OurTraction

At rtraction we don’t like the concept of a ’social media expert” and have offered recommendations on how  to check up on your social media consultant’s credentials before engaging with them.

Recently a number of prominent social media blogs have also come out against the idea of a social media expert. Chris Brogan wrote a post explaining how New Marketing Labs measures social media marketing and David Armano compared the current social media professional scene to the early days of the internet, when people with little expertise flocked to that new field.

The “mainstream” press has even gotten in on the action. Business Week published a cautionary article titled “Beware the Social Media Snake Oil”, in which Stephen Baker does a great job explaining what social media is, the potential pitfalls, but also the huge rewards.

Social media has definitely become a  bandwagon phenomenon that a lot of people are jumping on to in the hopes of making a quick dollar.

The key takeaway from all of these articles is make sure you don’t fall into the “buzz trap” that a lot of so called “social media experts” promote. It is easy to get caught up in the data; number of Twitter followers, Facebook friends, or YouTube views. Ultimately though, social media should been seen as another tool to drive revenue, but in new and exciting ways.

Measuring the return on investment (ROI) of a social media campaign can be tough, but is not altogether impossible. Assessing the data is the first step, but equating the numbers to real world sales is when you see the ROI benefits. An honest social media team should be able to relate your efforts online to an actual benefit.

Case studies and practical examples will separate the doers from the talkers. As Mitch Joel has explained “It’s easy to tell a Social Media Snake Oil Salesman from the real deal: just track and see how much of their work day is spent self-promoting on Twitter, Facebook, Blogs etc… versus doing the actual work for clients”

At rtraction we don’t focus on how social media has helped our brand, but how it has been used to promote and expand our client’s message. We can cite examples like the 1000 Acts of Kindness campaign, and how we used Facebook and Twitter with resounding success. We have many more examples so feel free to contact us.

The Business Week article concludes with ‘[t]he best way to avoid a similar backlash today is for social media’s practitioners, including thousands of consultants, to shift the focus from promises to results. It may be the only way to convert the skeptics—and flush out the snake oil.”

Will a shift like that be enough to weed out the snake oil salesmen, and ultimately help grow social media?

Titus

Titus role is to help keep our clients fluent in many dialects of social media. Titus has been a key organizer for a variety of local technology events. A true conversationalist both online and off, Titus rarely shies away from a healthy debate and is motivated to see the Internet become more social and move towards more engaging conversations. Titus is also an avid cook and would rather eat a failed recipe then throw out food. As a student, in order to save a few bucks, he would often brew his own beer.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 17th, 2009 at 10:19 am and is filed under OurTraction. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.