TRAACKR

So many people claim expertise in social marketing while so few actually have any that it’s not always easy to figure out who to trust to help you navigate what is still for most an unchartered territory.

Here are a few tips to marketers looking for a helping hand to start experimenting with social media. These are simple things inspired by personal experience and a good dose of common sense, always my best weapon…

1. If someone tells you they are an expert in social marketing, they are probably not… The field of social media is still very new and changing at light speed. There have been a few social marketing success stories but not enough to draw definite patterns in such a fast evolving environment. People who tell you they know exactly what you need to do are either taking you for a ride, or worse, haven’t grasped the complexity of what they are supposed to be experts of.
2. Check out your ‘expert’ for yourself. The least you can expect for someone operating in social media is for them to use the right tools for themselves and build their own brand image. Where do they blog? Can you find them on Facebook, YouTube, Linkedin, Flickr, Twitter, etc.? Do they show up in a simple Google search? Get a sense of who they are and how they use social media tools. In the process, you’ll get more knowledgeable yourself!
3. Has your ‘expert’ already added value to your business? I love this rule because it really addresses 2 important things at once. The first is whether or not that person is truly knowledgeable in this field. Very few businesses are on the cutting edge of social media and chances are that someone with deep knowledge in the field can contribute even before they meet with you. The second is whether or not that person really gets it. What do I mean by that? Unlike traditional marketing, social marketing, and social media in general, require reciprocity and transparency. You need to show your cards first before others decide to trust you. Have they?
4. Dog and pony show allergy. Maybe I should have started there as it’s probably the easiest way to screen out phonies: no company fancy 50-slide Powerpoint presentation with effects and no special website set up for this meeting with the Web2.0 bells and whistles. To give you an example, I attended a discussion last week on social media and the keynote speaker had prepared a total of 6 ugly slides to drive the conversation: he spent all their time thinking about the content of what to say and write, none about formatting. Great way to gain street cred and a great meeting.
5. How many zeros to the proposal? Budget is another way to tell who you have in front of you. I dare anyone to convince me any company should spend a 6 figure budget to start a social marketing project. Over the course of a whole campaign, you might end up spending that and more, but by small increments and by learning along the way what works and what doesn’t. If you are still recovering from a budget discussion on social marketing, you are probably talking to a good ol’ ad agency boy hiding behind buzz terms (see rule 7) and a fancy website.
6. Free! Before you spend big money on social marketing – let me rephrase, before you spend any money on social marketing, have you considered the following: is your company on Twitter yet? How about Facebook? Maybe a group on LinkedIn? Do you answer questions in Yahoo Answers? Shall I continue? If none of these things sound appealing to your ‘expert’, it’s because there isn’t enough money to be made for him there, not necessarily because you shouldn’t do them…
7. Language please! Here is another easy way to tell who you have in front of you. Do you hear “viral marketing”, “UGC”, “building brand equity”? All not good signs… See American Shelf Life for more. Also, if anyone talks to you about “banner ads”, have them escorted out of the building.
8. Fake doesn’t cut it. Another way to tell the people who really don’t get it is to see if their first approach is to try to rig the system and offer to trigger a “viral buzz” (argh! see above) by faking ratings, fans, etc. This is the old school trick of buying the first million copies of a new album to get it at the top of the charts… Let me address this specifically to the geniuses at EMI and Universal (if they still work there) who had interns add friends to MySpace band pages: it doesn’t work!
9. How old is your ‘expert’? I resent discrimination in any way shape or form but I figured that as I stand on the wrong side of this one, maybe people would forgive me. Without elaborating too much, there is a huge generation gap that people who didn’t grow up with MySpace, IM, and Warcraft have much trouble filling when it comes to truly understanding social media. I encourage you to read Mark Prensky’s research on this who introduced the concepts of digital natives and digital immigrants.
10. Speed trumps quality. This field is changing so fast that the only way to stay in the game is to do something. Too many planning sessions, brainstorm exercises, concept reviews and discussions slow you down. Prefer working with someone who is responsive, fast thinking, and not afraid of risks. Running short experiments we can learn from is Ignesis’ bread and butter and I could ramble for some time on this but I won’t… In short, you’re better off receiving a one line email with typos from his or her Blackberry within the hour after you meet instead of a detailed summary of your meeting the next day, articulating next steps, and scheduling the next brainstorming session…

I hope these help you pick the right person for you. Try to hide your smirk if you come across one of the stereotypes I describe. These people do exist!

Please share your own tips on this with the rest of us. We’ll all get smarter.