Oct 10
21
These days it seems anyone with a camera can call themselves a photographer, anyone with a computer can be a published author, and anyone engaging in social networking can call themselves a social media expert and sell social media marketing. But of course we know these people are not really these things unless they have truly acquired such expertise through many years of experience and a track record of success within that industry. This is especially important to understand when choosing a social media company to guide your company’s internet marketing initiatives. With so much at stake, here are some tips to follow when searching for the right match for your company.
Practice what you preach
One of the first things to verify is the social media company’s own online presence. Study their website and blog, both the appearance and content. Ensure that they are regularly updating their online real estate with unique, valuable content. They will most likely rave about the importance of actively participating on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn (which really is important), but are they? Finding out whether or not they are ‘practicing what they preach’ is easy—just do a quick search of their company name on each of the top social networking sites. Better yet, look for the ‘connect with us’ widgets for Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn that should be easily found on the homepage of their website.
How do they define social media?
Social media is not just a list of tools, but a way of communicating and the means of having conversations with entire communities. It’s important that the social media company has these in order—that is, they should always focus first on the goal of reaching online consumers followed by the strategic use of social media tools to make it happen. So, if they just list off the “tools” and don’t explain the strategic implementation, go elsewhere.
Word of mouth
This category actually tackles a few different things to consider. First of all, it is extremely important that your social media company understands the value of word-of-mouth and viral marketing. It is an incredibly effective way of building your online community of brand evangelists who largely benefit your bottom line.
Next, word-of-mouth recommendations for certain social media companies can be very helpful, but there’s more to it. Those types of recommendations typically just talk about how friendly or professional they were but rarely talk about results—the one thing that matters in business. Think of it as an interview, where you are the hiring manager. The company should be providing you with provable success stories and case studies, as well as an outlined proposal of exactly what they will do build and strengthen your company’s online presence. Don’t waste your time with so-called “experts” who don’t provide any provable success stories, who promise unrealistic results, or who can’t explain their strategy.
Experts, huh?
According to Malcolm Gladwell’s “Outliers: The Story of Success,” it takes 10,000 hours to become a master at pretty much anything. Most books on success recommend reading for one hour per day in your field of study to become an expert, and with Gladwell’s 10,000 hour rule, it would take over 27 years to become an expert. Realistically, however, most would agree that social media expertise can be achieved with 5-10 years of experience. What we’re getting at is that most who call themselves “Social Media Experts” really are not, so be weary of those who claim this title.
Another great way to tell if a social media company is qualified to take control of your online marketing campaign is to research their education initiatives. Are they involved with industry conferences and webinars? Are they visiting schools and educating others about what they know? And are they producing whitepapers with innovative strategies that keep them ahead of the curve? If you can answer “yes” to all these, then you’re probably in good hands.
Moving forward…
It is imperative that you take your time to find all these things out about prospective social media companies. Find out how they operate, what they know, and what they value. Ask specific questions about their strategy and about success stories. Read reviews, ask for recommendations, and be careful of unrealistic promises. By following these guidelines, you should be able to weed out the frauds and find a great social media expert to spearhead your campaign.