Five Signs You’ve Picked the Right Social Media Practitioner
This morning Peter Shankman and Sarah Evans published a post entitled, “Is your Social Media expert really an expert?” (cross-posted on both their sites, click on either name to read the post). It’s filled with 25 tips/signs/warnings when dealing with Social Media people.
They’re certainly on to something right from the start, suggesting you be weary of anyone labeling themselves a guru or expert. Taking a look at Twellow and you’ll see what they mean. More than 9,000+ people call themselves experts in something, and there are almost 6,000 gurus out there.
But let’s look at the flip side of the coin. What should you look for when you engage a Social Media practitioner? How about these five things:
1. The first thing they do is listen.
It’s a good sign if they ask you to talk more than they talk themselves. No one can help you properly without first having a good understanding of the situation. Social Media is not an ‘off the shelf’,’ one-size-fits-all solution.
2. The second thing they do is tell you to listen
There are plenty of different ways to engage in Social Media, but they all start from the same place: listen first. Find out what your consumers are saying, what the competitors are doing and what where the true opportunities lie.
3. Their plan is measurement focused
Anyone worth their salt will put forward a measurement plan for your Social Media activities. If they don’t they’re probably trying to hide something.
4. Their plan is long-term
Social Media isn’t going to solve all your problems by the end of the fiscal year, let alone in time for the next quarterly report. A true Social Media practitioner will stress the long-term benefits of Social Media, as well as the long-term commitment necessary to see those benefits.
5. They want to teach you
Social Media isn’t some weird voodoo magic that only the high priests understand. Anyone you are working with should have at the forefront of their plan an internal education program. Consumers aren’t clamouring to speak with your digital media shop or PR agency, they want to speak to you.
I hope these tips, along with the ones provided by Peter and Sarah help. If I left out some other good ones, please share them in the comments section.
Tags: social media, Social Media Expert
Nicely done… I appreciate this compilation as a follow up to Peter and Sarah’s points. Thanks.
Thanks Samantha, I wanted to offer a nice counterpoint to the dire warnings of Sarah and Peter
Thanks for the quick and thorough post. Can you elaborate on “measurement focused” please?
Enjoyed this post. Excellent focus on the “positive” attributes of a truly helpful digital strategist (focusing on social media). They really aren’t any different are they?)
Good list. Customers want real communication (#5), not canned PR blurbs. A good SM practitioner develops strategy, identifies the right SM tools for the client, and help a client find his or her own voice. Listening, education and participation are key to any strategic SM program.
Rick, as a novice in the world of social media,but an experienced person in life, thanks for the positive side of this world. I am still not clear exactly what is suppose to happen with Twitter. I have several followers and I am just not quite sure why are they following me or why should I follow another person. I will continue to seek and I am sure that I will be able to “turn the light on” for myself.
Juanita
Steve,
By measurement focused I mean, a good SocMed practitioner is going to want to show the value of the effort, and to do that, you have to measure. Without measurement you can’t course correct if things are going right (because you don’t know if things are going right or wrong). Also, without measuring you don’t know if SocMed has had an impact on your overall marketing goals.
Yes.
Nicely done. Listen, then strategy, implement, measure, review, revise, repeat. Hmmm, sounds like marketing! Social or “traditional” the funtamentals are the same.
So are we measuring the activity surrounding the media strategy, or the results it brings to the company. I’m sure the answer is “both”, but explain a bit further.
Thanks Rick.
Good stuff; I can’t even pick my favorite bit of advice here because all of them are essential to setting realistic, achievable expectations.
Steve,
Your Social Media output should map to business outcomes. So, you should be able, through measurement and evaluation, correlate your efforts to the business goals.
If the goal is to drive website traffic, I’d look to see if the amount of tweets (for instance) that include links to the site maps to an increase in web traffic. That’s simplistic, but you get the idea.
Hey Rick, Just added you on Linkedin and hope we connect since I like the way you think. Question for you… What are you using to measure your business outcomes? More hits on the website as a result of the efforts? Google Analytics?
What I always found interesting in conferences I attended for advertising is that ultimately they had to admit that PR was more effective because it’s all about getting the buzz going, rather than a one-off which an ad generally is.
Hope this makes sense and look forward to reading more of your posts.:)
JOY
@Joy Kennelly – one tiny tidbit… not only see if web hits have increased, but have they increased due to clicks within tweets? There are verious ways of tracking who clicks on links within Tweets – I use Hootsuite.
Rick,
Concise…easy to read…well done sir!
It’s all about results. Titles like “guru” or “expert” are usually a tip to me that they’re simply jumping aboard for profits – and not for their client’s profits.
Nice counter to Sarah and Peter’s insights.
I’ve read both your posts and they have both been helpful in trying to unravel the relevance of social media. As a internet sales consultant, I see uses for social media, but it seems to me all these tools are only relevant if you have the proper person to use them (not just implement them as a “social media expert” sounds like they are hired for) You can implement all the plans (PR, Advertising etc) in the world and if you don’t have the sales person to follow through with it, you have a lot of fans and no action.
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I not only like this post better, but I like the angle better as well. Although I agree with Peter and Sarah, I think it is presumptuous to say you don’t know social media unless you were involved in it before it existed. Things change at a rapid pace these days. Your checklist is spot on.
Hi Rick,
Found your constructive advice here from your post on Peter Shankman and Sarah Evans’ funny but practical list on what to be wary of when engaging a social media “expert.”
What’s really eye-opening about their post is the time stamps on the comments. Many of them are in the wee hours of the morning. That speaks volumes. The people who evolve into really being in the know are people who live in social ether of the net.
So, I think one attribute of a social media expert for hire would be that they are willing and have the time to commit to you and your cause. Then the other part that they will teach you how to keep engaged is vital, because even the most brilliant internet guru only has one pair of eye balls, and ten fingers.
Finally, I would add that a guru worth his turban has a level of “EQ”–meaning they “get” that social media is about giving to others and being part of an extremely large, ongoing forum where we must put ourselves in others’ shoes, temper our tongues before lashing out, and always give a little more than we get.
Thanks for posting some valuable traits for us to keep forefront and aspire to!
I liked both the initial article and was myself thinking there should be a more positive followup, so thanks to Rick for doing that. I did have to groan at seeing the word “SocMed”. I’m not sure why we do this. I believe that these portmanteaus lead to confusion. Are we talking about Socratic meddlers, socialized medicine or southern california meditation? Have we just become lazy or is it just what we do to prove ourselves techno-savvy. To create our own language so that those who aren’t SocMed gurus stay unenlightened? If we are using social media to communicate, shouldn’t we make an effort to be as clear as possible? I used to be in marketing communications but now I am a MarComm executive and I didn’t even have to change offices.
I agree with previous comments; the original article was great, but it kind of makes one want to just be snarky about the topic, so this bit of positive was a nice addendum.