7 Warning Signs That Your Social Media 'Expert' Might Be A Fake

1.    Calls himself a social media expert.

Sometimes people who call themselves an expert are the very ones who turn out not to be one.

In the Internet Wild West, especially particularly in the new frontier of social media, "experts" are popping up like weeds in a vegetable garden, in places and situations where  they do more harm than good.

Now, if someone else calls him an expert, well, that’s' different. It means he is respected in his field and has a reputation for delivering results.

 

2.    Thinks social media is just about the tools.

If your '"expert" starts talking about blogs and Twitter and LinkedIn right away, without taking the time to understand what you need to happen in your business, what your goals are, and how social media might fit into the bigger picture, you just might have someone who doesn't know the difference between a tool and a strategy.

 

3.    Doesn't have a blog or a Twitter account or a Facebook presence.

The first thing you should do is ask for her blog address and her usernames for Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and other social media accounts. If she doesn't have any, or her last blog post was four months ago (and, yes, it happens), you should run as far away as possible.

 

4.    Does not talk about community conversations or relationship building.

If your "consultant" is focusing on broadcasting your message in a one-way fashion, or posting content with no way to engage readers in a discussion, or sending out sales pitches, if your question about community is met with a blank stare, then they don't really get social media.

Social media is not that much different from good, old-fashioned face-to-face marketing. It's about listening, responding, interacting. Having community conversations. And, yes, building relationships. These relationships can lead to huge successes, but they don't happen without the time and effort.

 

5.    Previous job was selling cars. Or insulation. Or shoes.

Social media can be learned, but the biggest way to do that is by jumping in and practicing, not by reading books or blog posts. If your expert was selling shoes last week, I'd say that's not a good sign.

Everyone has to start somewhere, but if they have not at least been playing in the social media sandbox themselves, how do they know what works and what doesn't?

 

6.    Will tell you how to get 10,000 followers+ on Twitter (because it's quantity, not quality, that's important). 

If your expert is obsessed with Twitter follower numbers and wants you to be, too, that's probably a red flag. Why do people think that they need a huge number of followers to be successful on Twitter? Is it power? Authority? Celebrity ego? Book sales?

A huge number of people following you is not a bad thing, as long as they are the right followers. And that is determined, I think, by your goal, your reason for being on Twitter in the first place.

It's about who you want to be talking with and why.

 

7.    Tells you it's the 'free' way to sell a lot of stuff.

(See Warning Sign #4.)

Calling social media "free" is like calling networking lunches or Rotary Club meetings free. If you understand that it's about building community and not bombarding people with hypey sales pitches, you know that it's an investment of time—sometimes considerable time. And we all know that time is money.

 

How do you define a social media expert?

Comments

[Carl Coddington]

I'm curious why you wrote this article. Are you a social media expert? If so.. Cool.

I know very little about it.

[Judy Dunn]

Hi Carl,

No, I am not a social media expert. But I am quite active with it and have seen some bad advice out there from people who don't understand it and don't have any experience with it.

Our company does help people develop a unique online presences, including blogs, websites and social media profiles. But we leave the social media strategy part to the experts.

Thanks for reading and leaving a comment.

[Deboarh Drake]

Great article Judy. I don't think of myself as an expert either, I am simply a fan of social media, an early adopter and as always with emerging technologies, a student seeking mastery of some degree.

My hope is that anyone intimidated by the idea of social media (as a tool and vehicle for creating an authentic presence, and in time, meaningful connections that are good for all involved) that they seek to understand what they can, do for themselves what they can and most importantly, ASK for help from the excited early adopters!

I am the first one to encourage joining this "movement." Because it's here to stay, it's fun and it works. And like all messaging, the more authentic the better the results.

Thanks for a bold tell it like it is article

Deborah Drake
http://deborahdrake.com

[Judy Dunn]

Deborah,

Glad to see you here! I am a big fan of the "movement," too. I learn so many cool new things about social media every day and it just comes from being involved and experimenting.

I still think the most power combo is in-person networking coupled with social media.

Thanks for sharing what you've learned.