Is your social media expert really an expert?
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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
July 13th, 2009 at 1:52 am
Good points all Peter as usual. Haven’t met Sarah, but am sure since you’re working together she’s very credible as well.
I would say anyone who doesn’t know how to optimize a press release to make it more easy to search on Google and simply post releases as blog posts on a regular basis without any personal attachment to the blog.
Those who have no awareness of how to communicate with other social media leaders to get their clients visibility because they’re not part of the community with no personal connection whatsoever, nor have the credibility within that community or awareness of what makes them tick, but are simply spamming.
There’s others, but it’s late and I don’t want to give away all my secrets!:)
July 13th, 2009 at 1:56 am
Bingo!
You wouldn’t hire a gardener without checking for dirt under the fingernails, would you?
July 13th, 2009 at 2:00 am
I agree. I was voted Who’s Who in Technology back in early 2000 and always find it interesting when new people claim to know more than I do. I’ve also run a blogging group, a technology group, and attended numerous conferences on the topic.
I love technology and what we’re able to achieve using these tools. There’s always something you can learn which is why it’s so exciting. I find if someone pushes buying Google ad words that is an indication the person doesn’t know other more organic ways of communicating online.
There’s others, but I’m tired. Thanks for creating this! Very helpful!
July 13th, 2009 at 4:10 am
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.
July 13th, 2009 at 4:57 am
All of the above is so true.
July 13th, 2009 at 5:03 am
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.....pace.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?
July 13th, 2009 at 6:55 am
[...] Is your social media expert really an expert?… Peter Shankman [...]
July 13th, 2009 at 6:57 am
Great post. I’d add “rock star” to #1 and #2. Bruce Springsteen is a rock star, people.
July 13th, 2009 at 6:58 am
[...] Is your social media expert really an expert? | The Home of Peter Shankman – Shankman.com. [...]
July 13th, 2009 at 7:11 am
This is a great post. I’ve been getting a little weary with people claiming to be social media experts. I’d been thinking of writing a post like this, but it doesn’t fit with my blog theme. At any rate, after 10 years of blogging – I was an innovator in 1999 on the open diary – and experiencing the rise and fall of Second Life – and hanging out on Plurk and, and, and, I still don’t think I’m an expert – and I have nearly 20 years of PR experience to apply to social media….
July 13th, 2009 at 7:19 am
[...] = ‘eyecube’; This morning Peter Shankman and Sarah Evans published a post entitled, “Is your Social Media expert really an [...]
July 13th, 2009 at 7:20 am
Peter and Sarah, you nailed it. Our network of PRConsultants are admittedly not promoting themselves as social media experts, but we were smart enough to invite Sarah to our annual conference to share with us her expertise. I believe all marketing professionals have to just jump in… the water’s fine!… and play in the space before you can really learn and grow as practitioners, and to be of service to our clients. Hey, not everyone can be an guru, but we can be wise sherpas helping our clients up the mountain, right?
July 13th, 2009 at 7:24 am
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)
July 13th, 2009 at 7:34 am
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).
July 13th, 2009 at 7:35 am
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July 13th, 2009 at 7:55 am
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].”
July 13th, 2009 at 8:37 am
Social media is a tool, not a plan or a strategy. Being a social media expert is like being a scissor expert. I guess it would be cool to know all about the different kinds of scissors out there and what they do – but I wouldn’t let you cut my hair.
July 13th, 2009 at 8:42 am
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,
Sarah
http://www.twitter.com/prsarahevans
http://prsarahevans.com
July 13th, 2009 at 8:44 am
This is the post of the summer, Peter and Sarah. I firmly believe that you have to practice what you preach and I think it’s about time we stood up and openly discussed the importance of practice as opposed to theory. I can recall the story I heard about someone teaching people how to use Facebook for $1,500. Unreal. Oh and here’s one for you. “Anyone who claims to have the “secrets of success.” That’s always a dead giveaway.
Angela Connor | @communitygirl
July 13th, 2009 at 9:06 am
[...] hours ago Ways to tell your social media “expert” might NOT be an “expert” after all: A Guide http://shankman.com/is-your-social-media... (RT [...]
July 13th, 2009 at 9:35 am
[...] Hello there! If you are new here, you might want to subscribe to the RSS feed for updates on this topic.Powered by WP Greet BoxPeter Shankman and Sarah Evans wrote a right-on blog post regarding social media experts. “Ways to Tell Your Social Media Expert Might Not Be an Expert at All.” [...]
July 13th, 2009 at 10:17 am
I loved this list. When I tell others in the business about HARO and they have no idea what I’m talking about and then brush me off as another 20 something blonde in PR, and don’t ask me more about it, I just smile:)
I also like the point that no one is an expert! There is always something to learn, which is exciting.
July 13th, 2009 at 10:19 am
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.
July 13th, 2009 at 10:27 am
I’d add a few good indicators to match the bad:
- If someone tells you they don’t know everything, that’s a good thing.
- If someone says “we’re all still learning the best ways to use these tools,” that’s a good thing.
- If someone admits the metrics aren’t perfect, that’s a good thing.
And, as the inverse, run away from anyone who tells you they know it all, that everything’s nailed down, and they have the perfect solution to every problem.
July 13th, 2009 at 10:29 am
Oh, also, I agree with Paul: MySpace got 70 million logins in May. That’s 70,000,000. A network that big is worth investigating. I’m not saying it’s the answer to everything, but especially for gov’t folks, trying to be go where the people are means including all potential audiences.
July 13th, 2009 at 10:42 am
Thank you for having the stones to stand up and say this (and giving some good tips and tricks by which to analyze their “experts”).
“Social Networking” (for lack of a better term) isn’t a tip, trick, tool or strategy. It’s a way of life (or at least it will be in the very near future). Building on #10 – another way to tell if someone isn’t an expert is if they let you think you can compartmentalize your “social media” efforts away from everything else you do.
Added to #23 – another key sign they’re not a “guru” is if they talk about how many “hits” or “impressions” the campaign produced.
July 13th, 2009 at 11:19 am
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).
July 13th, 2009 at 11:25 am
[...] caught my eye today, a post by Peter Shankman, who I’ve met at least once, asking “is your social media expert really an expert?“. Peter’s post, which was co-written with Sarah Evans had 25 points, something [...]
July 13th, 2009 at 11:40 am
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…
July 13th, 2009 at 11:43 am
I’m trying to dip my toe in and learn more about social media because, currently as an internet sales consultant I represented 30% of sales and over 25.5 million in revenue last year for my company but I’m still trying to figure out how to learn more about this and implement it to be even more productive at bringing in sales for a company. Any suggestions (or companies to work with to learn more about social media would be awesome!)
July 13th, 2009 at 11:49 am
Great points! I’ve an instant distrust of *anyone* who calls him/herself an “expert” or “guru,” no matter what the field. And it’s amazing how many “experts” have 102 Twitter followers and have never actually had a client or run a campaign.
No published case studies? They’re not experts.
July 13th, 2009 at 11:51 am
I’d add that if they believe your organization is going to just “adopt and adapt” without some discussion of how change actually occurs in your organization, run the other way.
And to points 1 and 2, yes, my business card does say evangelist. I got the title on the Internet Explorer team in 1997 and people tell me it fits.
July 13th, 2009 at 11:51 am
Is your social media expert really an expert? | The Home of Peter Shankman – Shankman.com…
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July 13th, 2009 at 11:52 am
This is a great post. It really helps me to understand who (or who NOT) to hire for strategic insight re: social media. In corporate PR, it is difficult to navigate expertise from hype. I have worked on the agency side, I understand the game, but this is a refreshing post – particularly in this economy.
July 13th, 2009 at 11:57 am
Great post! I definitely agree about MySpace… while they may have millions of users, none of the users are targets of my organization. Additionally, I am finding that not only do different organizations/companies require varied and strategic social media plans, but each project requires something different. There is definitely no one-size-fits-all approach to public relations anymore. Thanks for sharing!
July 13th, 2009 at 11:57 am
Ahem – have to say that I found number five to be very much the truth as well as worthy of a good chuckle as well.
Great stuff here for novices and, uhm, “Experts” to pay attention to, thanks Peter and Sarah!
July 13th, 2009 at 11:58 am
“If I claim to be a wise man it surely means I don’t know.”. Kansas
July 13th, 2009 at 11:58 am
“If I claim to be a wise man it surely means that I don’t know.”. Kansas
July 13th, 2009 at 12:01 pm
Peter, Sarah,
I posted a list of 3 tips to eval a Web 2.0 counsultant(http://www.cloudspark.com/2009/02/11/3-tips-to-evaluate-your-web-20-consultant/), you detailed it into 25 great items. As with any new area of marketing, people looking for experts need to know just what to look for and be cautious of anyone who doesn’t have the facts. In fact, I’m sure there is a SecondLife guru/expert somewhere still blogging about how its the wave of the future and you “have to be there” or you will fail…
Thanks for sharing.
July 13th, 2009 at 12:04 pm
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July 13th, 2009 at 12:04 pm
“Your expert lists a bunch of sites but fails to demonstrate how he/she made the association relevent to conversion for their clients, who are…”
“only mentions Google Analytics as a validation tool.”
“uses ROI in every sentence.”
Keep up the great work Peter!
July 13th, 2009 at 12:05 pm
You hit this subject matter on the head. A few times I’ve posted on other blogs regarding this as well as on FriendFeed. One person that I noticed lately has 25 people on Facebook and 60 on twitter, but had in their profile social media expert. I’m sorry, but that is disturbing since they simply were pushing links of their four blogs several times a day and telling people how they can get 16k twitter followers in a month. Give me a break!
On the positive note your blog post will raise peoples awareness.
I believe that While on FriendFeed this week George Dearing was talking about PR agencies starting to implement social media. The conversation by the PR agencies started to trickle in about how expensive it was and that they’d have to pass it on to the customers. My input was that they’d have to be careful who they selected and had to add some criteria (won’t rehash it here). But they need experience with accounts, several thousand conversations, … before they could possibly considered having any expertise.
Great Post by the way!
July 13th, 2009 at 12:07 pm
Hi Peter,
So glad to see you talking about this.
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
Practical Marketing Expert
http://www.success-stream.com
July 13th, 2009 at 12:13 pm
It’s very interesting to consider that this post is necessary, isn’t it? It seems that every time there’s a new technology, “experts” spring up who convince others of their expertise. When they fail to generate positive outcomes, everyone blames the technology.
Hmmm…
Social media is simply another tool. We’ve had forms of it for decades, but the tools have gotten easier and the critical mass of Internet availability means more people can use them. This is all good, I think. But ultimately we’re still all just people learning to relate and using tools to help us do that.
The converse point: how does one communicate about those who have actually understood social media before the term was coined (take Dave Winer and Carl Malamud, for instance) in the sea of “trade press experts?”
July 13th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
Eric, I can’t take any credit for #5. It was all Peter.
July 13th, 2009 at 12:15 pm
Regarding so-called experts . . .
Once upon a time, a Zen monk went on a quest to find the greatest Zen Master in the world. After many long years of searching he found that Master. To make his approach, he was forced to climb a huge mountain and, after days of climbing, he reached the feet of the Master.
‘Master,’ he said, ‘year after year have I searched, with a single goal in mind. Please, please tell me how I might become a great Zen Master like you.’
‘Print up some business cards’, replied the Master.
That about sums up the current state of things.
July 13th, 2009 at 12:15 pm
Sarah and Peter,
Thanks for a great blog. As someone with a little dirt in my nails, I question anyone who claims to be an expert in this new realm. An expert is someone who has dealt with something on an ongoing basis for years.
July 13th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
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
LinkedIn, Twitter and Blogs, oh My! Social Networking in the Land of Oz
July 13th, 2009 at 12:19 pm
Wow. You know I read this post hoping to finally ‘out’ myself as a NOT a social media expert, but surprisingly I don’t commit any of the crimes listed. I’m not sure if that is comforting or unsettling.
I don’t consider myself a social media ‘expert’, yet most of my copywriting clients beg me to assess what their ‘gurus’ are doing for their money.
It is a scary world we live in where so many people have been burned by folks just out for a quick buck that they just want honest advice wherever they can find it.
My approach is to offer an initial consultation to at least give a 101 crash course, stem the flow of cash to useless tactics and hopefully arm them with enough savvy to at least be able to make more educated choices on who to hire in the future.
I’d say the biggest problem for clients is the media hype. Everyone thinks they MUST get 100,000 Twitter followers, but then have no clue what to do with them! Same with ‘getting on Facebook’ and ‘having good PR’. If a social media stat doesn’t translate to revenue, it’s not valuable.
July 13th, 2009 at 12:19 pm
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!
July 13th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
Great post. Love the intern comment. : ) I would add: no mention of reputation management.
July 13th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
Great post – I couldn’t agree more!
That’s like me positioning myself as a PR expert. Just because I’ve been in PR for close to 20 years doesn’t mean I know it all. I have a lot of experience supporting multiple clients needs across a wide spectrum of integrated PR programs, but even then, I still learn something new every day. Plus, the approach taken for every client is different. The same is true for social media. None of us can profess to be experts when there’s still so much to learn.
July 13th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
I agree with Peter and Sarah on the MySpace issue. Sure, they may have had 70,000,000 logins, but who are those people logging in…and what type of information are they there for? My husband is a musician so he has a MySpace page, but he’s also on Facebook and finds that to be a much better reach to his audience. Too many MySpace users are kid bands and strippers who just want to post their ads everywhere.
(I could be wrong; I don’t claim to be a social media expert in any way, shape or form!)
July 13th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
love this – I’ve been scoffing at the term “guru” for a while and it always seems particularly ridiculous applied to social media – which is really still a rapidly developing field that seems to change week by week.
July 13th, 2009 at 12:28 pm
Good article! Along these lines, I receive email at least once a week from someone claiming their company can get my site moved further up the search engine food chain. Funny how these emails always come from Gmail or a similar free email account instead of a company I could check on to see if it were at the top of the search engine list itself. I suspect the social media are becoming so important that it will not be long before many of these “experts” are outright frauds, as these search engine gurus seem to be, rather than merely being instant experts.
July 13th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
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!
July 13th, 2009 at 12:41 pm
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July 13th, 2009 at 12:45 pm
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!
July 13th, 2009 at 12:49 pm
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.
July 13th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
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July 13th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
I couldn’t agree more! Thanks to Corey Perlman for posting this on FB! There is a rush of senior care “Experts” that have taken care of one parent, one time, and now they’re an expert?
I am worried about readers taking all info out there as gospel just because it’s written by a so called expert.
Thanks for bringing attention to this!
July 13th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
Good piece, but I’m inclined to object to gauging by specific references to tool use (blogs, MySpace, for example). Seems to me like strategy and needs should drive what tools you use. Sometimes Twitter might be the right tool; sometimes a blog might not make sense…
I also would welcome a follow up blog post to discuss responder Jeremy Leven’s “good indicators”–a list, sure, but also a discussion around what it means as a communications professional to say “I don’t know” or “I’m still learning” or “the metrics aren’t perfect” (I agree, btw) and still make it understood that that IS a good thing.
July 13th, 2009 at 12:52 pm
Excellent advice! There are too many “instant experts” out there. Thanks for sharing.
July 13th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
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!
July 13th, 2009 at 12:59 pm
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.
July 13th, 2009 at 1:00 pm
HMMMMM!! Sounds like my industry. Saying you are a travel agent just because you like to travel. Look for professionals in every industry. Those with qualifications, experience and certifications. You hit the nail on the head and hope you get a lot of people thinking about how they are being taken. Thanks
July 13th, 2009 at 1:00 pm
Social Media, is to PR & Marketing what Photoshop was to artists. If you suck as an artist, you will create crap with Photoshop. Social Media is just another tool, like the telephone, email, or press release.
July 13th, 2009 at 1:01 pm
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.
July 13th, 2009 at 1:07 pm
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.
July 13th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
Great points…but I’d add one more Kinsey analogy: Passion. Is your social media expert passionate about social media and about your business?
July 13th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
#17 quoted for truth.
July 13th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
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.
July 13th, 2009 at 1:13 pm
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.
July 13th, 2009 at 1:18 pm
This is awesome! Traditional marketing firms charging for a Facebook Fan page? Then who is there to engage with the community? Just like Jeff Turner says, “You can have SEO without YEO (you, engaging others).
July 13th, 2009 at 1:21 pm
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,
bestselling author and book marketing coach
http://www.shamelessbookpromoter.com
http://www.cherylktardif.com
July 13th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
Your post was amazing and I plan to share this with others, you are right on. I’ve seen so many become speakers and yet you don’t see what they teach reflected in their own business. I’m sorry to see people be taken advantage of however it’s a good reminder that we need to do our homework before spending dollars.
Thanks, this was extremely helpful!
July 13th, 2009 at 1:44 pm
[...] was happy to see this post on Peter’s blog today about whether or not your “social media expert” is really [...]
July 13th, 2009 at 1:53 pm
[...] great list (always popular with users!) of what NOT to look for in a social media expert. While many of these made me LOL, there is a lot of truth to many of these, so check them out. [...]
July 13th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
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!
July 13th, 2009 at 2:04 pm
Hi
Agree with your points and so many brands are actually using social networking in a brand damaging way. The first point, however, should be anyone who works on your brand should always lead with questions @ the consumer, the brand and the business objectives – and then develop a strategy for how social media could help fulfill these objectives, complemeting other communication efforts as you highlight in #18.
Social media enables a more direct and transparent dialogue with your consumers and your influencers – it is not another “push marketing” one way dialogue communication vehicle.
Looking forward to the wave of strategic and innovative social media strategies as marketers really understand how they can better connect with consumers.
It would be great to develop a list of the best in class examples for us to share
July 13th, 2009 at 2:05 pm
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!
July 13th, 2009 at 2:13 pm
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?
http://personalbrandingblog.co.....be-a-fake/
Enjoy
July 13th, 2009 at 2:18 pm
I love this! I worked for a company who had no clue how to incorporate social media into a traditional PR campaign. When I told hem about the tools, sites and numerous ideas and approaches to this it just “didn’t make sense to them.” Are you kidding me??? I tell all of my freelance clients the importance of having a well-rounded PR campaign and that includes social media, and not just Twitter and Facebook (although it’s a start if they have nothing) but SEO, blogs, and more grassroots and interactive approachs to publicity.
July 13th, 2009 at 2:18 pm
[...] Is your social media expert really an expert? | The Home of Peter Shankman – Shankman.comshankman.com [...]
July 13th, 2009 at 2:21 pm
I don’t know what’s better, the post itself or some of the SM experts defending certain points…
Awesome. I have no problem with the list, since you didn’t call out “Social Media Jedi’s”. Cause that’s what I am.
Shazam
July 13th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
[...] Recommended must read: Is your social media expert really an expert? The top 25 ways to find out. [...]
July 13th, 2009 at 2:56 pm
Many of the comments here have complained against people who bill themselves as experts (and rightfully so), but the thing is, to most clients, if you offer a service, they assume you’re an expert. Don’t you expect expertise when you pay for a service? Aren’t your current clients expecting you to have expertise in your field, even if you don’t call yourself a guru?
July 13th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
[...] This post was Twitted by vaninadelobelle [...]
July 13th, 2009 at 3:03 pm
great and thanks… but I’m new out there, & looking for a coach, a real expert… so now that I know what NOT to go for, how do I do to get to the right person?
I might sound stupid and apologise, but It has been 1 week now I launch “SOS”… so if you know someone, please let me know.
xxx
Mag
July 13th, 2009 at 3:12 pm
Enjoyed the post and banter. Keep it coming!
July 13th, 2009 at 3:16 pm
[...] Shankman and Sarah Evans co-wrote a great post called “Is your social media expert really an expert?” here are a couple of points that really stood out to me: 1. They call themselves an [...]
July 13th, 2009 at 3:21 pm
Awesome. Lots of pretenders out there (for the record, I do NOT consider myself to be a social media expert).
Btw: I think a related discussion is that no, social media is not equally important to every marketing mix. For some companies, certain “traditional” marketing channels are going to continue to be the most efficient in terms of lead generation. Equally offensive as the self-appointed social media blowhards are those who sneer at any marketing approach that’s NOT social as if it’s somehow passe. Yeah, there are new social opportunities that should be qualified and investigated accordingly. But the self-appointed social folks that summarily dismiss all other marketing channels as if they are no longer legit are being pretty disingenuous, IMO.
This was a good post.
July 13th, 2009 at 3:23 pm
I love it and I get it because this exists in the traditional marketing world as well – I take serious issue with the loads of graphic designers, web developers and even social media experts who swear they can help you with your marketing when in fact they are woefully unprepared to do so. (You inspired me to blog about this issue as well.) But I have to agree with the posters who take issue with # 4 because it sounds like you are suggesting that an old dog can’t learn new tricks? I have to disagree. All great agencies are constantly evolving to understand and integrate new tools and technologies to provide their clients with a truly comprehensive marketing strategy. I don’t think it’s fair to infer that a traditional marketer cannot at least pursue a true understanding and capability with social media. On the contrary, I think that evolving in this way is precisely what defines a great agency.
July 13th, 2009 at 3:27 pm
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!
July 13th, 2009 at 3:28 pm
While I see some of your points, lists like these usually reflect the writer’s professional experience, likes & dislikes (me/us vs. “that guy”) and are used to point out phonies rather than promote good examples.
I mean, do you consider yourself “experts”? Who would you identify as an expert? Can someone do things differently than you, read different blogs than you, have different friends and still be considered a social media expert?
Or has the role become so narrowly defined that what you’re really saying is that a social media expert is someone who has done what you have done and had the same level of your success as you but just has been doing it longer?
I’m not trying to be antagonistic but it seems easier to point out the bad examples (never by name) than highlight people who are making their way along the path and are slowly “getting it”. I mean people have to start from somewhere and get experience.
July 13th, 2009 at 3:35 pm
Two blog posts per month is considered active now? Maybe I should get started again then
July 13th, 2009 at 3:40 pm
so the really big money will be in the “certification” programs and ensuing professional associations (dues,dues,dues!).
workin’ on those now…:)
July 13th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
Liz, here are a few indicators. If they say anything like:
1. Witty Tweets cost extra
2. I’m so su.pr bit.ly
3. Customers don’t care about the product, just that I’m on Facebook.
4. I am implying that I am suggestive.
5. How will we do it? Brand. How much will it cost? Brand. Will you see results? Brand.
Also, a lot of times when they sneeze – Ahhhh-douche! – they follow with a Bless Me.
July 13th, 2009 at 3:48 pm
[...] to my heart for some time now, and I think Peter Shankman has done a good job today at defining a cautionary list of functional failures. Part of my grump attention was coming around to this and my have been not-so-weakly alluded to in [...]
July 13th, 2009 at 3:59 pm
I think another signal is when someone says they can “do it for you.” If a SM contractor does copywriting, the client needs to put his/her mark on it and approve it. It’s good to have a system for creating and approving messages and copy. Handing a contractor the passwords and a brand guideline isn’t enough.
But I do think it is reasonable to pay someone to write social media copy and pay them to manage distribution, but only with good communication.
I try to avoid calling myself an expert, except ironically. You can tell when I’m being ironic if I’m talking, tweeting or blogging. All other times I’m completely non-ironic.
July 13th, 2009 at 4:12 pm
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.
July 13th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
Great post, exactly the reason I don’t add social media guru extraordinaire to my website (even though I am one)
July 13th, 2009 at 4:30 pm
popurls.com // popular today…
story has entered the popular today section on popurls.com…
July 13th, 2009 at 4:35 pm
[...] caught myself doing the ol’ V-8 slap to the forehead today when I read a post on the HARO blog, “Is your Social Media Expert Really an Expert.” It’s a good post to check out [...]
July 13th, 2009 at 4:51 pm
I totally get where Peter and Sarah are coming from. It is annoying to have put so much into building a reputable career and then have to watch unscrupulous opportunists who sell snake-oil to the masses. Enough of those smooth operators could eventually begin to tarnish the credibility of those who really are sincere in their efforts! What exactly is an “expert” anyway? I have worked in the career development field for ten years, have four certifications, hundreds of hours of continued education, and have helped thousands of people to figure out what they do best and how to get paid for it. Other people tend to refer to me as an “expert,” but I am not comfortable with that because it implies that I know everything. (I refer to myself as a “professional.”) That being said, it does annoy me to see all of these “career coaches” that are popping up everywhere and claiming to be experts because they have critiqued a couple of resumes! It is true, people have to start somewhere. But the reality is that just like the numerous “career experts” popping up all over the place, there are a whole lot of bandwagonesque “social media experts” who are neither expert, nor professional! The important thing for the “newbie” to consider is transparency, honesty, and sincerity and the newbie’s audience needs to recognize that they are only going to get what they pay for!
July 13th, 2009 at 4:53 pm
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!
July 13th, 2009 at 5:23 pm
@Liz (#67) it’s one thing to be starting along the “path”, so to speak. It’s quite another to be such and present yourself as highly knowledgeable (and worth large sums of cash). I find it hard to put your comments together with the post. Peter and Sarah didn’t suggest that if you don’t read their RSS feed, you’re not worthy to be considered an expert. Rather, it is a caution for those neophytes to be cautious about those who can barf up some buzz words. Sadly, those most likely to benefit from this advice are the least likely to find this.
July 13th, 2009 at 5:46 pm
Really, quite helpful. I am deluged by people who say they are the savior in SM. I could spend all day reviewing pitches. As I see it, in the long term, things will resolve to people logging into everything through Twitter and Facebook. Facebook will run ads, for $, and people will click on them. At that point, Facebook controls the new media and the new resembles the old, where NBC would run ads and control the media. Replace NBC with Facebook and television with internet and you have a very similar model. Kind of what AOL was going for. The conversation is in danger because of hucksters. Carl, you are right about people not finding this because they are sort of lazy and will look for womeone to serve it up, Altop style. Does anyone have time to read their Altop site?
July 13th, 2009 at 5:57 pm
You can have all the social media available to you but if you don’t have the right sales person to build a relationship with a “fan” a “prospect” a “customer” and then sell the product, I’m not sure what it really matters if your twittering, blogging, facebooking, etc….
I feel that your social media “expert” is the one who knows your product, knows your client and or target audience and knows how to engage them interactively to ultimately find the product that fits their needs…once you’ve taken the time to discover what it is they are interested in and need.
It sounds like a lot of people are trying to make their role relevant as a Social Mediaist, when I, as a sales consultant think without 20 years of PR background etc, I can find the right social media tools to find the people I’d sell to for a company… I don’t need to be en expert, have a PR company etc to implement a social media plan, I need to be a creative thinker and figure out where the audience is for my product, go there and create relationships.
July 13th, 2009 at 5:58 pm
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”.
July 13th, 2009 at 6:05 pm
Think of SM experts’ hype as their best demonstrations of what you want them to do for you.
July 13th, 2009 at 6:09 pm
@Leah awesome point! You said it best…
“I don’t need to be an expert, have a PR company etc to implement a social media plan, I need to be a creative thinker and figure out where the audience is for my product, go there and create relationships.”
July 13th, 2009 at 6:22 pm
@Leah – Yes, yes, yes! Well said, indeed.
@John Arleth – I would never be so impolite as to call that ‘lazy’. *ahem* Seriously, though, there are many who are quite ignorant of social media. They would be unlikely to find this article, and the most likely to be taken advantage of by these, um, less-than-scrupulous gurus.
July 13th, 2009 at 6:44 pm
I was a little leary of lazy. My apologies. There is no question, though, to hire an expert to help you, without having done a lot of research, first, is shall we say, short sighted. Peter nailed it when he mentioned Chris Brogan. I follow Chris closely and I don’t bother with many others. Except, Peter, of course. I read his email like a religion because there are real people asking real questions. Kind of a pulse of America exchange. I also read every ad and check most of there sites. Actually buy a lot of what I read about. It’s fun to have this exchange. The last one I remember is the PR guy who said Memphis was terrible, which he learned while visiting a client. I learned that the internet can be a painful place to learn social graces. So, again, sorry I referred to lazy. Just shows how lazy I was to type it, worry about it and sent it anyway.
July 13th, 2009 at 7:33 pm
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.
July 13th, 2009 at 9:11 pm
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.
http://idek.net/JRc
I don’t know the woman they hired so this could very well be true but I found the headline quite appropriate for this post which has been extremely popular today.
Angela Connor
July 13th, 2009 at 9:46 pm
[...] See the article here: Is your social media expert really an expert? | The Home of Peter … [...]
July 13th, 2009 at 10:19 pm
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
July 14th, 2009 at 12:07 am
@John Arleth – no offense taken. Mostly, I felt it important to expand the idea to include the naive, along with the lazy (and there are the lazy ones, too).
And I have the same opinion of Mr. Brogan. And am glad I didn’t diss Memphis will visiting Fed Ex’s office.
July 14th, 2009 at 12:57 am
[...] comes down hard on potentially fraudulent social media practitioners in his blog titled, “Is Your Social Media Expert Really an Expert?” With the help of Sara Evans, he compiled a list 25 qualities/attributes to watch out for when [...]
July 14th, 2009 at 1:13 am
[...] comes down hard on potentially fraudulent social media practitioners in his blog titled, “Is Your Social Media Expert Really an Expert?” With the help of Sara Evans, he compiled a list 25 qualities/attributes to watch out for when [...]
July 14th, 2009 at 1:57 am
Social media isn’t brain surgery – you can become quite proficient quickly. I think I would agree that having a broad expanse of experience helps you connect the dots more quickly.
Social media is just another tool set – and really – not that complicated. Complex, but not complicated – make sense?
July 14th, 2009 at 5:10 am
Phenomenal post and I agree with all that is mentioned by yourself and Sarah and the contributors who have posted~ One must execute the entire picture for the client if one is to succeed . It is by far more than FB and twitter ~ P.S. we dont say those words` we implement action and show and create and teach
S
July 14th, 2009 at 9:09 am
[...] Peter Shankman suggests avoiding social media “experts” who are pushing fairly conventional social strategies. We’d like to suggest that you also avoid social media “experts” pushing new, creative ways to get the same lackluster results. Social media marketing has potential as a source of research, even inspiration — but as a direct sales tool, it has a long way to go. [...]
July 14th, 2009 at 10:10 am
I agree with Jennifer, strategy drives what communications tools you use to engage with your target audience.
Social media should be integrated into your public relations, marketing and customer service efforts. It’s not a stand alone strategy nor should it be one “guru” or select group of people that implement “add-on” activites to existing programs. Integration is the key and anyone who says or does differently doesn’t get it.
July 14th, 2009 at 10:46 am
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!
July 14th, 2009 at 10:57 am
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/
July 14th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
For the most part, I agree with the statements made in this article. I find the list quite funny actually. You have to be careful however, not all social media professionals spend a lot of time utilizing social media to promote themselves and their own name. I work on behalf of clients and 80% of my time in SMMarCom is devoted to the promotion and fulfillment of their needs.
I work for a strategic communication firm that has been dealing with social media as a marketing tool for over 5 years. Prior to that I was with some very progressive Fortune 100 companies that were utilizing social media, back then we referred to it as Omni-Media strategy. The better part of my day is spent developing social media programs and platforms for my clients. By the time I get home I am not so interested in tweeting or blogging for myself.
Trust me, if you spend 6 hours every day writing twitterscripts or bloggerscripts, the last thing you would be interested in doing is updating your facebook page or conversing with a friend in a virtual chat room. After 6pm my house goes tech free and an old fashioned phone or a bar stole is my favorite way of communicating with friends. This doesn’t mean that I don’t know what I am doing but I also have the client testimonials, references and case histories to back up my experience.
Using Google, FaceBook or even Twitter as a way of checking my credentials in social media is not going to work for everyone.
July 14th, 2009 at 5:40 pm
[...] This post was Twitted by sheconomy [...]
July 14th, 2009 at 9:22 pm
This reminds me of people who called themselves “computer consultants” when they were just a guy with WordPerfect 5.1 on a DOS machine in their basement.
There have always been posers, and there always will be. All of us in the trenches are usually too busy doing the nitty gritty work to do consulting – but that’s changing….
July 14th, 2009 at 9:38 pm
Some good points, but some self-serving-bordering-on-arrogant “flags,” as well. I have witnessed “novice” social media folks (but very experienced in “traditional” marketing and PR) come up with very innovative SM campaigns, time and time again. Often, these folks might not know or be influenced by perceived limitations of social media. Because of that, they throw out ideas the entrenched folks can’t see — the old “forest for the trees.” Social media is a communication channel. If you are a proven strategist in communication and can influence change via communication, then social media is just another way to get people involved in the conversation. I will take a proven communications strategist over a social media “expert” any day.
July 15th, 2009 at 1:02 am
[...] 25 Indikatoren, an denen man erkennt, dass das Gegenüber KEIN Social Media Experte ist. Shankman.com [...]
July 15th, 2009 at 2:48 am
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
July 15th, 2009 at 2:56 am
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
July 15th, 2009 at 3:01 am
[...] Is your social media expert really an expert? [...]
July 15th, 2009 at 1:16 pm
[...] Shankman and Sarah Evans recently co-authored a blog post, “Is your social media expert really an expert” and all of the 25 questions resonate in the current “everyone jump on the social media [...]
July 15th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
Heh – you might get a kick out of this site: http://www.socialmediadouchebag.net
July 15th, 2009 at 2:11 pm
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
July 15th, 2009 at 2:43 pm
[...] your social media presence has become a stand-in for good customer relations? I’m with Peter Shankman and Sarah Evans on this one: no. Only positive interactions with your customers will lead to positive social media [...]
July 15th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
Okay, but here’s my question. It seems to me that many, if not all of you are involved in PR, Communication etc.
While I understand the need to have a cohesive plan to put social media together with your current marketing efforts, as a sales person, the one on the ground level dealing with the communication and relationship building and ultimately asking for the sale, I feel that I’m the one that should be using the social media tools and implementing a plan. In many cases I should be involved in shaping that plan because I know what the buyer wants, how they want to be communicated with, what my product is etc.
I know, I know, I said there was a question. Why does it seem to be so many are saying social media is a marketing tool and a PR tool and not emphasizing that it is a sales tool?
Maybe my job blurrs the lines between marketing and sales and tha’ts why I’m confused. Though there’s nothing in my job that says PR and Marketing, that’s what I’m doing along with sales every day. But how does that translate to showing proficency and credentials as many of you have exhibited above? You keep saying that by showing follower you are showing results… but what about showing sales? Isn’t that results based? And you can’t look up on line how many sales someone has made, so it’s not provable in the social media areans.
So is Social Media a PR and Marketing Tool? Or a Sales tool? Or both? And if it’s both how do all us poor sales people prove we are capable of being let loose in the Social Media tool box with out burning down the business.
July 15th, 2009 at 10:57 pm
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.
July 15th, 2009 at 11:20 pm
[...] Is your social media expert really an expert? | The Home of Peter Shankman – Shankman.com — 11:54am via [...]
July 16th, 2009 at 10:16 am
[...] Come capire se il tuo esperto di social media è davvero un esperto o [...]
July 16th, 2009 at 7:19 pm
[...] at least take a look at “Is Your Social Media Expert Really an Expert” cross-posted on shankman.com and prsarahevans.com. var addthis_pub = ”; var addthis_language = ‘en’;var addthis_options = [...]
July 19th, 2009 at 9:15 am
[...] This post was Twitted by STi_SocialMedia [...]
July 19th, 2009 at 11:25 pm
[...] This post was Twitted by johnchavens [...]
July 20th, 2009 at 10:46 am
Brilliant.
July 20th, 2009 at 9:26 pm
Hey Peter/Sarah, I agree with you on some points. I have seen way too many advertising and marketing people say that they are social media gurus and yet when you look at some of the sites they are on, there are few people following them. The basic premise behind social media is to build a community and to get people talking to each other. There is so much information on social media that to become a true “expert” one would have to spend several hours every day on new and innovative social media tools on the web. Thanks for writing this post.
July 21st, 2009 at 4:24 am
Amen and Amen!
hahaha Excellent and Accurate list! 
July 21st, 2009 at 4:53 pm
[...] This post was Twitted by ruthlesstravels [...]
July 22nd, 2009 at 9:41 am
[...] This post was Twitted by Michele_Writes [...]
July 23rd, 2009 at 2:22 am
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
InteractiveQA
Social Network Development, QA & IA
http://www.interactiveqa.com
July 23rd, 2009 at 5:53 pm
[...] This post was Twitted by jacobmlebo [...]
July 26th, 2009 at 7:05 pm
[...] relations world I would seem to be in the minority. There have been some great articles recently by Peter Shankman and Brian Solis about the rise of social media ‘experts’ in what could be seen as [...]
July 28th, 2009 at 12:00 am
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
July 28th, 2009 at 5:46 am
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,
Shitij
@shitijnigam
July 28th, 2009 at 8:39 am
Thanks Peter & Sarah! Someone had to say it….
July 29th, 2009 at 2:06 am
[...] blog post earlier this month entitled “Is Your Social Media Expert Really an Expert?” written by Peter Shankman and Sarah Evans listed 25 ways to distinguish social media experts from [...]
July 29th, 2009 at 8:57 pm
You answered nearly every question I posted to the “experts” in the blog I posted last night. THANK YOU!
http://elizabethshugg.com/2009.....h-sort-of/
July 30th, 2009 at 11:36 am
[...] Click here to read the article. [...]
August 3rd, 2009 at 8:00 am
Too few of he new “social media experts” have a clue about ROI and only have one “tool” in their “toolbelt” that they try to use for every client.
The simple truth is that every market segment is going to be subtly different and you need to understand all of the ways that you can reach that audience. There re many markets that for a variety of reasons social media will provide limited returns
Doug
August 3rd, 2009 at 8:52 am
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
Vanessa Capozzi
August 4th, 2009 at 12:01 pm
[...] This post was Twitted by jeffSanGeorge [...]
August 4th, 2009 at 6:37 pm
Peter and Sarah,
Your comments are spot on – funny that your post was caught up by the scraping I did to figure out the growth in number of pages mentioning the term “Social Media Expert” in Google. Glad to see others similarly outing those who give the industry a bad name.
Paul
http://www.dyersituations.com/.....ia-expert/
August 4th, 2009 at 11:11 pm
[...] Shankman (CEO and entrepreneur) and Sarah Evans (PR expert) co-authored a blog post titled “Is Your Social Media Expert Really an Expert?“. Given that many “social media experts” follow me on Twitter every day, I [...]
August 5th, 2009 at 4:21 am
I saw this cheeky post in twitter @FGrau, and I could only retweet it. I did love the comment about social media expert as a scissors experts… when will people understand than social media is just another way to communicate and that is more than money what is compromised here?
Thank you.
August 6th, 2009 at 11:20 am
This is all fine and well for the Fortune 500 crowd, but some of your listed sins don’t really have a feasible alternative in the small business world. They are never going to pay for full campaign management, but they want to be on Twitter and Facebook. Should they just not bother getting any kind of help at all? For the market I have the most experience with, they won’t take that full-service, fully-tracked product because it costs too much. You can tell people it’s worth it til you’re blue in the face, but I don’t see how scrapping the relationship because they can only afford a $500 product serves either party well.
I also see a major disparity regarding in-house vs. solos and business owners. No, I cannot write a personal blog about my company, and if I did have a personal blog, my company’s clients will never, ever see it or any of my personal profiles. So if I ever want to go into self-employment, my experience is irrelevant because I have not been blogging as a solo the whole time?
Don’t get me wrong — I don’t call myself a social media “expert” (those are the people whose blog posts and tweets I frantically try to read a few times a day in between a slammed schedule of doing client work). But this article makes simple social media professional working joes seem like clueless scammers who are trying to rob clients blind. I don’t think that’s accurate, and I don’t think it’s fair.
August 6th, 2009 at 6:22 pm
[...] A shared Social Media Plan 7 08 2009 A good friend of mine asked me if I can prepare a Social Media Plan (SMP) for the company where he works. I have no problem recognizing that I am not an expert in marketing 2.0, but due to the newness of everything that bears the word is also true that it is hard to know who is really an expert. [...]
August 7th, 2009 at 2:19 am
[...] Is your Social Media Expert really an expert? [...]
August 8th, 2009 at 3:37 am
[...] This post was Twitted by Web2Discover [...]
August 12th, 2009 at 5:39 pm
I read Jen’s piece with real interest. I think she has a great point, however, I think she misses the point that it’s like a land rush out here. I get endless emails from people who have secret tools, secret affiliate deals, secret everything. And, am I the only one to notice the credibility pricing. $97 per month or $47, or $127. Want to make a fortune? Offer something for $96.97, now that is fine point credibility pricing.
I think there are lots of working people that can help but many of these folk would have lined the road to Alaska’s gold mines selling magic elixirs not that long ago.
I find the most interesting thing about this entire thread is how much people care about Peter’s question/opinions. Someone should bottle his savvy and sell it for $96.97.
Best, John
August 14th, 2009 at 12:28 am
[...] Peter Shankman has a big list about ways to tell if your social media expert is not really an expert… (My favorite: 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.) [...]
August 14th, 2009 at 3:17 pm
[...] practices in a proposal. To follow is our list. As Peter Shankman and Sarah Evans wrote on their blog post, very few people can call themselves social media experts. To that end and given the dynamic [...]
August 17th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
This article along with the other mentioned on so-called “social media experts’ are what I give potential clients. If after they read them, if they still want to go ahead, then good. They deserve that much from me. , then I will help them find someone. The toolkit is very full, it requires creativity and patience to make social media work.thank you!
August 20th, 2009 at 12:46 pm
[...] Peter Shankman has a big list about ways to tell if your social media expert is not really an expert… (My favorite: 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. [...]
September 1st, 2009 at 1:07 pm
IS YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA EXPERT REALLY AN EXPERT?…
I read this article a few months ago when it was published, and just had to add it to my blog. Owning a social media company I often get “why should I work with you” or I often get scare that other business owners are working with people wh…
November 9th, 2009 at 4:09 pm
[...] a few extra pennies, and hey, you’re on Facebook, (sarcasm: ON) of course you’re a social media expert and can teach people how to do what you do, right? (sarcasm: OFF) but seriously – KNOW YOUR [...]
November 10th, 2009 at 9:49 am
OMG! My company did #17!!!
November 20th, 2009 at 1:18 am
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.