Marketing “Experts” Need A Whaaambulance!

Over the past month or so I’ve been apart of conversations, social media events, read blogs and/or viewed tweets that are complaining about the flood of “experts” using social media.

In the small pond that is social media, there seems to be this anger shown towards the new comers to the social media (and by virtue, marketing) landscape. Some bloggers and  smaller marketing firms (usually focusing on digital marketing) are whining at the thought of non marketers helping SMB’s with social media.

So, instead of just telling those of you doing so to simply shut it, I wanted to outline the reasons why you should shut it (and perhaps help you understand why some of us who didn’t come from traditional marketing backgrounds have jumped in).

See, I’m a giver.

• For a group of people who can’t figure out how to monetize much of social media, you talk a big game. A big, narrow game.

In one breath I hear, “no one is an expert” and in the next I hear, “they should leave it to the experts.” Sounds contradictory, no? I mean, I know what you’re saying.

No one is an expert in social media, but marketing people have a fundamental grasp on the nuances of marketing strategy and so (sleep typing at this point) the marketing expert can better utilize (yawn) social media to help businesses achieve their marketing goals.

Fundamental brain-fart in this thinking is that social media is ONLY for marketing. Leave it to marketing people to draw this conclusion.

The question is, how does a HR department, customer service rep, sales professional, entrepreneur, networker, non-profit, public speaker etc. use social media?

My clients use social media for a number of reasons beside marketing and in many of the area’s, they have NO TROUBLE monetizing social media. It works as an extension of existing strategies that make them money or further their careers.

I had dinner with an entrepreneur last night who said, “if it were not for LinkedIn, we would not have built our new company so fast!”

Sounds like he monetized the heck out of social media (or social networking).

Reason number one to shut it.

• I don’t hear major marketing firms and agencies crying on Twitter. Seems the bottom feeders in the marketing realm are upset at other “bottom feeders” for creating competition in the market.

Sure, many traditional agencies have not embraced social media, but some have. And I’m yet to see those people come out and complain about new comers helping with social media.

In fact, the only ones that seem to annoy them (from convo’s I’ve had) is the smaller marketing firms so desperately trying to be the BIG marketing firms; offering sub par work and talking a lot more than providing.

Of course this is not an absolute rule. All I’m saying is that those complaining about “bottom feeders” are themselves, bottom feeders. Only people losing in life cry, winners are too busy to care.

So, if you want people to at least think you’re a winner, shut it.

• If social media is about talking with consumers and assisting the buying process, why would you think those with traditional marketing experience would be any good at social media?

I was at a conference, Social South, where I first heard of, The Cluetrain Manifesto. It’s a great book and absolutely foreshadowed the paradigm shift marketing would have to face in the coming decade.

It denotes the fact that marketing types had not engaged in conversations, treated markets as simply demographics and talked with voices that were not human.

OK… so let me get this right. THESE are the people who naturally, by trade, get how to use engaging new technologies based on interaction and dialogue?

Since the existence of buying and selling, conversations and relationships have been mastered by many divisions of business people, but it doesn’t seem marketing people are in that group. Again, not an absolute rule, just an assessment based on the widely heralded book.

This isn’t just an obvious plug for sales professionals, God knows we have our own issues, but who seems to better be suited for social media; those who’ve mastered talking at markets or those who’ve mastered interpersonal skills?

• Does a bad business ever succeed long term? If you’re so much better and the others are so inadequate, what are you worried about?

I mean that. If you’re smarter than me, if you’re better equipped than me and if you garnish better results, you’ll put me out of business, right?

So what are you worried about? Oh, you’re noble? You’re worried that someone will take a SMB down the road they should not travel and you just want to see the company done right by… to succeed!

Right. You “marketing” folk are so thoughtful.

If capitalism is true, the weak company will produce weak results and die. So what are you worried about? Unless, I mean, you are the weak company.

• Stop Assuming Everyone Works For Free.

I’m typing this blog on my welfare donated MacBook Pro, using my state sponsored internet and sitting in my imaginary house. Later I’m going to get in my lottery bought SUV and go to a party with my blow up network.

Who are you worried about that is working for free? How long can a person work for free? We’ve all been there where you do work for trade as a start up or you invest in some pilot projects, have one going now myself. But are you really worried that people working for free are stealing work from you?

1. If they were any good, they’d get paid. Obviously their not, so they’ll die off.
2. If you’re competing with Joe’s brother who does some web work and marketing on the side, that’s your fault and you need to seriously hire a consultant to help you change your business strategies. (I’m for hire by the way, but I’m not free.)
3. Any business owner who wants something for free, isn’t going to be invested enough to work the strategy, so why would you want the client anyway?

In closing…

I had about six other rants to go off on, but I think I’ve made my point.

Agree, disagree; I don’t care. Social media has been good for me, to me and to my clients. I’ve made money through it, grown my network through it and even increased efficiencies through it.

Notice I didn’t say BECAUSE of it, I said through it. It’s just a tool and only as strong as the person using it. That said, being a marketing person by profession doesn’t make you the right person to use the tool. In fact, you may just end up looking like a tool.

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