This morning I was running through some of my LinkedIn connections and was rattled by what I saw…person after person claiming to be a Social Media Expert. Roles like: Event Planner / Social Media Consultant, Real Estate Agent / Social Media Coach lay littered throughout my contacts pile along with ‘new’ one-man-shop companies magically replacing their previously listed as unemployed counterparts.
It’s a proverbial gold mine out there. Lots of promises of future riches.
For the same reason that social media has democratized business and news – it’s free / low cost, anyone can do it, all you need is a computer, you don’t need a degree, it allows you to experiment at minimal risk – it has also democratized education and expertise. Add to this a large number of companies feeling pressured to deploy social media + a lack of understanding about what social media is and how to use it + fear + an overflowing pool of ‘experts’ and you have the perfect chemistry for potential disaster.
For those looking for a social media expert
- The fact that someone is a friend, because they use social media all the time, because they’ve done a good job promoting their own brand, because they have social media in their title or because they know more about social media than you is not a good enough reason to pay them to help your business.
- There are a tremendous amount of great, free resources available to businesses looking to better understand what social media is and how to use it. Here’s a great place to start. Spend some time getting familiar with the space before you engage someone in a dialogue about how it can help your business. You don’t need to be an expert yourself, but you do need to know how to speak the language.
- Before you consider hiring someone, know why your business is considering social media, know what you’re looking to achieve and know how you’ll measure success. This will help you determine what kind of expertise you need.
- When you interview potential consultants, ask the right questions (for a good list of starters: 10 Questions to ask a Social Media Expert, 8 Questions to ask your Social Media Expert or Questions to ask a Social Media Expert before you give them money).
- Recognize that social media is not an isolated communications activity…in fact, it’s not even just a marketing activity. Social media touches every aspect of your business from sales to operations to HR. All of these departments should in different degrees involved in the process.
- Take a good look at your corporate culture. Culture clash is one of the #1 reasons for social media upstart failure. You can hire the best consultant in the world, but you have to keep the social media engine running. If your culture is closed, hierarchical, non-transparent, siloed, etc you will have a much harder job of making it work successfully in your organization. Understand what it takes to make social media successful and ensure these values are echoed within your organization.
What would you recommend to others who are looking to implement social media into their business activities?
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[on READY2SPARK] Why event planners need to beware of the Social Media Expert – http://www.ready2spark.com/2010/08/why-e… #eventprofs
Why event planners need to beware of the social media expert…… http://www.ready2spark.com/2010/08/why-e…
RT @ready2spark: Why event planners need to beware of the social media expert…… http://www.ready2spark.com/2010/08/why-e…
Thanks for this post, Lara! I was just having a conversation with someone this morning about the lack of quality control with the plethora of “social media experts”. I myself have fallen prey to being a bit too cocky with social media and have to consistently remind myself that there really is no such thing as a “SM expert”.
[…] social media expert A couple of weeks ago I wrote about a growing concern I have regarding ‘The Social Media Expert‘. Social media is not well understood, is over-hyped and there are a large number of people […]
Thanks for this article. I get followed daily by people that are “Social Media Experts” and I used to follow them all back, thinking I would learn something. Buyer beware.
I wasn’t convinced about the power of social media until I met a lady at a conference, she was with her daughter, they were reunited after 15 years because they both were subscribed to and posted on the same blogg site.
Thanks for the comment Jody. I have to say that I had a similar experience and reunited with long-lost family on Facebook 🙂
The biggest problem with hiring a social media expert is that they don’t know your business as good as you. Of course you can utilize them to market your Twitter and Facebook pages, and get you followers, but only people from your company can answer questions about your product or service. Say, you are a a night club – and someone asks you “How is the place going to be tomorrow night? Could I bring a group of 10? Would I get in?” How would that social media expert know how to answer that question? Would they guess? Would they stop to email/call you for answer?
What I would recommend is hire someone to get you the traffic to make social media worth your time but don’t let social media experts communicate with your clients. You’ll need to do that yourself – otherwise your customers will just vague answers and you may have lost out on some business.
With the economy as poor as it is – I’m sure your company could find some free interns to help you manage this part of your business. Even if they were not free, I’m sure it would be cheaper than hiring an “expert” to communicate with your customers.