture I’d look to analysis of calling and texting patterns for the true size of a social network vs. the opining of someone that has no clue where financial patterns emerge in handsets, carriers, MVNO’s, etc… even geniuses get mobile wireless trends wrong. Newly minted experts in “duh” probably won’t impact the bottom line either.
I’d liken this to a debate between the value of a historian vs. a futurist to the road map and efficacy of a business and its financial model.
What so few experts in social media seem to articulate while they are diligently describing the nuances of short hand and new ways of using a given tool is questions like:
1) What and how does the operator make more money or make the customer relationship more resilient to competitive attack using social media techniques and how is this ROI tracked or proofed?
2) What is a reasonable growth metric for net new accounts when releasing or applying social media against a line of business or a high margin feature in terms of demand generation?
3) What percentage of my existing customer base is making use of a social media platform already and what is the total costing for my global support organization to add another element outside of call centers, web/email ticketing systems, and internal tool sets that link CRM in a regulatory compliant manner?
Those are just three off the cuff questions that matter.
Beyond that, all I seem to read is of the form:
“[X Service] is neat. You should be on it. Here’s a random example with no bearing on your business model. If you aren’t on [X Service] you are missing out. Please come visit my panel on [X Service] at the [X Convention/Conference] that also has no bearing on your business model.”
Please, someone knock me down with some examples to the contrary.
Thanks,
Jay
I’d hire Will’s company actually if I was to make recommendations. I’d trust a consultancy with a great track record not an individual “expert”.
Another point is that you should never call yourself an expert or guru. If you’re really that good others will call you that.
A lot of good questions in this post. Glad to have found your blog. I came here via 1938media’s friendfeed account.
Charlatans have always existed. Probably always will. Have they existed to the extent that they do now with the Internet? Well that’s hard to say. There certainly does seem to be a lot more opportunity to ‘blag’ your way into becoming an expert on the Web. The borders between amateur and profressional seem blurred by the fact that Internet is not bound by any particular code of ethics, other than human common sense.
Second to that is the fact that the Internet is still in its infancy. New territory is usually lawless until its occupiers are able to see it in its totality.
But getting back to the subject of reputation and expertise, in Pre-Internet society this was largely the stuff of peer appraisals and CVs. You built a professional lineage, you created a set of verifiable and traceable credentials. And in traditional sectors (Health, Education, Government etc) this is still laregely the case.
Reputation on the Web is a different ball game. Having a large number of Twitter followers or YouTube video views does actually mean something. It means that you belong to a top tier of users of that particular medium. It means that you’ve learnt how to exploit that medium. But that alone is worthless in ‘real world’ value. Where it starts to make sense is when you’re able to convert those super user stats into ‘real world’ currency. You strike a record or movie deal through your youtube fame, you get invited to speak at conferences and meetups as a result of your Twitter prevalance etc etc. In short you get the opportunity to validate yourself as an expert. So It’s at this point that you shift from being an ‘expert’ on the Web to being an expert in a field.
Finding ways of bridging the on and offline spaces is the hardest part. That’s what we’ve all got to think about, regardless of our fields or ‘niches’ to borrow the French expression. My field is theatre. I’m constantly looking for ways of bridging social media and theatre. There’s huge potential. But like everything it’s down to hard work and a bit of luck.
Pat, if you’ve ever given a discount MAXroam code over Twitter and had anyone use it, congratulations: you’ve successfully leveraged social media – probably more effectively than half the so-call experts.
To be fair, if you came to me with 30K and asked for a social media plan for MAXroam, I’d tell you to spend your money elsewhere. It’s not a good fit for MAXroam. Social media is good for niches that are either emotive or that evoke strong brand loyalty. Food, wine, issue campaigns (both political and social), brands like iPhone and Ben & Jerry’s – sure.
People care a lot about the phone their sim cards go into. They care less about the card that goes in it. “It saves me money? Cool” is pretty much the end of that sales cycle.
There are some interesting and creative things you could try to work with that “travel a lot, want to save money” thing, but social media for shifting sims, no.
I’d disagree with you Sabrina when you say people care less about the SIM that go into their phones.
Maxroam SIMs are for the Maxroam network.
Essentially Maxroam are a network (not sure if you have evey said it Pat, but í hope you won’t agree!).
People care about the networks they use.
“Oh, I’m 087.” “I’m o2.” “I’m with Meteor.”
“Meteor? Really, that’s just for Polish people.”
“No its not. Meteor is a great network.”
If you read something like Mobile Industry Review, you’ll see some people are avid network “users” (http://www.esyurl.com/dpj).
You are right that Maxroam is not in the normal category that uses social-whatever, but people most definately *do* care about the SIMs, and by extension the networks they use.
Networks, when done right, just work, and work well. If a network listens to its users, they win.
First up, take a look at this post from horsecowpig, that was shared with me on Greader by Vero Pepperrell.
http://www.horsepigcow.com/2008/10/22/the-true-value-of-social-media-consultants
A great post that not only points out the value of Social Media for business, but also clarifies the suggestions in the comments above that *you* are the best person there is for the job @ MAXRoam.
The best there is, the best there was and the best there ever will be. Living and breathing MAXRoam online and off – Social Media is merely one channel for product evangelism that you have been able to use.
In regards to your question – my job title at SpinVox has changed a couple of times in the 15 mths I’ve spent there. It only changed to ‘Social Media Strategist’ *after* I wrote the Social Media Strategy Doc for the company in February this year.
However, believe it or not, I’m not one to scream and shout about how I’m an expert in this, or a guru in that… Social Media is something that I genuinely have a passion for and I enjoy finding new ways to utilise the social media/tools to further the SV gospel.
To use a non-Social Media example, I also give out free mobile advice on Twitter. Always have, always will do – both online and offline. I started the Mobile Geeks of London not because I’m a Mobile Guru or a Mobile Expert… but because I’m a Mobile Geek and I love it.
Same applies to Social Media. I know it. I love it. I live it. I breathe it. I apply it to my company because I can…
When I was in the States recently, it became almost laughable that every other person I met was a (freelance) Social Media advisor/strategist/expert/guru and yet, you get three lines into a conversation and you realise that actually they don’t have a clue.
YOU (I mean YOU, Pat) know what it can be used for, which is why you use it every day… and therefore, knowing it as you do, you can tell the good from the bad, to the down right ugly with ease.
(and if you really need 20-odd comments to spell this out to you then you’re not half as smart as I thought you were
)
With any industry: Cream rises to the top.
J.
PS. I second Damien. Hire Will.
@jameswhatley
I agree with everything you said especially I am not half as smart as you think I am
Seriously you do an amazing job but there are so many snake oil sales people out there and that is my point, look at the comments, very few people get it bang on.
Bernard, you’re reversing the horse before the cart at the end there. Do you know who runs Meteor, 02 or Vodafone? Can you pick up the phone and call them when you have a question or a problem?
For the average customer, the answers are “no” and “no” so there’s an actually justifiable value-add for BigBrandCo to enter social media. It puts then “in conversation” with their most savvy customers, makes them seem “normal” and accessible, personalises a faceless monolith – and oh yeah, sells the illusion that they actually care about your individual customer experience.
This is not MAXroam. Pat is not 300 degrees of separation from his customers. He is immediately and personally accessible (and takes calls at home on weekends from customers.) He does not need to leverage social media to reach his customers – the man couldn’t get away from them if he tried. He has to be the most accessible CEO on the planet.
I am *not* saying that people don’t care about their SIM. I said they care less than they do about the phone it’s in. If MAXroam wants to build the kind of strong brand affinity people feel for iPhones or arguably for O2 (who are loathed in Ireland, btw) there are good ways they can do this. My point is that starting a MAXroam Facebook Fans group is totally not the right way to do this for MAXroam, and would amount to nothing so much as social media wankery.
Good for you. Not a list I’d want to be on.
Sabrina,
I think we got abit mix-up there.
You’re saying BigBrandCo ops have an incentive in using social tools?
I completely agree MaxRoam and Pat are not like the large mobile ops.
But I am saying Maxroam are still a network, and people care about the networks they use (I don’t know why, but I have seen it for the past 10 years, and expect to see it for the next).
Maxroam customers care about using Maxroam also.
My point was that Maxroam should use social tools, as Pat has been doing up to now.
My second point (I stated above in my first comment) was that Pat, and Maxroam don’t need any social gooroo to tell them how to use these tools.
Pat is the best person to figure out how to use these tools as he knows his business inside-out and is a good no bullshit communicator.
I hope that explains it better!
Sabrina,
“is that starting a MAXroam Facebook Fans group is totally not the right way to do this for MAXroam, and would amount to nothing so much as social media wankery.”
Again I agree. Alot of these tools amass to a communal wank-fest (glad you used the word first!), and do not apply when it comes to the business that Maxroam is in.
Maxroam want to sell SIMs, and shift inventory. Essentially this is it. And its a good business to be in. Not an easy one, which is why they don’t need to waste money on something that doesn’t necessairly bring in the subscribers.
They don’t (or shouldn’t) really care if they have the most followers, and whatever else people do one Facebook.
I like Dave Fleet’s answer above re: saying you are a social media expert is like saying you are an email expert. Social media is a new multi-purpose communications medium, like email, and it is now critical for any business to properly engage much in the same way that businesses need to communicate with customers via other channels.
I prefer, however, to focus on your second question re: how social media can help you with MaxRoam. Here are a few ideas.
1. Start with listening. Monitor every mention of your brand, your competitors brands, but don’t stop there. Listen broader than your brand for conversations about your industry or things that your brand can relate to or help with.
2. Listen for a point of need that your brand can relate to. What is MaxRoam’s value proposition? What problems do you solve? How do people express those problems typically? Listen for those conversations and you will find opportunities to meet people at a point of need. No one wants to be interrupted with an unsolicited sales pitch. However, if I have asked for help or expressed a problem or a need and you can help me, you are not interrupting – you are helping. If a brand sells orthopedic shoes (to pick a random example), they should listen for conversations about sore feet.
3. Provide customer support online. Don’t force your customers go through your “line-up” or process, your brand should line up for them. If they have a question, problem, idea, complaint – anything – respond quickly and transparently. Once customers know you are listening, you will get more questions that they might not bother to ask you otherwise (and you want to hear these, right?).
4. Promote positive word of mouth about MaxRoam. Every time someone says something positive about MaxRoam or recommends it to someone else a) respond to them online with a thank you, and b) save the comment and promote it on your web site or bookmark them as references for prospective customers asking about your product in the future. Here is an example where my company does this with twitter comments http://bit.ly/references
5. Influencers. While I am a fan of customer communication online, influencers are carry a lot of weight with your potential target customers. Identify the top influencers and the most influential & engaged communities that talk about your industry. Build relationships through participation in the conversations that interest them, add value, and listen for something you can help with.
6. Start to tell your own story. Add value through content creation. This might be content which helps your customers solve their challenges or various ideas /ways to use MaxRoam – or perhaps interviews or stories of people using your product and how they benefited.
I am confident you can achieve significant benefits for MaxRoam through a smart use of social media (and forgive me if you already are doing these things… you may very well be).
Marcel
CEO, Radian6
@pat now you have enough info to buy what @marcel is offering you…
by the way, good points Marcel
Social media is simply one other way to “press the flesh” with your current and potential customers. Sure, a so-called “Social Media” expert might be able to help you do that. A good one might even be able to identify the right places to do it or give you pointers on better ways to do it.
At the end of the day, someone with a true passion for the product should be the one doing the work of pressing the flesh. You are that person, Pat. You’ve got the most skin in the game, and you’re already doing many of the right things.
Also, I think it’s important to know that you have to work hard at this social media game. It is by no means a short path to a quick win. It takes a lot of time, energy, and passion. Anyone who tells you otherwise is no expert.
Pat
For me there are three points that might make a difference for you before deciding who can be of help and if you need social media
1) size of your biz – being a Fortune 500 is a bit different than being a micro business (maxroam NOT FORTUNE 500)
2) are you selling a good (e.g., DVD player, books, software) or a service (public accounting services) (telco service ==> SIM CARDS to reduce roaming costs
3) who is your customer – consumer and/or procurement officer (govt. or firm) (PROBABLY ALL FOR maxroam)
Obviously, answer to these questions and some fine tuning (e.g., young customers or grey suits) might make things clearer when it comes to deciding if you need a social media expert or campaign or not.
For instance, my customers (procurement officers) rarely hang out on Twitter or FriendFeed. Maybe yours do. Whatever you do if your cash is limited you cannot be everywhere. So unless your clients hang out where you are in cyberspace, why be there?
Just to illustrate, I saw your post being linked by jowyang on Twitter, so I stopped by and read all the impressive comments. I then went and found your company’s website (a firm I have not heard about before) and I tested:
http://www.maxroam.com/rates.asp
for Belgium calling Switzerland. And unfortunately, I got no price back.
So what does this mean? Social media can get your potential client to visit your site (see my case) and if things work out he or she might purchase your product (i.e. if things work properly, of course).
So you can benchmark see – http://My.ComMetrics.com – but if you cannot link your social media in one way or the other to a Return on Relationships or ROR instead of ROI, why do it.
Finally, as an SME I blog because 40% of my e-mail subscribers are my customers…. and they do give me feedback (not just with comments on http://ComMetrics.com/?cat=1 ) but when I meet them or call them…
And no, my grey suits do not hang out at Twitter. As well, your competitors over here still use primarily poster ads and get people to buy their SIM cards for roaming at the small neighborhood store… neither on Twitter nor Facebook.
Thanks for the great post and the wonderful comments I was able to read above. Have a great day.
@weburs
thanks for your comment, really appreciate your points
Belgium to Switzerland works perfect for me
http://www.flickr.com/photos/maxroam/3055750562/
It’s a matter of track record and case studies. Every other profile on twitter and linkedin is from a social media guru. show me your clients! show we your successful track record – I’ll be glad to show mine – and then we can talk.
Social Media Marketing is simply a tool to enable better customer service, feedback, interaction and engagement as part of an overall marketing plan.
And an expert in SMM should be able to provide ideas, mechanism, tools and measurements that tie into the overall marketing plan, as well as the results to demonstrate their input and success.
I’d say that the role is highly important, particularly in a recession, as trust and loyalty (and customer retention) become increasingly important to many companies – it’s cheaper to retain a customer, and often better to help an existing customer spend more often).
If MAXroam is about global mobile use, then Twitter would be a suitable venue for feedback and customer service.
It would also be advisable to look at conversations taking place on travel sites, e,g, WAYN, or some way of providing value to users of Dopplr etc.
And having some kind of ‘blog’ about mobile, where you could get lots of comments from the type of adopters who care about roaming charges, travel a lot, and are likely to tell other people would be useful
None of this is about quick ways to get large numbers of people via social media marketing – it’s about slowly but surely increasing conversions by building brand awareness and reputation as part of the overall marketing/advertising/PR package.
I’ve occasionally been described as an expert or gooroo by people who haven’t been exposed to enough to know better – luckily I’m usually able to correct them with the right recommendations for people! I just want to be able to improve the company I work for with the right tools and be able to demonstrate how it worked.
I never claimed to be a social media expert, Pat, and I no longer consult. But you did pay me to help you get started on a blog. Did you feel you got your money’s worth. I know quite a few people on that list. I would recommend many f them to help people get started and find their own voices in social media.
@shelisrael
absolutely Shel and looking forward to my mention in your book for returning the favour by getting you into twitter
My point in the post was that every second guy is now a social media expert/ ninja or some other social term, it wasn’t a blog about you and if I gave that impression I apologize wholeheartedly.
No, I didn’t take it personally. My point is that you called out a list and a good many of the people on it have done for others what I did for you. There will be precisely the number of “experts” in any field that the market will bear. The rest of us will go off and write books. Thanks for turning me on to Twitter, Pat.
Hey Pat! Yay, thanks for the shoutout. Truly fascinating discussion here.
I’m with Shel – insofar as focusing on social media is the one area *not* to let go of, especially during a recession.
People are hungry for connection, involvement, engagement. They want to be seen, heard, validated, acknowledged. Social media/web 2.0 provides an unprecedented opportunity for businesses to set themselves apart by effectively integrating the mediums into their overall marketing plan. Obama is certainly an excellent example of success with social media.
One of the keys is to focus on the top 2-3 sites that yield maximum results, typically with a critical mass of members that are your target demographic. e.g for me it’s a combo of Facebook & Twitter with a bit of FriendFeed thrown in.
As far as expert status – a Harvard study indicates expertise takes 10,000 hours of study. That’s one way to measure. I’m also with commenter, Collin Douma, above – it’s the *results* that count. Demonstrating you have the ability to put up a Facebook profile, page or Twitter account is not a result people should necessarily pay big bucks for. It’s the proven money-in-the-bank type of results that warrant investment, imho.
As far as my Facebook expertise – I like to say peeps can ask me *anything* about Facebook and I’ll know the answer… (I certainly ought to after 10k+ hours of study/experience!
Write-ups in likes of Fast Company, a Stanford book, interviews up the wazoo & mega speaking engagements are all fab. But, it really is the measurable results for my clients that counts at the end of the day.
Cheers,
@marismith
P.S. Btw, I just fanned your Facebook Page, Pat. Glad to see you have one for MaxRoam. Looks like you could use a smidge of oomph; feel free to check out my top ten tips for promoting your FB Page at http://whyfacebook.com/2008/09/25/how-to-create-and-promote-your-facebook-fan-page
A slightly different angly, but looking at the title of the post, I’m not sure how this is recession-relevant particularly. Surely this goes to the core of SM’s value proposition, in a downturn, or not?
I agree – that it’s the results that count. You could have loads of followers, subscribers, etc. but if you aren’t using that to sell whatever it is you are trying to sell; whether it’s widgets, yourself, or a tourism region; you aren’t really using social media for that.
There’s also the balance of using your expertise for yourself vs. for clients — and what about the ‘social’ of social media: the fun of it?
Somehow, it seems to me that half the social media “experts” and social media “thinkers” I’ve run into have simply defined themselves as such, due to their fascination (which is often a little too romantic) with the amount of “connection” social media provides us (or the illusion of hereof) and the various tools and uses that derive from it.
Twitter: shanekny
26th November, 2008 at 5:59 am
As one of the social media consultants out there, I feel like I have to defend our breed.
Social Media Consultants exist for a variety of reasons. Social media is a powerful too for branding, recruiting, developing new business contacts and simply communicating. However, it is a tool, and using the tool blindly can be like giving someone a video camera and telling them to make a superbowl spot.
One very strong point to make is the average age of people who ask for social media consultants. May of them are “Digital Immigrants” who began using computers far into their lives and have adapted to the technology and are now adapting to a new use of the technology: 2 way communication with the masses. There is a group of “Digital Natives” who do not know life without a computer. They are fluent in a language of digital that exists on Facebook and Twitter and countless other sites because they literally live their lives on those sites. Their presence on the sites is an online reflection of their offline lives. There is a certain etiquette that is expected on the sites, certain ways to approach people, and ways to be time efficient without spamming. And to complicate things more, it varies between Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Plaxo, LinkedIn, etc. To a certain demographic, those are inherent. To another one, they need to learn. That is the value of consultants.
Another value is having someone to monitor the social media sphere – to know what the next thing is, when to jump on it, and to sort through the “extra crap.” It would take an executive, recruiter, or any other position that hires consultants hours and hours each day to sort through ever social media article. But to hire someone to read it all for you, deliver the valuable stuff, and teach you how to use it for your company- THAT is the correct use of a consultant. If you had talked to any social media consultant 3 months ago, they would have had you on Facebook, building a Facebook Application. Guess what? Now it is Twitter. What happened in there? Why the shift? How to shift?
Being in social media means carrying both a personal and professional brand for your company into the world. It is the equivalent of painting your own permanent billboards allover your town. As a company, you probably pay someone to advertise for you, manage your public relations, etc. So why wouldn’t you pay a consultant to give you the basic rundown of how to best utilize social media?
I *think* it’s technically impossible to be an expert in the field of social media, if operating off of Gladwell’s new assertion that expertise requires 10,000 hours of practice (about 10 years). I suppose defining tools loosely you could get back that far, but it would be a cognitive hack, IMO.
For me, as someone with expertise in the communications field (broadcast media specifically), the social media toolset is just another way to tell a story. The title of social media consultant might be chic right now, but I don’t believe there’s much shelf life too it. The field is too easy to leap into if you or your business have time, and a well-connected intern to do the legwork. (OK, it’s a little more tricky than that, but not by much).
I would submit that there’s more potential to grow a business by simply highlighting social media as a smaller part of the whole media communications package that includes strategy, messaging, design, the press, and (potentially) social media as appropriate. The broader the net, the greater the service to clients, particularly in an era when contractors will be pickling up legwork from laid off colleagues.
Thoughts?
Pat, a great conversation to have and I am glad that so many well respected people have joined in.
I can’t help feeling that I should be taking part in this conversation too, but can’t think of much else to add that hasn’t already been said, especially by Will. But, not being short of a word or two, here is my two-penneth:
1) Being in the exact same boat as Will, translation is very much the key word. Matching customer/brand requirements to the plethora of tools is key – as long as this is done with proper insights and research (of which there are plenty of reliable tools available).
2) In order to do 1, sure, you DO have to be immersed in the media. The important thing here is not to be taken in by people who simply use these tools for fun “I blog therefore I am” peeps.
3) Most “social media” – sorry for using those words Damien
, is just a bunch of tools and technologies though. As these tools hit the mainstream more and more, there is no need for an “expert” to explain how they work to clients – they will already likely be using it.
So where does that leave the social media agency and “expert”? If they have anything about them (and I think the link to Tara’s post is a pertinent one), they should understand why the network or tool works so well and be able to articulate HOW and WHY people communicate in the way they do – off the back of the findings they SHOULD have dug up earlier.
They must THEN work with the client to understand how the brand can acceptably enter into or create this space – and work with the client to continue this.
I, and highly likely Will, do exactly that. Does that make me an expert? Maybe. Does it mean that I can just articulate somethings better than others? Perhaps. It certainly doesn’t make me a fraud just because this is a “new” area of makreting.
In the end, it falls down to the need to tag something. If we tag it (in this case, the tag is Social Media Expert) it becomes easier to deride, poke fun at and ridicule. Lets not all forget, it’s very easy to point the finger at people who stick their necks out.
Done properly, working with clients in this space can be extremely rewarding for both parties (and customers). I’m proud of a lot of the work I have done in this space – and my title is irrelevant – but non-social media client convention dictates I have one.
That said, there are some scurrilous little shits out there (as in any industry I suppose), who are taking advantage of many people.