How many social media experts in a tree?

October 3, 5:09 PMSmall Business ExaminerTaylor Ellwood

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I was reading an article last week that basically ranted against the proliferation of many social media “experts” who are basically jumping on the bandwagon to make some money, but don’t really know what social media is and are hurting their clients. I agree with the author’s concern. When I started offering my services as a social media consultant, back in January of 2008, there weren’t many people offering social media consulting or coaching. But as the months went past, more and more people suddenly became social media experts. I recall one meeting I went to where, I was discussing some of what I was doing as a social media consultant, and one of the members who usually billed herself as a web-designer abruptly became a social media coach (which is what I label myself) the next day.

Social media is a hot bandwagon to jump, especially in an economy that continues to be fairly poor. So suddenly we see lots of social media consultants. My question is: How many of them will still be social media consultants or utilizing social media as a career path when its no longer hot? Many probably will not stick with social media, once its no longer hot and can’t afford them a quick buck.

No matter who you go with, choose your social media consultant carefully. Keep the following in mind in choosing your consultant:

1. S/he should be actively using social media. No not just twitter or facebook, but social bookmarking, video, radio, and blogs. In other words everything. A social media consultant shouldn’t just be giving you advice on networking sites.
2. S/he should have some clients that you can get references from if needed.
3. S/he should be able to put together a proposal which spells out what they will do and how they will be held accountable for helping you achieve your goals with social media.
4. It also helps if the social media consultant has some kind of marketing background, whether it’s working at a PR firm or as a business owner him/herself (and I mean businesses other than being a social media consultant).

Finally, do some research on your own about social media, so that when you start working with the person you can come in with some knowledge and be able to ask questions that will help you determine if the social media consultant is a good fit for you or just someone trying to scam you.