Beware of the social media "guru"

Years ago, I worked for Canon USA as a color systems specialist. It was my job to travel over the western United States and teach our dealerships how to sell our color systems. I would also spend a fair amount of time helping their clients understand how to properly use our equipment through a variety of trainings. My job was essentially as a marketing consultant.

My father used to tease me that the only two qualifications that a consultant really needs is that he needs to be from out of town and have slides.

Today the marketing world is alight with the right way to market. Everyone is trying to get into helping you market your business online. From email marketers, search engine optimizers and pay-per-clickers to the ever-popular social media "experts."

Essentially, business owners and other professionals are being bombarded with the "right" way to market their businesses... especially how to market online. They are told that the latest "guru" knows everything there is to know about this newfangled approach. And we all seem all the more credible when we use "quotes" around certain words in our "discussions."

Just like a consultant seems to be someone from out of town that has slides, a social media consultant seems to only need to tweet a few times and suddenly he is the expert.

Be wary of the self-proclaimed "guru." You'll see them coming if you watch. Here are a few key hallmarks:

• They are proud of their expert status are the only ones who use it to describe themselves.
• The only thing on their marketing résumé is that they are great in social media.
• They came from another field in the last year or so and suddenly know how to do everything like creating Facebook pages.

The primary kicker is that they really don't understand how to translate the art of being social online from their offline efforts. They often think that just by being on social media you are suddenly going to be successful.

The reality is that social media isn't successful in a vacuum. It isn't something that you can set a strategy for and hope that everything just magically fits in. You need a strategy that ties everything together.

Don't fall for the "guru" that only has social media on his résumé. The guru will help you create a strategy that will only get you part of the way there… if you are lucky.

Image: Swiss Toni