Finding the right social media partner
- Image via Wikipedia
I came across an interesting article recently on Business Week entitled Social media snake oil? In it, Stephen Baker explores the idea that (like in any young, emerging field) there are “hucksters” out there trying to make a quick buck as social media consultants, without having the proper credentials in place.
We saw a similar trend in search engine optimization that spawned a rapid proliferation of firms that specialized in SEO. Now, many years later, pretty much every web agency and many ad agencies offer SEO as part of their web marketing strategy. As the science of SEO matured, established agencies with a proven track record for delivering results in other forms of marketing started to pick up SEO as part of their regular service offering.
We can probably expect to see a similar increase in social media: with consultants claiming to be experts in the field. Our position at rtraction is that the field hasn’t defined itself yet, therefore there can be no experts – only smart people coming up with creative ideas to engage your customers or constituents in whatever social media space you plan to use.
In order to avoid the Snake Oil salesman, here are some simple recommendations before engaging:
- Ask your respective social media consultant for concrete examples of how they have used social media to the success of an organization in the past; ask them to prove the return on investment from their efforts
- Look them up in the social media space – what are they doing and how are they engaging with their target market?
- Use the search tools available at your disposal, Google, Twitter Search, etc to search their organization and see how they are represented within the social media space
- Do the same for individual(s) you would be working with, the owners of the company, etc.
In short – if they are representing that they can do creative things in the social media space they should be able to prove it and they should be represented in that space for their own personal/corporate objectives. Social Media is an open space.
David Billson, President and Co-founderAs our fearless leader, David spends most of his time finding new work to keep us busy. As the face of the company, he also spends considerable time with clients to identify and find solutions to their communication and technical challenges. As a father of five six, he doesn’t have to look far to find something fun to do when he’s away from the office. Personally, he has a strong sense of commitment to family, friends and community – which are all the same thing in his mind. He brings this keen social sense to rtraction, and has been instrumental in ensuring that the company follows through on its commitment to corporate social responsibility. The most satisfying work moment for David was when rtraction received the HOPE award from the London Epilepsy Support Center. A busy individual, his greatest annoyance in life is simply how quickly time passes. In his own words, “It seems that every time I blink a new month has gone by.”
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October 15th, 2009 at 3:58 pm
Number 2 on your list is especially important in my opinion. If ‘experts’ can’t or aren’t using SEO, social media, or any sort of digital marketing for themselves how can they recommend best practices?
December 17th, 2009 at 10:19 am
[...] rtaction 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 [...]
December 17th, 2009 at 10:19 am
[...] rtaction 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 [...]