What is a social media expert?

Looking at the wide variety of social media experts, it is easy to quickly become jaded to their assorted value propositions. At the same time, however, there is still the inkling that social media is part of a greater transition from Television, radio, and print media to the web. This transition will occur and it will not simply be a matter of copying content from one staging area to another. The internet is a two (in fact, a muli-way) medium and leveraging this power will require knowledge of social media and how to utilize it. This is where knowledge of social networks and marketing across these channles comes in. There will be a need for social media experts and some will emerge who can create value. Currently, however, we are still in the starting stages of this transition and many of these ‘experts’ have little more than a couple of months more knowledge and experience than their customers. The list below discusses some of the traits that a real social media professional should exhibit. These traits should be up front and free. The specific details of their offerings may of course cost money, but there should at least be a well presented and organized presentation of how they can deliver on their stated promises.

a) Awareness of the available social media tools
Twitter, facebook and YouTube are not the only social media platforms out there. There are many others that are approaching this shift to the internet from a variety of angles. Some may target your desired customers with greater efficiency. A social media expert cannot be expected to know of all of the options available, but they should be able to review a given site based on the potential values it offers to the client. Many social media experts will only reference the sites that have the largest amount of traffic, or the most press. This is because they are in the business of marketing, not social media optimization.

b) Knowledge of how to use each of these tools effectively
Twitter is full of experts offering ebooks or social media solutions that seem to endorse using the same set of techqiques for all sites. In fact, each site has a different type of visitor, set of interactions, culture and set of rules for behavior. Not knowing this will eventually mean that the unique possibilities of a given platform are not utilized. The internet will evolve into many things, not one big thing, and a variety of approaches will have to be taken.
-> This DOES NOT mean a one size fits all approach to every social network

c) The ability to discern which sites have marketing value and which do not
Some platforms and sites will have greater value for marketing and promotion than others. This effect can be multiplied by way of the social interaction the site utilizes. In order to have value, these features have to be used by a quality percentage of the sites visitors. Simply having feature A or B will not mean it is being used. If a sites features are underutilized, it should be the SME’s job to get utilization out of it. He or she shouldn’t just turn it over to the technitions and intstuct them to create ’some more cool features’.

d) The ability to gauge and intelligently discuss the trends inherent in a given network

This is about level of depth. Any so called guru can talk about Twitter getting 10k new users a day, or Facebooks valuation. A real SME can discuss they kinds of people on a given network, their interests and their level of investment into the system. All of these work to determine just how worth while a campaign is.

e) Knowledge of methods to maximize Social Marketing efforts across the widest variety of social networks

Some strategies can work across a variety of networks because they are generic enough and unobtrusive. An SME should be able to determine what these are and how they can be employed. Just as important, they should be able to explain why other methods won’t work and the reason why. In addition, tools like Ping.fm can be used to send content to a large number of networks. An SME should know what they are as well as how to use them properly. Ping.fm, for example, can send to round 50 different networks. Many of these networks will not have much value to a campaign, so saying that submitting to all 50 sites on Ping.fm does not mean much. It would be better to classify those sites and explain the variety of strategies applied to each class.

f) Knowledge of the different ‘cultures’ in a social network. (See an anthropological study).
Twitter appeals to techies, marketers, public relations and gadget junkies. They rebel hard against explicit selling or affiliate efforts. An SME who proposes such a thing on Twitter is no where near an expert. Likewise, other sites have different demographics and cannot be treated in the same way. Make sure that your SME can explain the difference.

g) Continued study, the willing ness to discuss what one is learning
To get the most our of your SME, do your own research. Go to technorati, techcrunch etc and see what’s happening out there. Use your own reasoning to estimate what might have value for you and then ask your SME about it. The feedback should be intelligent and well thought out.

h) A variety of options and strategies for a given customer or client.
Like any other service, an SME should provide the customer with a variety of solutions. In fairness to he or she, they will come at varying cost. You should be able to expect levels of service and customization. Not having this is like going to a restaurant that only sells spam and eggs.

i) Knowing that more granular targeting = more work.
This is an important realization or both the SME and the client. Targeting a wider spectrum of potential customers means better targeting but it also means more effort in implementation. For the SME this means more work. For you this means a higher cost.

j) Because of the above, the SME should be able to determine which effort delivers the most bang for the buck, and then leave that final decision up to you.

k) Introduce efficiencies, and DRY priciples. Eventually, efficiencies can be created as common tasks emerge. This can eventually save time and money in the long term for a higher up front cost. In addition, repeated tasks should eventually be eliminated and abstracted out using templates and scripting where appropriate.

l) Technical knowledge. SME will eventually require a blend of graphic design, advertising and coding skills. An SME should know the place of all of these and be versed in at least one of these skills. Beyond that, he or she should be able to effectively locate and utilize talents in areas not versed in.

In summary, Social Media Optimization is like any other service. It is a skill and as a service it is performed to save the client time and money compared to doing it himself. The SME market right now is full of short cuts, quick solutions, one-size-fits-all and outright scams. Approach hiring such an expert with caution. More importantly, approach the process with curiosity and a willingness to explore this new facet of the internet. This phenomenon is here to stay, so an investment in learning about it has long term cost and competitive benefits.

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