Who's The Expert?
For whatever reason, this topic has been top-of-mind this week and an event finally pushed me to write this post. Hopefully, you will find it helpful when you are looking for a resource to either speak at your next event or conference or, more importantly, hire them to help your business.
So story first… One of my good friends, Nick Miner who is a very talented commercial Real Estate Broker is always sharing social media events and speakers that are speaking in his industry or at other events. Being the curious type and always wanting to connect with other professionals and/or checkout the competition, I always do a little research to learn more about the event and speaker (as you should too!)
The first place I usually look, is their LinkedIn profile because when that is well done, you should have a vast majority of the information you need to complete your research. Upon visiting this ‘social media expert’s’ site, I found the following bio.
Xxxxxx is a Social Media Consultant, Strategist, Speaker and Trainer. With over 20 years of experience in marketing, technology and business, Victor engages and encourages companies to recognize and master the profound power of Social Media Marketing.
Victor works with his clients on new ways of maximizing how websites, blogs and social media tools develop new business relationships, increase sales, build brand awareness and much more.
Which sounded amazingly similar to mine! I had been ripped off!
Utilizing over 10 years of experience in marketing, technology and business, Jack engages and encourages companies to recognize and harness the profound power of emerging online technologies.
We are always working with our clients on new ways of maximizing how websites, blogs and social media tools engage people in conversations to develop new business relationships, increase sales, build brand awareness and much more.
While I know that it is said that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, I have to admit, I was a little irked.
Upon further inspection and while continuing my usual research, I looked for their blog. Myself and several of my colleagues believe that blogging is the foundation of most social media efforts and a great way to learn more about a person/company/organization, their expertise, credibility and how they interact with people online. But alas no blog. NO BLOG! A website, but no blog and they are NOT the same.
Next was looking for the Facebook Fan Page (a must-have for most businesses), but there was none to be found. Only a link to a personal profile, again, not the same thing.
Time to look for some tweets. At this point, I wasn’t sure what I was going to find but I did find a Twitter account and it had been updated recently albeit only to promote his next event. However, the LinkedIn profile stated the company had been in business for 2+ years and yet their twitter account has less than 1,500 followers. That number by itself isn’t the most important one because I don’t believe that Twitter is a numbers or popularity contest, but that you can have a great experience with Twitter numbers in the hundreds. The number that worried me was that they had only tweeted 73 times….. in two years! How can you be an expert or understand a communication and marketing tool that you don’t regularly use yourself? (Note: in 2 years you would have over 700 days in which to post updates)
I want to point out that I don’t believe you need to use every single tool or be on every single network to be a very good consultant, but when you put all of these things together, the ‘social media expert’ title doesn’t seem to fit. Bottom line and like any profession, there is no shortcut to ‘expert’, ‘guru’ or ‘consultant’ without doing the work – and at a minimum, using and understanding the basics.
Again, here are my basic steps that I would look for before moving on to this great list from Beth Harte on The 25 Signs You’ve Got a Strong SM Consultant or Agency.
- LinkedIn Profile – Complete bio, picture, contact information listed, experience, review testimonials
- Blog – Look at frequency of posts, comments, valuable content, design, resources, previous speaking/teaching, testimonials and/or feedback
- Facebook Fan Page – Interaction, comments, design, additional tabs, applications
- Twitter – Frequency & number of tweets, links shared, interaction with other Twitter users (@ replies), bio, picture, tone, content
- Additional sites you may want to review – YouTube, Delicious, Digg
Photo Credit: Flickr DanDeChiaro
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
wow, it amazes me how many people want to be called social media experts, trainers, coaches, gurus etc. The fact that someone uses social media ( sort of ) and then rips off content from more credible sources just floors me.
I have seen you speak and watched you educate business owners about having an actual plan for their business and have learned a TON from you. ( thanks for that)
Some people “get it” and some don't but the fact remains, even if they “get it” they don't necessarily qualify as someone to be teaching others or leading them to the “promised land” of social media. There is no silver bullet here. People need direction, focus and a strategy. They need Jack Smith.
wow, it amazes me how many people want to be called social media experts, trainers, coaches, gurus etc. The fact that someone uses social media ( sort of ) and then rips off content from more credible sources just floors me.
I have seen you speak and watched you educate business owners about having an actual plan for their business and have learned a TON from you. ( thanks for that)
Some people “get it” and some don't but the fact remains, even if they “get it” they don't necessarily qualify as someone to be teaching others or leading them to the “promised land” of social media. There is no silver bullet here. People need direction, focus and a strategy. They need Jack Smith.