PETER SHANKMAN
| POSTED ON July 13th, 2009 | 234 COMMENTS | + ADD YOUR COMMENT |
Co-written by Peter Shankman and Sarah Evans
There’s a new phenomena of people declaring themselves social media experts. We’ve actually heard from firms who pushed someone to become their resident social media expert because the person was on Facebook. There is no endorsement or accreditation to set apart legitimate industry leaders from bandwagon opportunists.
Social media is a hot topic. We get it. And we don’t want to see people getting scammed by self-touting experts ready to make a quick buck.
There are very few people who could, or should in all honesty, be called social media experts. We’re sharing this list with our networks, including those not yet involved in the social media world to give them a helpful guide.
1. They call themselves an evangelist, guru or expert, and no one else does.
2. They use “expert” or “evangelist” or “guru” or our personal favorite, “influencer” as any of their user names.
3. They “discovered” social media in the last six to 16 months, and there’s nothing online from them in the social media space prior to that. (Remember – Google is your friend.)
4. All of a firm or agency’s “social media strategists” come from traditional PR or Marketing agencies.
5. Everything they learned about social media they learned by reading blog posts (i.e. no application). You can learn a ton about sex from reading Kinsey’s manuals, but I’d still rather be with someone who has some practical experience.
6. They haven’t done anything of significance using social media (i.e. demonstrating they know how to apply the tools). Again, see point on Kinsey.
7. They keep shouting about “widgets.” (Or worse, they’re still talking about push marketing.)
8. Their resume doesn’t include anything that has to do with social media (i.e. no results using social media). And no, having a Twitter account doesn’t cut it.
9. Their sound bites eerily resemble what you just heard from Chris Brogan and Brian Solis. And quite frankly, following them and a few others (including Sarah) can usually answer 95% of your social media questions to begin with.
10. Their firm has added social media as an additional service (as opposed to integrating it into a comprehensive PR approach). If they say “And we’ll do Facebook and Twitter!” beware.
11. Any use of the term “MySpace” unless you’re only targeting 14-year-old males, or independent bands.
12. Their networks don’t reflect that they are connected. (You should probably research them before hiring them. If their blog hasn’t been updated since 2004 yet they tweet every time they take a slurp of Yogurt, something’s up.)
13. When you Google them, it’s difficult to find them. If they don’t show up on the first page of Google, how are they going to get you up there?
14. They never talk to you about free ways to monitor your online presence (like Google alerts and Twitter search). Perhaps they’re afraid you can do it yourself?
15. They don’t maintain an active blog (at least two posts every month).
16. Any case studies they present only involve very big companies with very big budgets
17. Their lead social media strategist is “this kid we picked up after his internship ended.”
18. When they talk strategy, there is no approach that encompasses a discussion about: communications, marketing, advertising, business development, internal communications and/or customer service.
19. They see “Social Media” as a replacement for customer service, when in fact, only good customer service propels positive social media.
20. They want to charge you to get you signed up on social media sites (yuck).
21. There’s a pay structure that includes a pay-per-post model. Run very far away, very fast.
22. The strategy they provide you primarily includes a Twitter profile and a Facebook fan page.
23. Measurement to them means building up lots of followers and fans.
24. After you work with them you’re just as confused as when you started.
25. They’ve never used Help a Reporter Out (added by Sarah, not Peter). To Sarah’s point, they’ve also not suggested any of the wonderful free services out there before they recommend paying.
This is our list. We’re not saying you have to agree or disagree, just that people acknowledge everyone who calls themselves an expert, isn’t. The list doesn’t end here, either. Share your own “red flags” to identifying social media “expert” posers.
Cross Posted on Shankman.com and PRSarahEvans.com
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Bingo! You wouldn’t hire a gardener without checking for dirt under the fingernails, would you? |
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They appear to have no life at all a part from posting about their “Free ebook” or Free training deals. They also have no other photos except their one profile picture. |
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Love the list and agree with the vast majority of it Peter. However I’ll take cause with 11 – MySpace (Full disclosure: I worked for them in LA until January) is still huge and a lot of traffic (and this includes FB) is from older users. A while back 40% of all moms online have a MySpace account (http://marketingtomoms.blogspo.....space.html). Probably dwindled slightly (will have to check comScore etc) but I wouldn’t count it out for a campaign to create awareness in that market etc. P. PS – Fancy being interviewed for the PR Week blog? |
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Great post. I’d add “rock star” to #1 and #2. Bruce Springsteen is a rock star, people. |
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Good stuff Peter. I’ve taken a look at the flip side of the coin and came up with a list of 5 signs you’ve picked the right Social Media practitioner: http://www.rickliebling.com/20.....ctitioner/ (cross-commented on Shankman.com) |
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First, inquiring minds want to know – did Peter or Sarah author 2nd sentence of #5? ;) Also, while there may be some truth to #11, folks shouldn’t summarily dismiss MySpace given its size and reach. After all, The White House included MySpace as part of its strategy (http://www.myspace.com/whitehouse) and other government agencies trying to reach certain demos should look at it as well (think DoD). |
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I’m just delighted by the PR people dropping in to say “Oh, I SOOOO agree, my rock star thought leader expert firm can’t stand those people because [insert unimpressive credential paragraph here].” |
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Thank you for taking the time to read the post and respond. I’m having a good time reading responses and learning what others would include on the list. Best, |
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You hit the proverbial nail on the head with this article. With new social media tools added everyday to the internet it’s virtually impossible to be an “expert”. Thanks for sharing. |
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Peter, Sarah, this is a great list. We published a shorter version on this very topic about a year ago: http://traackr.com/blog/?p=36 I’d say it’s still valid for the most part. If anything, I’ve become more radical on this issue than I was then and I would advise to stay away altogether from anyone claiming expertise in the field of social media. There has definitely been people behind quite a few social media success stories and there is a handful of social media superstars but it would be quite a stretch to call most of them an expert (ref. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expert). |
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Peter and Sarah: Great points to be sure…I thought you might enjoy reading a post on the same topic which can be viewed at: http://www.n2growth.com/blog/s.....or-wannabe Thanks Peter and Sarah… |
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Hi Peter, Another red flag I’ve run across is if the so-called expert doesn’t talk about your goals and an all-encompassing marketing strategy that integrates Social Media as one part of a larger plan. This is key! Few people make money off of a Twitter page (or Facebook page) all by itself. You need an effective Website and likely a blog too at the very least. Also, if they only talk about the latest tricks and tools, but know nothing of tried and true methods like posting to forums or online article databases, watch out. These are wonderful, inexpensive ways to promote your business online that many newbies aren’t even thinking about as they’re too busy becoming “experts” in the latest and greatest. Thanks for sharing! Stacy Stacy Karacostas |
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Agree with Sherri. Social media is a tactic to be integrated into a larger plan. There’s a similar article with a Land of Oz twist just posted today: http://tinyurl.com/mvep2j |
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Great Advice! I am breaking into the social media world as a new blogger and have found this article very helpful. Look forward to hearing more. Thanks! |
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Great post. Love the intern comment. : ) I would add: no mention of reputation management. |
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This is so ironic! I was stopping by shankman.com to find out more about HARO and stumbled upon this post. I just wrote something this morning discussing the fact that it seems most of the people who are following me on Twitter are “social media experts” that are promising me to make me rich. This reminds me of when I heard Scott Stratten speak and he talked about how he hated it when people said that they make “viral” videos. “You’re not the one who gets to decide if it’s ‘viral’ or not,” was his reply. Funny. My post is here – http://bit.ly/i5BsD – but in fairness, only the beginning deals specifically with social media “experts.” Thanks for the GREAT post! |
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Love, four paws up and funny as usual! Wow, I should show this to the Seattle based socially wise crowd that is full of self proclaimed experts. Gotta get it off my card before I am outed! |
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Great post Peter and Sarah. You hit it dead on as I can’t tell you how many times I have heard the word “expert” from people pitching me their services. Google is a beautiful thing. |
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Excellent advice! There are too many “instant experts” out there. Thanks for sharing. |
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Love it, four paws up and funny as usual! Wow, I should show this to the Seattle based socially wise crowd that is full of self proclaimed experts. Gotta get it off my card before I am outed! |
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Nicely done. When my (copywriting) clients ask me about social media, I tell them an “expert” is anyone who has been on twitter six months longer than you. |
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Awesome list, Peter. I particularly like #4: (All of a firm or agency’s “social media strategists” come from traditional PR or Marketing agencies). *sigh* Very well done. Great companion to this post: http://thebrandbuilder.wordpre.....qualified/ I’m going to be sharing this. |
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I would add beware any strategy that doesn’t include active engagement (actually reading, and posting, on blogs, replying to Tweets, blah blah) needs to be avoided as well. |
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Great points…but I’d add one more Kinsey analogy: Passion. Is your social media expert passionate about social media and about your business? |
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Couldn’t agree more! Thanks for this, Peter! Would love to see more articles like this. Very helpful! Okay, about to Tweet about this with a link. :-) |
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This is great stuff. I am usually suspicious at the outset if someone uses guru. Just seems to be one of those hype words. Thanks for the article. |
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I agree with most of what you’ve written here. There are a lot of people who do call themselves an expert, yet have really done nothing, have no testimonials from clients and recommend the very basics for which they want to be highly paid. I’ve also seen those ads where they charge to set you up basic social networks. If a person can’t be bothered to do this themself, they’ll probably never update or use the site, so why bother? The only thing I do disagree with is the use of MySpace. It is NOT only for 14 years old, and if used PROPERLY and CREATIVELY as a marketing tool, you can see some great results. Like Facebook, you can connect with people in the book, music, film industry (or others) and those connections can lead to great opportunities. I have personally connected with 3 New York Times bestselling authors on MySpace. No where else were they as easily accessible. Those connections resulted in one wonderful book review blurb for Whale Song (2007), and the other two will blurb my new novel once a publishing deal has been made. I have also negotiatied with people in the film industry, all from MySpace. I’ve met actors via MySpace who have read my novels as a result. And don’t forget, for a while MySpace was the #1 social network for everyone and Facebook started off as a school reunion type site, and for many is still used mainly to connect with old friends and family. Facebook has its purpose too as a networking tool. So no, MySpace isn’t just a kids’ site. You just need to learn how to use it properly for whatever product or service you’re marketing. You don’t need to use every social network available, since new ones are popping up all the time, but I highly recommend to authors that they have Facebook, MySpace and Twitter as the very basics in marketing. Cheryl Kaye Tardif, |
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This list reminds me of the “Are You An Alcoholic” checklists put out by people who make money treating alcoholism. If you add enough warning signs, EVERYONE but the list maker is an alcoholic! |
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Sarah, having had the pleasure to have met and have dinner with Peter, I had a sneaking suspicion that he was the one to have come up with #5! ;) |
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Great points. I also blogged about this very issue on Dan Schawbel’s blog as a guest poster. The article is titled: Could your Social Media “Expert” Be A Fake? Enjoy |
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my tweet about this: Don’t learn about sex from Kinsey’s manuals/don’t hire social media strategists who read blog posts to become experts. http://bit.ly/12eth (I’m an accountant by training and know better than to add nothing that matters – great article! |
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Two blog posts per month is considered active now? Maybe I should get started again then ;) |
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so the really big money will be in the “certification” programs and ensuing professional associations (dues,dues,dues!). workin’ on those now…:) |
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Bruce Springsteen WAS a rock star, peeps. Maybe you missed the early part of his career, that being from the 70′s 80′s and 90′s. |
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Great post, exactly the reason I don’t add social media guru extraordinaire to my website (even though I am one) |
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Yippee! Yes, this post is like hearing myself think… and I believe it’s dead-on with what many of us are feeling these days. I’d like to add “Unshared Egos” to your list, because as Torley Wong blogged back in March about these snake oil salesmen: “Social media is all about exchanging resources, be it knowledge or tangible goods.” http://www.wisebread.com/7-way.....alesperson Love all the nods and smiles on this one. Makes me feel not so alone :) Thanks for bringing Sarah into the conversation! |
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What amuses me is that every client insists on being pitched as the sine qua non of whatever it is he’s selling, but expects honesty from his SM “expert”. |
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Think of SM experts’ hype as their best demonstrations of what you want them to do for you. |
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Or, they tell you that they’ll take your social media presence “to the next level…” Right, sure. Sell crazy somewhere else. I’m all stocked up. ;) |
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Peter and Sarah: I had to come back to this post and share a link about a company hiring an “influential blogger and social media expert.” That is ripped directly from the headline. |
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Great post! I wrote about the same topic back in February. Vented actually. I’m an American working in India and it’s worse here… http://american-in-delhi.blogs.....media.html |
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This is by far the best blog I ever read! It is so timely with people and companies espousing to be experts and you create a checklist to expose them as frauds! Thank you! |
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Doh! I call myself a web-ninja… is that in the same ilk as “guru”? ;p Great article – Very similar to this brilliant piece I read recently too: http://www.briansolis.com/2009.....thorities/ |
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I don’t think it is wrong for people to call themselves social media experts, I think it is wrong for people not to check their numbers, according to the age old advice “caveat emptor”. for instance if someone has 1,000 followers on Twitter he simply cannot be an expert. 50,000+ still doesn’t necessarily qualify someone, but at least you know that person can “walk the talk” by actually achieving something in the social media space. I simply would not trust someone to help me with social media even if they DIDN’T call themselves an expert unless they had some very high numbers to back up what they are saying. The beauty of the Internet is that it is possible to check these numbers quite easily. So please do so! http://twitter.com/praguebob |
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Of course, here’s how you can really tell if you’re a social media expert, coincidentally penned 3 days ago: http://www.rationalsurvivability.com/blog/?p=1121 /Hoff |
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Heh – you might get a kick out of this site: http://www.socialmediadouchebag.net |
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Your list inspired me to start a blog! I’m still trying to decide if I want to become an expert! http://leahkaiz.blogspot.com/2.....ocial.html |
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You know your social media expert might not be an expert if they don’t even mention ROI, or if they invent some new type of ROI that doesn’t actually involve ROI. The frustration of hearing consultants make up ROI on “intangibles” made me stay up all night one night and build this: http://www.frogloop.com/social-network-calculator. The metrics are based on nonprofit online marketing benchmarks, but easily tweakable for other industries me thinks. |
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My company spends most of it’s time focusing on the technical implementation of social networks, so my perspective is more from the tech side than the PR or marketing side. I’d avoid ‘experts’ in social media who only focus on existing commercial networks, like Twitter and Facebook. Social networking should be integrated into your own site. The age of broadcast is long over, and the age of conversation is here. Prepare yourself to let go of ownership of PR, marketing and branding and focus on enabling your customers to handle it by giving them great products and services. If your social networking expert isn’t talking about APIs and integration of 3rd party sites, if they think dynamic means Flash animation, and they think social networking means a ‘Tweet this’ link, run. Josh McCormack |
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Recently many people have latched onto the word “expert” in the phrase “social media expert”. They spend a lot of time attacking the title, and a lot of energy focusing on a mainly semantic argument. I think the attention is often misguided. The reality is, social media is not new. How we use it, however, can be. I feel these attacks, however accurate they may be, often are being perpetuated by people trying to drum up business for themselves more than anything. And that, is as suspicious as the so-called experts. The argument is also relative. In my industry (the ski and snowboard business), anyone on both Twitter and Facebook is pretty damn progressive. Ha! Do your research. Don’t jump in without a targeted strategy. You’ll be fine. Good luck. More on the topic: http://www.owstudios.com/oteam/?p=1365 |
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Incredibly useful! A lot of ‘Social Media Consultancies’ seem to be relying on precisely the points which you mentioned above. Great one! Keep posting. Cheers, |
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You answered nearly every question I posted to the “experts” in the blog I posted last night. THANK YOU! |
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One more: Your social media expert encourages you to have conversations with your consumers then follows that up with recommending scripts that will need to be written to manage the communication that may take place! My favorite recommendation from someone I recently worked with who was considered the social expert. http://www.ieinteractiveservices.com |
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Nice points. Some “experts” or “gurus” even go beyond this and start calling them viral marketing experts. They never drove anything to their sites and will never drive anything to yours, either. |
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Good article! After SEO all the so called ‘guru’s’ now jump on the Social Media train. |
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I’ve seen several marketing companies that feel that #22 is all that they need to do for their clients. It takes a whole lot more than just setting them up, that is only the beginning. |
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I am always cautious of ANYONE who claims to be an “expert”, no matter who calls them that, but especially them selves! |
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“social media coach. Expert. Consultant. Guru. Evangelist. I’m dizzy….” I’ve been picking on those who tout themselves as the next big social media master for quite awhile. A 4 year old can set up a FB fan page…somehow these people seem to like titles but lack talent of any kind. http://thedailyblonde.com/2009.....an-expert/ |
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I am very happy to say that this social media expert doesn’t fit a SINGLE one of those categories! That’s for validating what I’ve been told about myself and just starting to recognize! ;) |
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I know your blog post was from nearly a year ago, but I just stumbled upon it now via someone’s tweet stream! Better late than never, right?! :) |
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Hilarious post! :D Another point might be; “they call themselves ‘expert’ even though social media is too young to allow anyone to be expert”. :D |
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Yeah so far he seems to be an expert, but i wonder if i can learn about it and pursue my career in social media marketing….I plan to share this with my colleagues as well! |
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I suppose when Facebook was first starting out, the event invitations made a lot of sense. You’d invite everyone in your dorm to your room for a kegger. Was an easy way to do that. Logical. |
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Thanks for the post. I’ve been thinking about hiring someone to help me with social media marketing and this information will definitely help me make a better decision. |
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Great post! I definitely agree with #8 and #15. I don’t know what planet someone would actually do number 20. Thanks! |
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