I enjoyed reading this article: Why I Will Never, Ever Hire A “Social Media Expert” by Peter Shankman. In it, Peter brilliantly and ironically explains why so-called social media experts annoy him to no end. He had actually planned to title his article: “All Social Media Experts Should Be Thrown Into the Fire”. Why so much hatred? Let’s break it down.
Back to 2000 all over again…
Peter reminds us of a simple truth: the real issue for companies is knowing how to generate revenue with the help of solid marketing and excellent customer service.
Remember: in the early 2000s, you HAD to have a website. Those who didn’t have one were the ultimate has-beens. Startups offering to build websites flourished, and companies paid. At that time, they believed that simply becoming a “.com” company would open the doors to a new El Dorado for them. No such luck.
One of the collateral damages of that period still remains: website creation was entrusted to IT specialists.
The race for Fans and Followers
Today, social media is trendy, you HAVE to have a Facebook page and a Twitter account. It’s cool and fashionable. What for? To reach which audience? No matter. Social media experts will encourage you to post anything and everything, in a pointless race for “fans” and “followers”. Preaching in the desert makes no sense, except for the preacher.
Bad marketing 2.0 will always be bad
But the heart of Peter’s point, which I completely agree with, is that fundamentally, whether or not we use social media has no impact if it is not seen as a tool serving an effective marketing strategy.
If your customer service is abysmal and you do not know how to highlight the advantages of your products or the benefits of your services (the famous “value proposition”), having a Facebook fan page will not save you from certain bankruptcy.
That does not mean these tools should be rejected! It simply means that above all, you need a coherent marketing approach, and these tools must be used in service of that approach. That is exactly what social media experts are incapable of understanding.
Focus on what matters most
Peter concludes as follows:
“Social media is not cool. Making money is cool. Social media is simply a new string to marketing’s bow, and the bow is designed to generate revenue.”
Thank you, Peter.
