Donna Payne is The Web Coach

4 minutes with my flip-cam

Ian Lurie, of ConversationMarketing.com is a hoot!  I absolutely loved his post with a self-quiz about so called “social media” experts.  So many folks are raising their hand in the “me too” attempt at earning some moolah. How does one really know the real deal from all the BS?

If anyone tells you they can GUARANTEE results – they are FULL OF IT! It’s nearly impossible to keep up – much less guarantee anything – with changing trends on the internet. Bah-ha!  As Ian sez, kick’em in the groin! (just for being stupid)

Now, without further ado, here’s a excerpt from Ian’s post:

10 Questions to Evaluate a Social Media ‘Expert’

July 21, 2009 by ian

If you know more than 5 people, chances are you now know someone who declares themselves a social media expert. How can you tell if someone’s claim of expertise is legit? Here’s my quick quiz. Ask each question and take the appropriate action:

1: Do you have a blog?

If the expert answers ‘no’, that may be OK. Follow up with something like ‘Oh, you’re using Posterous instead?’. If they look at you blankly, end the meeting there. No sense wasting your time.

If the expert answers ‘yes’, get the address and go look. If they’ve been blogging for less than 2-3 years, and there’s no explanation like “I had to move my blog”, again, end the meeting.

Any social media expert has been somehow participating in the conversation for a long time.

2: When did you start in social media?

“6 months ago”. Yeah. OK. Bye.

“2 years ago”. Hey, not bad. Worth a chat.

“In 1992″. Er. Um. They’d better be referencing BBSes and Usenet.

3: What is social media?

“Blogging and Twitter and stuff”. Excuse yourself for a bathroom break and don’t come back.

“All of the conversations going on between people and people and businesses and such online”. Not bad.

“A trendy term to describe a new kind of mass media”. Totally acceptable.

4: What’s a social media campaign?

“Voting something to the front page of Digg using my proxy server and 35 computers”. Flee the scene, and get to a minimum safe distance as soon as possible. The Digg brigade may be on its way. Whatever you do, don’t hire them. While this is a valid tactic (I guess), it’s not a campaign. Nor does it generate long term results in most cases.

“Developing a great message and then reaching out to people, while giving them an incentive to ‘pass it on’”. Yeah, OK, keep ‘em around.

“I have this great software that will put a link to your site on 21,000 forums and 10,000 blogs…”. Push them down the garbage chute. Don’t be seen with them in public.

Read more: http://www.conversationmarketing.com/2009/07/10-questions-for-social-media-experts.htm#trackback#ixzz0MK9DpZE7

I hadn’t been to a class reunion yet – so this was a big deal for me.  Many of my classmates were on facebook so I was feeling really warm and fuzzy before I got there.

This is what I wrote in my secret squirrel notepad:

1. People remember quirky things about you. Whether personal or business, the goofy, extraordinary and remarkable things we do stick in peoples’ memory. How can you be remarkable?
2. You must be authentic. Don’t fake ANYTHING. Personal and business contacts know when you are being less than truthful. They also know if you genuinely care or are just talking to hear your head rattle.
3. We can always learn from one another. You find juicy bits of information from the most unsuspecting people. Point in fact: the class jock is now a marketing guru, online and offline – who’da thunkit?
4. Stand up for others. It only takes one person to “share the love” and others will follow… Be willing to step forward and make a difference.
5. Your actions live on forever in the memory of others. Did you unmercifully tease, harass and torment classmates? One item on our pre-reunion questionaire was “If you could go back, what would you change?” This answer brought tears to my eyes, “I would have handled the teasing better.”  I can’t imagine how horrible her school days must have been.
6. The scrawny skinny kid – matured into a steamin-hot Hottie. Just like the ugly duckling – your business has components that will mature over time and become your best asset.
7. Be Empowered: share the love. This is nothing new for me – but its worth repeating… Kind of like what I tell my kids at church at the end of our small group lesson: “EVERYDAY do something kind for someone else.”
8. BONUS: Connections Matter. One bit of “marketing” that really brought the folks out (to the reunion) was connecting on Facebook before-hand. Being on FB gave everyone the deets of family, job, etc before they attended – so conversation was easy. We had much more to talk about and in groups, everyone understood what the others were saying – yes, we get the inside joke!