Am I a Social Media Expert? Does it Really Matter?
You’ve probably been hearing a lot lately about Gary Vaynerchuck’s statement that “99.5 percent of social media experts are clowns.” First off to come out with a statement like this is, in my mind, a bit lacking in maturity, and not at all what I’m used to hearing out of Vaynerchuck. To be fair, he has recanted his statement a bit. Second off, this name calling in the social media world has been getting out of hand. I’m starting to wonder, is the new strategy to bring in business to do so by tearing the others down?
People are missing the point here, and Jay Baer is quite right when he said, “The goal is not to be good at social media, but to be good at business because of social media.” I think that part of the problem is that many are expecting a full on social media expert. Just what is that, exactly? I’m not really sure that I can answer that question. Since I got into this business, I have found that there is an amazing array of skill sets that can be applied to social media. I believe that there are too many areas of social media and how it can apply to business for any one individual to be an “expert” in all fields.
Distillation is the process of purifying a liquid by boiling it and condensing its vapors. It’s is time for us to start distilling our talents. I have taken consulting jobs working with a wide variety of businesses, from a hair salon to a political campaign. While I have had successes in most fields I have worked in, the learning curve is steep. Each business has aspects that are unique to it, and while many of the practices can be played across the board, each holds it’s own idiosyncrasies.
I believe that in the near future, we will be seeing niche consultants. I came to this business after spending over 20 years in the restaurant field. I have an understanding of that business and can better apply my social media skills there, than I could many other businesses.
Will we see real, all around, social media experts? I don’t know, maybe, maybe not. Does it really matter? Instead of trying to lift ourselves up by tearing down those around us, isn’t it more important that businesses find a social media professional that has the ability to add real value to the company and its efforts?
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Hi Brian. Thanks for the link. You’re quite right. Social is becoming so large and fragmented, that nobody can be an expert at all facets of it. We’ll soon start to see decoupling and specialization, so that people will (thankfully) stop saying they are a “social media expert” and will instead claim expertise in “social CRM” or “social business design” or “social marketing” or “blogger outreach” or something else. The same way we went from “online marketing” to SEO, email, usability, banner ads, web strategy, and so forth.
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I think that it will move on a bit past titles like social marketing consultant to political social media strategist, and food service social media marketer, or something along those lines. Either way this is gonna be a helluva ride. Thanks for taking the time to comment Jay
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At the risk of folks lining up to point and laugh, I’m a wee bit over the whole social media expert assertions. For every twitter account out there, there are three articles about how I’m supposed to tweet.
I didn’t join twitter or facebook or linked in or even log on to the Interwebs to maximize my exposure to potential wallets. I logged on to connect with other people, to learn about stuff I’m interested in, and to see what other folks are up to out there.
If the stuff I say and do online makes folks curious enough to go find out what I do for a living and those skills are something they want to purchase, cool. But that’s my MO offline, too.
I do what I do because it’s what I’m passionate about doing — not because some “expert” told me that this would position me to take advantage of the latest magic fairy dust.
Having ranted all of that, let me say that what I do most emphatically appreciate is technical expertise. This is something you have in spades, Brian. If I want to know how to make my site do that fancy thing I saw somewhere else, you can tell me how that works. If I want to know how to fix something I’ve broken, you can tell me that, too. If I want to touch base with a favorite real-life human, well, there you are again.
I recognize that there are folks who are very, very ROI driven. Those are the folks who tend to scoff at my fluffier approach to life. Perhaps this discussion is better left to them while I go play with big paper and markers and tape.
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Why should people scoff at your Pollyanna approach? You’re getting out of it exactly what you want. Should you want to do more, you know where I am
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Spot on, sir. This industry is still very young and we have not yet experienced just how deep it goes. I meet people every day that are marketing, advertising, or social media professionals and when I tell them I help people use the tools available – they get wide-eyed and tell me, ‘I didn’t know you can do (insert function of HootSuite/TweetDeck/TweetCast/etc)’
There are a lot of niches, and even more are appearing. If someone told you ‘I’m an automobile expert’ you’d laugh at them. No one can be an expert on every type of vehicle out there.
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Glad we see eye to eye. Thanks for the comments.
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I’m divided. Because I like clowns. They can uplift the spirit. [grin]
I used to keep a clown at one of my start ups. He didn’t need a red wig, a red nose or the big shoes. Of course, he didn’t know he was a clown, but the entertaining fiascoes that he got into surely helped me get through some rough times. Some thought me cruel for keeping a clown (for the clown was way in over his head), but, in fact, the clown loved me. He was never paid better. And he never had a better opportunity to enjoy the clout and perks of a mover and shaker.
My only concern is that some people don’t know a clown when they read a clown and they may make poor life and professional decisions based on the circus act. Because, believe me, you don’t want to walk and talk a clown walk and talk – unless you’re in the entertainment business.
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lol. I dig your take on this, and no, you don’t want to “walk and talk a clown walk and talk – unless you’re in the entertainment business.”
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Experts what are they? Human Resources requires you to be an expert in order to let you in the gate so some have used that. Those who have the podium or the pen tend to be the ones others decide they should follow or emulate. Trying to remember the saying about an expert being something under pressure, it was funny, but it is stored somewhere in my brain and is not being access currently.
I think those who want to charge 49 dollars for an ebook want to be considered experts to validate that overpriced book. The only experts are the ones who know more than you at the moment. That can and will change.
The title is for those up and coming.
Make it a great day and become expert at something today
Eileen
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I like the statement that experts are the ones who know more than you, at the moment. I’ve always thought that the experts are the ones who have learned enough to know that they still have a lot to learn.
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