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  • Great post Raz!

    It's all theory until you apply.
  • It's like spam, if it didn't work, people wouldn't do it.

    I think there's something to be said for good old hard work and know-how. It's good to understand why those people succeed, but never sell your own morals.

    Everyone bullshits to some extent. They just bullshit to the fullest extent.
  • Cute post, but there's a gap in here somewhere. You give some reasons why "social media experts" are doing the right thing & being successful, and lessons to learn from that (small fish, big rewards). However, you also give a bunch of areas where they're doing things that you (we) don't really approve of, but don't show why they're not the right way to go, making the leap directly to the opposite action without explaining why.

    For example, if they've successfully "outsourced their credibility" (the idea of which makes my skin crawl), can you explain why others shouldn't do it? It seems to be working for the "gurus."

    I'm with you on many of the lessons (I say "many" and not "all" because 'big fish' are fun too) , but I think you're missing a logical step in your explanations.

    Nice thinking though... and where did you get that graphic? I love it.
  • True. I kind of rushed this one out....
  • It sucks to think about, but it's all true. The organized cult idea reminds of Digg - a few of people have a huge [semi]personal network and basically control what makes it to the front page of Digg. There are exceptions, but those few people charge for their service and for most, the first page of Digg is worth it...the legitimacy doesn't really matter.

    We can all sit back and say followers and personal networks don't matter and that community is the most important thing in social media, but that doesn't change the view of outsiders. What do companies want from social media? Eyeballs and sales. Mix the selling points of social media with gaming the system and these experts have no trouble finding clients that end up more than happy with the work they paid for.

    Better yet, the results are immediate. I've seen a lot of people back away from SM because their two month contract didn't get them a massive loyal community or increase their sales by a huge percent. At least a bunch of subscribers, followers, fans, etc. shows immediate progress. It will fail in the long run, but that's when the "experts" will take their money and move on to the next prey.
  • Stu, a Mr. L. Baitin is on the phone for you. A Mr. Link Baitin.
  • Guilty as charged. ;)
  • God I love this post.

    I'd say it's time for us to meet because this post is so awesome, but then I'd also sound like an AOL chat room in 1997.

    Too soon?
  • A/S/L?
  • Oh the good old days...
  • David Spinks just won the award for most unintentionally creepy blog post of 2010. Nothing will top that!
  • Stuart, I think it's time for me to come clean... Why don't you just have a seat over there first?

    I'm Chris Hansen...
  • Great article - I've always said social media experts aren't smarter, they're just better marketers, and in the end, that's very powerful. And all the tricks that annoy me to no end to inflate numbers aren't seen by potential clients or others. So you can play that game too, or just work hard and produce amazing results. I go for the latter, but it's a tricky balance.
  • Exactly. Learn from the marketing techniques...not the doucheiness.
  • a) guru is something someone else calls you, as I said in my post.
    b) how you tell who's the real deal is by looking at their case studies and clients
    c) there is no such thing as an overnight success. Overnight success generally takes about 10 years to achieve.
    Some bloggers who have "a cult" have been giving away information for many years. The more we give away, the more we get back.
    c) just wondering, could you be eating some sour grapes here?
    :>)
  • Was trying not to display any sour grapes. Simply trying to point out that we could learn a thing or two from the practices of the stereotypical expert. (Thus, the lesson at the end of each point)

    Post title is complete and total linkbait though.

    :P
  • Shameless.

    But hey, linkbait works.
  • Yes. Yes it does.
  • Ed
    Great article!

    Wrote something on this subject on my website. Here is part of it:

    "Malcolm Gladwell's says that it takes 10,000 hours to be an expert in something. Wikipedia includes this piece on what it means to be an “expert”: ”a shepherd with 50 years of experience tending flocks would be widely recognized as having complete expertise in the use and training of sheep dogs and the care of sheep."
    What it means to be an “expert” is a series business. I mean Harry Collins of Cardiff University wrote a book on it after a long study of the sociology of gravitational wave detection. So when someone calls themselves an “expert” on Twitter, or in their blog biography, or somewhere else on the internet, or in general, well they're really making a big claim!"
  • I love that this isn't a rant, but has valuable, actionable lessons for each point.
  • Glad you enjoyed Christy :)
  • I think that being a hit with other like minded social media people, and hitting on the radar of client types who are serious about hiring you are very different!
  • Absolutely..
  • There's no "expert" in Social Media. It's all basic communications, and people who call themselves experts are the ones who like to sell tactical stuff like "Building Facebook Page", iPhone apps to try and accomplish #2 of your list. :)
    Thanks for the post!
  • No problem Tim.

    You mean the days of billing clients for 30k facebook pages is over? ;)
  • Yes, now they have to include something intelligent called Facebook app to the Page in order to charge that much :)
    Well it takes lots of manhours to "design" the facebook page layout right? It all makes sense.
  • Tim, I thought experts charge for their expertise, not by the hour. An expert can give you an evaluation of a situation (think of a medical specialist), within a few minutes, that can save your life or business. Do you think an hourly charge will be appropriate?
    Setting up a FB page is a tactical thing, as part of a project of SM strategy implementation. It's not about the time it takes to set it up, it's what you do with it...
    Now you made me sound liked a #SocialMediaExpert :P

    Great post, Stuart...
  • Yes you definitely sound like one :)
    I agree, experts should charge for their expertise, but man hours is definitely one of the cost to calculate what to charge clients, any consultant level calculate cost by setting up an hourly rate to make sure their time is well spent and clients are charged fairly. I'm not talking about like a hourly rate in mcdonald's. :)

    I thought it was a pretty common rule, or maybe Ogilvy is the only agency doing this?
  • :P
  • I think a lot of the venom is based on those being burned or others trying to make it a legitimate (trusted) pursuit. However, I find it ironic that social media experts are some of the easiest to vet. Unlike web designers, SEO experts, or the like--veiled largely behind corporate web metrics--social media experts either are or they aren't. Look at their personal brand and engagement. It's all in the open. People either care about them or don't. They are either community builders or they aren't.

    I also definitely agree with getting clients to see and understand the value you bring for stickiness.

    Another great post Stuart. Glad your social media presence was prominent enough for me to find you in the noise.
  • Glad you could find me as well Bill.

    The sad part of this is? Most who need this post probably will never see it.
  • Great post, Stuart. I'm glad you touched on this sensitive topic.

    It's amazing how self-proclaimed social media experts are considered thought-leaders and have a larger following than pros who seriously deserved to be followed. These "experts" have no results or proof to back their claim; only thousands of followers (or cult, as you eloquently stated) who don't recognize or understand what it means to be a true leader. They only use their popularity to futher manipulate their followers into believing they know all there is to know about social media.

    It's pretty sad, actually.
  • I'm surprised more people aren't using the tactics illustrated by the cults though.

    Would seem to be an easy way to create massive awareness for a product or service.
  • Just wanted to have some fun Ari :).
  • Who reads your blog, Stuart, who considers him or herself a social media expert? Are you preaching anything here that I'll go out on a limb your average reader doesn't agree with, or are there folks reading this that disagree?
  • And to be honest? I was sick of not having any traffic.
  • I love this. As a Director of Marketing for a Software Company, I hate it when I see Social Media people pumping up websites or events, but not provide tangible results.

    And I don't mean pageviews. Unless you send me convertible traffic I couldn't care less about the numbers. Almost anyone tech savvy could make a living screwing ... err ... I mean helping small businesses, but Social Media isn't the answer its a full understanding of websites in general.
  • Having a bigger picture of what the entire strategy is going to be is vital to any sort of marketing efforts.

    Tangible results are an absolute necessity to any type of campaign/program. Like you said: traffic means nothing without conversions.
  • You're spot-on with #1. It's like, I don't care if you have 84,000 followers-- when I look at your page, all but two of your tweets begin with "I subscribed," and there is only one retweet and zero replies. How's that building a community? Everyone planning social media strategy should read this. Beware the 'experts'. Nice post Stuart.
  • Great point Catherine. The thing is...are you informing your clients about the reasons why this approach is wrong?

    If they can't understand what methods you are using...they are likely to jump ship.
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