Is Your Social Media Expert a Fraud?

These days anyone that knows how to create a Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin account proclaimed themselves social media “experts”. On some level, this may be true. Being a “Social media expert” is like being an “Internet expert”. It’s just way too broad! Therefore, it’s meaningless.

Social networking has completely changed how brands interact with people. In this day and age, media is not only consumed by the masses, but is produced by them as well.

Peter Shankman recently wrote a very interesting article entitled “Why I Will Never, Ever Hire a “Social Media Expert”. In his article he writes:

“Being an expert in social media is like being an expert at taking the bread out of the refrigerator. You might be the best bread-taker-outer in the world, but you know what? The goal is to make an amazing sandwich, and you can’t do that if all you’ve done in your life is taken the bread out of the fridge… Social media is just another facet of marketing and customer service… It’s about using the tools to market to an audience that wants to help tell your story, because you’ve been awesome at providing them with the service they deserve.”

And I have to say I agree with a lot of his points. And it’s not just him. Last month, another great blog author, Gary Vaynerchuk, said in his usual low-key, mellow way, that 99.5% of social media experts are clowns.

Real Deal or Joker

Here are some statements you can use to see if you’ve have hired a fraudulent social media “expert”:

• When they talk in %’s instead of real numbers growth in followers (from 4 to 11).
• When they don’t have a Facebook fan page or Twitter account and advise you to create one.
• When they throw around buzzwords like “engagement, metrics, audience” with no context.
• When they don’t have a blog or if they do it’s out dated.
• When they are involved with social media for only a couple of months.
• When they can’t monitor a social media campaign.
• When they don’t understand how social media can impact SEO.

Taking this information in consideration will help you find out if you’ve hired someone that can actually help your business using social media marketing or someone who is taking advantage of you.

Social Media and SEO

Although SEO and Social Media are two separate creatures, they’re related. They both can work independently from one another, but when combined they can really boost the effects each other has. Part of being an SEO requires you understand and use social media, but if your “Social Media Expert” isn’t an SEO person also then kick them out the door. Without knowing SEO, your Social Media Expert might as well be your neighbor’s 16 year old daughter who’s using social media to talk to her friends trying to find out if Johnny ‘likes’ her.

Is it Worth the Investment?

Social media has proven to be a very powerful tool when used right. It can help you reach audiences and new customers that traditional methods won’t. Before you dive into the social media field you should consider what you expect to get out of it and how much time/effort/money you’re willing to spend.

Social media is a great tool to engage with your customers and learn what they’re thinking. Building a loyal following could really help you spread your message, but in some cases no matter what you do you might not get any results from social media because your audience is just not there.

Remember, social media is about engaging customers and participating with them. That means more than just setting up a page for people to LIKE.

Thiago Prado is the Founder and SEO Consultant at PradoSEO, a Houston SEO Firm. He has helped several companies develop and optimize their web presence. He is passionate about search engine optimization and is focused on customer/client satisfaction, usability, and user-friendly interfaces with the determination to always create profitable, efficient, and quality solutions.