Last week I vented on Twitter around what is a well hackneyed subject, the self-proclaimed social media guru. To be fair, most of us that call ourselves experts aren't really experts in the traditoinal sense of the word. An expert has years of proven success in the very execution they are now adapting to a given circumstance. This whole digital social media/marketing dynamic is simply too new for any of us to be true experts. Some of us know the space better than others, but how many of us really have a mastery of it?
I thought I knew a lot four years ago when I got into this space. Rarely did I read anything shocking in a blog, so I knew it all, right? But the more that I learned on-the-job, the more experience I gained, the less convinced I became that anyone has really mastered this space well enough have it all down pat.
Who are our industry leaders?
The leaders of today were the early adopters a few years ago. They were the early bloggers and agency/brand innovation evangelists. They all swam in the web of "2.0" and for the most part, embraced Second Life for a time. They are now all publishing books, speaking at conferances and doing interviews for one another's publications. On the surface it looks like the code has been cracked. Social has been solved. Now we can pony up a few bucks and learn from these experienced jedis.
But how many of them have really mastered every aspect of bringing this channel to life? With all the conferances so many of our category leaders seem to be attending, not to mention the time invested in writing their books, participating in various forms of social media, meeting with vendors and occasionally sleeping or having a personal life, it's simply impossible for very many to be really engaged day to day in buiding client solutions. With the exception of the self made men such as Gary Vaynerchuck, how many of the big talking heads really have the proven expertise to be considered gurus in even any one vertical industry?
Are any of us experts?
Typically, experts take on three flavors - the guy that knows how real business works and has a cursory knowledge of social user behavior or technology components, the guy who totally gets social from a user perspective but has limited knowledge of real business proceses or technology build considerations, and the technologist who cares more about what then how or why. Most really smart people have a mastery of one or two. Rarely is there an individual with an expert level of understandign and experience in all three in the social space.
A true expert:
- knows how all the major digital social paltforms work
- knows why each of the major digital social platforms work
- appreciates how to tap into the behavior that drives users in social
- knows all of the various technology considerations in developing in these environments
- has the appropriate partner relationships to bring these technologies to life
- knows how to organize a team and process to make everything work
- has the leadership to manage a cross discipline team
- has superb patience and team work skills
- is able to guide and participate in a team alongside those who think they know more than they do, but be able to land the ship with the best possible solution
- undertands the brand's business and communications needs and opportunities internally and externally
- is super creative and well spoken, articulate and able to present beautifully
- is a master politicians who know how to navigate the real world that is corporate business to get social done
- is a great project manager and facilitator who can scope out a project and hit each goal and milestone
- knows what he or she doesn't know and knows who and how to engage to fill the gaps
- has proven repeated success in all of the above
How often is stunnning success a shiny object (or... an accident)?
My favorite part of the social presentations from the gurus are the case studies. They are often quite humorous. Rarely do they tell a satisfactorily complete story. More often than not, they tell a fraction of the story but position it as glowing success because of a very selective measurement focus. You'll know something is missing where there isn't a lessons learned slide. This generally addresses the mistakes they made along the way. At the end of the day, the skeptics walk away unconvinced and the gullable walk away amazed. I'm glad the guru presenting shared his or her best practices upfront. Best practices celebrate you're strengths, lessons learned teach for the future.
Don't get me wrong, there are some really amazing examples of success. Many of them are accidents. Many of them were incidental to another effort. Many of them had some great thinking and were presented by some great thinkers. It's the thought that counts. Why do all thinkers need to be called gurus?
Why we don't need a guru and I'd appreciate it if you stopped calling yourself one.
Nobody has everything worked out, knows it all and has the perfect answer to everything. Nobody.
Guru is an absolute, not relative a term. It should be reserved for the few who have mastered it all. None of us have twenty years experience doing this at scale in the environment we currently find ourselves in.
We have thought leaders, but they don't have all the answers. They have some great consideration sets. They have great thoughts. They have great discussions. And I urge everyone to join the discussoin. The more that you engage, the more that you will realise you have so much more to learn.
So please, stop calling yourself a guru. Stop calling efforts successes or failures without context. Stop pontificating about subjects you know little to nothing about. Spend more time reading that you do writing. But when you do start doing, please be sure to engage all of us so we can learn together.
Because all of us could use little more informed, creative, strategic, smart, personal, collaborative thinking.
That said, some of us do have more experience than others. When in doubt, ask. Those who really get this space are willing to share.