Get in the Game

In response to Sean Moffitt and Joseph Thornley's comments on practitioners claiming expert status in the social media space when they are not actively involved themselves,  I absolutely agree. 

As a long time practitioner of marketing, brand, and PR communications for companies and agencies alike, this new territory should be treaded on lightly by newcomers.  Independent consultants such as myself included.  Purporting to be an expert when in fact you only dabble, observe or have just entered the space can wreak havoc on a consultant's personal reputation and brand.  Executing poorly conceived social media play will damage your client's brand and ultimately yours.

To echo your comment, it's imperative, in venturing into this territory with the intent of becoming an expert, to be involved.  Log in and sign up for everything - see how it works and doesn't work, talk to people about your participation on line and their's, attend the conferences and seminars (there are several free events that leave you walking away with knowledge you won't get elsewhere), talk to the people doing it.  In addition to this though, it's equally important as a consultant to align yourself with others who ARE "experts".  Not necessarily an easy task, but you will find someone who will talk to you - sometimes ad nauseum about the social media space. Ask them the how question.  Ask what worked and didn't and why. Read the blogs, engage in the conversation.

Launching a web site on which people can sign up and invite their friends to support a cause or be fans in and of itself is not social media.  This is only one piece of the puzzle. The social piece of social media encompasses what we do and say off line as well as on line.  The Internet gives us the tool to connect and begin the conversation. A well executed social media plan will include all of this activity.

There is a fear as consultants that if we don't say we're experts we won't get the project and we all want to be a part of this movement.  Having also lived in the client space, I would rather hear a consultant tell me they've partnered with one of the city's top agencies who live and breathe this space.  Immediate credibility.  

Being an expert means you know what is best for your clients.  If you know you're not an expert at something they need go and find it, don't fake it.  It'll bite you in the ass eventually.