Stop the presses...I recently read a very interesting article in today's Calgary Herald from Canwest News Service journalist Misty Harris on the flood of "Social Media Guru's" in today's economy. I few weeks I wrote a post on this blog about these self-proclaimed social media gurus and my good friend Joe from MSPMentor.net followed up with his article on "Seven Signs Your Social Media Coach is a Fraud".
Instead of focusing on the negative like I have in the past this time I am going to try really hard to focus on the positives about having a professional who really understands small business challenges, marketing in general and how social media can play a part in your overall marketing efforts.
Here is question one to ask them. What is marketing and how does it differ from sales? Email me for the answer, not going to give away all my knowledge on my blog. However, here are some differences on professionals vs..the others.
1. Real Professionals never call themselves gurus, ninjas, experts and the list goes on. Some of us may call ourselves consultants, professionals and maybe a strategist. But many of don't carry numb chucks so we are not ninjas or preach from the altar and therefore the evangelist wording is out.
2. Real business professionals have a proven track record. We may talk about some of our success stories, but normally we are under a NDA (Non-disclosure agreement) and rarely have the opportunity to share some of our success stories. However, like in some of the comments on Joe's blog, we come recommended by our loyal clients to others and more often than not, engage with people the old fashioned way - we meet them face-to-face or talk to them in person.
3. Real professionals also run successful businesses or at least part of a successful business venture. Does your social media consultant under EBITDA or profit/loss? How about the measurement of ROI and success indicators? Here is a tip, ask your social media guru about the importance of the number of followers on Twitter and then call me or email me for my answer. Want to see if we are different?
I love what Kemp Edwards from BCIT said in Misty's article when talking about social media gurus "It's sort of like declaring yourself the champion before you've hoisted the cup" or even what Dee Tremendous from the Toronto-based blog "Tremendous News" says "Social Media is a fertile land for douche bags".
What I would caution small business owners is this...do your homework. Check out your social media guru's website, is it professional? Is it just some free template and has all the free WordPress junk on it? Your business needs to have a resource who can help you understand what makes sense for your business...not that you need a Facebook page or a Twitter account - just because.