10 clues someone isn’t really a social media expert
I’ve expressed concern on this blog over the proliferation of self-proclaimed online “experts,” copycats and social media flimflam that are making it difficult for companies and organizations to sort out authentic expertise from a blizzard of B-S. I’m not alone in speaking up as we see in this guest post by Andrew Worob for Ragan.com:
Don’t let the fancy social media buttons and big talk fool you. Heed these warning signs before you hire another “expert.”
10. There are social media icons in their email signature, but when you click on the links you they haven’t updated the page in weeks or months.
9. There are social media icons on their website, but when you click on these links you find they haven’t updated the page in weeks or months.
8. When you ask them if they have actually used the tools they’re recommending—either personally or for a client—they can’t give you a straight answer.
7. Their idea of using social media is to promote a company’s services or key messages without any engagement with users.
6. They claim to be influencers, but their Klout scores are less than your mother’s.
5. Their program proposals talk about big ideas, but they don’t mention how they will track and measure success.
4. As soon as a shiny new tool comes out, they immediately propose you incorporate it into your social media program.
3. They mention MySpace in a discussion about social media channels to consider.
2. They guarantee immediate results.
1. Somewhere in their Twitter/Facebook/Klout/Google+/Foursquare/blog profile it says: “Social media expert.”
Andrew Worob is a public relations professional with 10 years of PR and media experience. He blogs at PR at Sunrise, where a version of this article originally ran.
I’m a fan, by the way, of Mark Ragan’s Ragan.com, news and ideas for communicators, because his site presents solid, professional and no-nonsense commentary.
Category: Featured
