You’re not a social media expert because I’M the only REAL social media expert

So the new buzz is that Birmingham City University is going to start offering a masters degree in social media. It reflects the growing demand for social media professionals, people who understand how to utilize these social platforms for marketing reasons.

I read this article on the subject: http://www.tcapushnpull.com/?p=505

Of course, one of the things I noticed in the responses of the article is that many people are worried about the growing competition in this industry. I equate it to the web design industry in the early 90s. During that time nearly every company suddenly had to have a website, even if they didn’t fully understand why, they just knew they did. This influx in demand attracted people from all over, former desktop publishing professionals, programmers, and artists. Everyone wanted in on this new gold rush and some professionals were able to charge an exorbitant amount of money, sometimes even for poor work. However it fostered competition, soon best practices, innovation and even college courses started popping up. The competition was a good thing. It weeded out the sub-par performers, established a legitimate industry and provided millions of new jobs globally. Now it’s not uncommon to get a bachelors degree in the subject and work a full time job as a web designer or back-end developer. Just because this person got a college degree and didn’t invent the proverbial web-design wheel, doesn’t make them any less valuable in the workforce.

We are at a similar crux in social media. Companies have seemingly overnight woken up to the idea of social media as a marketing delivery method. Almost three years ago when I focused my career in social media many companies saw it as a fad or something that would pass by. Now companies realize that they need to embrace social media or be left behind by the competition (even if they don’t fully understand what that means). This has created a huge demand for people who have some sort of clue on how to utilize these social media platforms for marketing. Coupled with a bad economy you have thousands of eager young professionals entering the field everyday, mainly because it’s one of the few fields that are still growing employment wise.

Even a year ago, many companies I talked to laughed off the idea of investing money into social media, now they have dollars to spend. Only now they are confronted with a seemingly confusing array of options. Should I hire a full time person? Should I hire an agency? A freelancer? Either way, people are coming in droves to fulfill the demand in a bad economy. My Twitter account is full of thousands of marketers that are eager to prove themselves in the space. Again, I don’t think this is a bad thing, as an old boss used to say: “Where there’s competition, there’s opportunity”. For the most part this has been true, as the competition has up ticked in this industry, so has my demand, and so has my own need for qualified people.

Anyway, back to the article. It’s interesting news and I am excited for the students in this program. I’m sure they’ll graduate years from now into a developed industry that will value their work.

I then read Scott’s comment:

The influx of all of these “social media experts” aka “aka SM wannabes” that point to their facebook friends and twitter friends as proof they know what they are doing in the space, are ruining the image of real experts.

To say that “you need to have a masters in social media to be a social media expert” is complete and utter crap.

Being an expert in social media comes down to three things…RESULTS RESULTS RESULTS…

If you can’t point to any quantifiable results you have helped a client achieve in social media…you are nothing more than a snake oil salesperson selling naive individuals a dream of “social media fame” when you yourself could never deliver what you are promising.

It’s legally stealing if you ask me…

Unless you can physically prove to people that you have done the following for clients:

*MADE THEM MONEY
*BUILT THEIR LISTS
*LANDED MEDIA OPPS
*DRIVEN INSANE AMOUNTS OF STICKY TRAFFIC THROUGH THEIR WEBSITES
*BUILT EFFECTIVE AND ENGAGING COMMUNITIES

…You should stop calling yourself a social media expert.

I have done all of these things and more for clients.

I don’t say this to brag, but instead bring it to the surface to cut through all of the bullcrap that is happening with all of these new wannabes taking advantage of people who don’t know any better.

In short… “YOUR NOT AN EXPERT, I’M AN EXPERT!!”. I find this interesting coming from a 23 year old who’s only prior work experience before establishing a consulting agency was: “I worked for a financial institution as a marketing intern and somewhat enjoyed the experience” and some of his other claims to Internet fame include:

* This Link is also another interview that I did with my internet marketing friend about the different applications you can leverage when using facebook.
* This Link is also another interview that I did with my marketing friend, Mari Smith regarding networking on facebook and how business people can take advantage of it

(By the way Scott, it’s Internet)
So this big rant about “SM wannabes” and “snake oil salesperson selling naive individuals a dream of “social media fame”” which is “It’s legally stealing if you ask me…” and you have no more experience than anyone else. In your own terms YOU are the snake-oil salesman. I also think you’re somewhat misguided on what a social media marketing campaign is and isn’t. First I would never categorize a successful campaign as landing media opportunities as PR people have been doing that for years or “DRIVEN INSANE AMOUNTS OF STICKY TRAFFIC THROUGH THEIR WEBSITES”, as a well planned PPC or affiliate campaign will actually produce better traffic. The whole point of a social media campaign is to target the niche communities that can drive your brand, your message and build relationships with your potential customers directly. Getting traffic, SEO and maybe even media ops can be a by-product of a social media campaign, but the true goal is to target your niche market and build relationships. I suggest reading: Social Media Marketing, An Hour Per Day or Social Media is a Cocktail Party, both of which are excellent reads.

My point is not to attack Scott’s background, but to point out that very few people know 100% what they are doing in this space since it’s so new. The most established social media consultants have really only been in business for 2-3 years. Even I, having founded two social networks before starting this company didn’t know everything and made mistakes when I started out. There were no college courses or books to read. There’s an incredible amount of information out there right now, from social bookmarking to blogging strategy, it’s overwhelming for the average company or individual. That’s where we come in as consultants and social media agencies, to make sense of it all, to institute best practices and innovate. Since this is still all so new I think it means there’s still incredible room for growth and innovation in this industry.

At the end of the day, a social media campaign comes down to labor and time. Someone, whether it is a social media agency, freelancer, or consultant needs to be involved in the daily conversations that revolve around your company. The only real barrier to entry to this role is knowledge of social media and basic working knowledge of planning a marketing campaign. So I think we’ll continue to see people enter this field. The bad ones will fail, and the good ones will go on to make a decent living.

Not a day goes by that I don’t read these “warnings” about shady social media consultants wanting to steal companies hard earned dollars. I’ve got news for ya, the competition is here to stay. Stop being scared and do what you do best. Either innovate and do a great job for your clients or be left behind. But please stop trying to tell us why only you are the only legitimate choice for their business. There’s plenty of revenue for everyone, so if you’re doing a good job you shouldn’t have to worry about a thing.

Speaking of which, business is booming over here at FlashPoint Social Media. I’m hiring if anyone is interested. I’m in need of good bloggers, social media virtual assistants and social media managers. E-mail me if you’re looking for work: andy [at] flashpointsocialmedia.com