Comments on: Searching for social media experts

By: New Comm Biz » Please Stop Saying Viral Video

New Comm Biz » Please Stop Saying Viral Video — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 00:08:25 +0000

[...] Searching for social media experts (directmarketingobservations.com) [...]

By: 2 things that don’t make a Social Media Guru

2 things that don’t make a Social Media Guru — Sat, 30 May 2009 00:57:18 +0000

[...] Searching for social media experts (directmarketingobservations.com) [...]

By: Lou Sagar

Lou Sagar — Sun, 24 May 2009 17:35:01 +0000

As an active and immersed social web strategist…those of us who are working every day with clients solving problems, are considerably more humble..”Expertise” and “best practices” are moving from the conceptual…to the strategic and finally to the tactical and measurable stages of implementation. Why promote that? As traditional industries are imploding rapidly, one doing the work that I and others are doing in social media…are often threatening to service business relationships whom are protecting the retainer fees, and commissions they earn from their clients…Not easy to give that up.

By: Consumer Mailing Lists

Consumer Mailing Lists — Tue, 19 May 2009 20:20:50 +0000

You may be having difficulty because not too many of these “experts” have sprouted up yet or at least not promoting themselves they way they should. I would also suggest that you expand you keyword search as well, but I think you will be able to find more and more experts/specialists popping up soon.

By: marc meyer

marc meyer — Tue, 19 May 2009 14:33:15 +0000

@mettestuhr You’re right, I don’t even think the ones that are experts, want to call themselves experts on anything just because of the negative connotation that has been associated with it. They won’t deny it, if someone else calls them such, but they are better served by avoiding it.

@jason, all great points and you’re right as well that in time the furor will subside but for now perhaps its best to be an expert in “A” which translates wonderfully in the world of social media..just a thought.

By: jak

jak — Tue, 19 May 2009 14:12:12 +0000

Great post. Have had this exact same discussion with some of the people on your list. I list myself as a consultant on my site title, and despite the fact that I have ranked in the top few results for “social media consultant” I have never taken aim at SEO for new business. I think most Social Media is found through existing vendors (Advertising, PR, Design firms) or through word of mouth. Most of my work is through the people I teach, meet at events, and have discussions with online.

Another issue, is there are no real perfect terms to describe the industry. As I said above, there are people in PR, Advertising, Internet Marketing, SEO etc doing great work in Social Media. In the same light there are a lot of specialties: see social networks, tracking, blogging, microblogging, enterprise, etc.

I think the negativity with the titles Social Media consultant or expert will subside with time. As the people with proven results and integrity become more known and the industry gains some mainstream age, hopefully those are the people who will rise to the top of the SERPs.

By: mettestuhr

mettestuhr — Tue, 19 May 2009 07:58:53 +0000

Isn’t it pretty obvious that social media experts or whatever you want to call them are so into their own way of doing things that SEO and more traditional advertising becomes a no go? Or at least not an obvious choice for someone working in this area of marketing.

And optimizing your own site to fit words like social media experts would put yourself among those people that call themselves experts. And, as your blogpost argues, most of us really don’t want to be there.

All of this, however, doesn’t change the fact that potential business is lost as your search exemplifies.

@ari I’m not sure I agree with you on the 6+ word search. I don’t even do that most of the time and I consider myself a pretty heavy user.

By: Brandon Sheley

Brandon Sheley — Tue, 19 May 2009 05:32:40 +0000

Unfortunately I don’t believe anyone that says they are a “social media expert”..lol
I do however like this post and think those who you linked to probably do know their stuff. Keep it up and I’ll be back to read other post.

By: Jessica Gottlieb

Jessica Gottlieb — Mon, 18 May 2009 20:21:34 +0000

Edited to sound less bitchy?

I think it’s a good post, and good posts need to be found.

By: marc meyer

marc meyer — Mon, 18 May 2009 19:46:12 +0000

@Jim, that’s my point, not only do we suck at differentiating, those that do, get bashed and lambasted for doing so. Granted, some have no business calling themselves consultants or experts but even those who are anointing themselves a title suck at marketing themselves as well. lots of stuff broken here..Thanks Jim and remind me to tell you about our new project that i want you to be a part of. Rachel has agreed to do it..Its cool.