25
2010
Are Social Media Gurus ‘bad’?
An article by 
There is a strong online backlash to the idea that Social Media Gurus are a dime a dozen, and that most of them offer mediocre service for great amounts of money.
That is probably true.
But there shouldn’t take away from the fact that there are people out there who are Social Media experts, and they probably know more about social media marketing than you do. And they are worth paying money for, because they will help you get onto the right strategy and will help you achieve your online goals, without costly, or even worse, embarrassing mistakes.
Why this is in an argument that needs voicing amazes me. Social Media is an art, not a science. As a representative for your brand, you need to make the best choices for that brand, and paying for expertise is one way to go.
Your job as a non social media expert is to evaluate who is worth paying money for, and how much is reasonable. It’s true that I’ve been pretty vocal about the high cost that some people and companies charge, but once again it is up to you to evaluate the results that you are getting for your buck.
So how to evaluate a Guru?
1. Ask them what they’ve done online.
2. Ask others what they’ve done online.
3. See how what they’ve done translates into actual goal fulfillment. For instance, getting 1,000 fans on a Facebook page is good, but not so good if it doesn’t translate into conversion of sales, if that was the ultimate goal.
4. Ask about how they work. Do they implement? Do they outsource? Do they project manage? Or do they just use long words that make them look smart?
5. Make sure they talk past the language of Facebook and Twitter. Social media is much, much bigger than that. In fact, this is the one point where you will easily be able to tell a charlatan apart from a real expert. There are about 30 social media tools that you can use to put together a good online strategy. Your guru should be aware of all of them, their pluses and minuses, have experience in dealing with all of them, and be able to create a good strategy with no more than 5 of these tools to start off with.
6. Make sure they can be applicable to you. You don’t want broad statements and broad trends. You want your business to grow, and you need to make sure the person or company can deliver.
7. Ask budgets and estimated costs at all times. Make the guru aware of your budget, so he doesn’t plan a champagne campaign on a Pepsi budget.
That’s just a disaster.
8. A big warning sign is unrealistic expectations. Be very careful. Social media success is almost never an overnight thing. Ask about accountability.
9. Analyze how the gurus present themselves online. Do they have a wide network? Are they active in all the right spaces? Do they have a successful online brand? In other words, do they walk the talk?
10. Look for passion and creativity. Run of the mill stuff is not what you deserve.
11. Give your guru room to breathe. Don’t ask him/her to help you, but refuse to be flexible in doing communication the “new” way. It’s frustrating and counterproductive.
