social media

You Know You’re NOT a Social Media Guru When…

This post comes from Susan Murphy. It’s a nice follow-on from my post about what makes a social media guru.

Like Danny, people who brag about the fact that they are social media ?experts? or ?gurus? often irk me. Calling yourself an expert or a guru does not automatically make you one.

After all, guru status is a lot to live up to. Imagine having to spend every day on the top of a mountain, prophesying about the awesome wonders of social media, keeping your believers continuously captivated, as they hang on your every word.

That’s a lot of pressure!

I thought it might be amusing (well, for me, anyway) to put together a list, in the style of “You Know You’re a Redneck When…” by Jeff Foxworthy. So, Danny has kindly provided me with a forum to do that (Thanks Danny!). Here goes…

You know you’re NOT a social media guru when…

Your Twitter profile description says “Social Media Expert Guy” but your profile picture is of you with no shirt on.

Your blog’s About page would win the Buzzword Bingo jackpot every time.

Your “Areas of Expertise” list is 3 pages long.

You regularly throw flaming Tweets out at anyone and everyone who “Qwits” you.

You think that the best way to “reach out” to your public is to send mass unsolicited emails about your new startup/podcast/e-book/insert-product-here.

Your signal to noise ratio is equivalent to trying to listen to a Norah Jones song on your iPod during a Limp Bizkit concert.

All of your online profiles talk about your expertise in social media but your blog is about the crazy antics of your 12 cats.

Your “10 Things You Must Do to Get Into Social Media” list mentions Facebook, Flickr and Twitter in at least 9 of the steps.

The reality is, those that call themselves gurus ultimately seem less credible in the eyes of others. This often becomes apparent once their followers start to ask them to do real work. Suddenly, they are unable to live up to the high expectations they’ve created. Like not being able to provide any real, tangible value. Or, not being able to back up their claims or expertise.

The point is, these people call themselves experts expecting that the title alone will make them experts. If what they are really after is that elusive “guru” status, they will probably never get it.

However, by engaging with people on a human level, building their audience by making genuine connections and, perhaps most importantly, being open to continuous learning and growth, they will more than likely have other people singing their praises before long (and with much less effort, I might add). In the end, it’s not about being the best at social media; it’s about just being genuinely involved in social media.

It’s when others start to call you an expert and a guru that you’ll know you’re doing something right.

* Susan Murphy is a partner at Jester Creative Inc, a new media production company based in Ottawa, Ontario. She blogs about social media and life in general at Suzemuse. Susan can be found on Twitter as @SuzeMuse.

How to Take Social Media into the Mainstream

For anyone reading this blog, it’s a pretty good chance that you’re already social media-savvy. Whether you found it through a Twitter link, a blogroll, Technorati or similar means, I’m guessing that you know about the benefits social media can offer.

(For anyone else that arrived here by mistake – well, I thank your error and hope you’ll stick around!)

And therein lies the problem. If you did use one of the methods I mentioned, you’re already a social media user, which is great. But for each one of us that “gets” social media, there’s another 10 that don’t.

(By the way, this figure hasn’t been scientifically proven – I just like round numbers).

This is the problem that social media needs to overcome if it’s ever to be taken seriously. There are some great people out there helping to spread the word about social media, both for personal and professional use. But there needs to be more to help the medium into the kind of acceptance the Internet now has with everyone.

One of the main issues is that there are just too many social media sites, applications, tools and more that it’s all too easy to get lost when you first jump in. No-one likes to be the guy that made the wrong choice – just ask Betamax video or HD-DVD early adopters.

What’s needed is a standard format for the different tools available. Don’t get me wrong – I don’t want to see a monopoly of social media any more than you do – but figures prove that something is much more likely to enjoy success the easier it is to use.

Instead of having multiple microblogging platforms like Twitter, Pownce or Plurk, etc, have one main platform to work from. Differentiate the users by offering categories, if you like, that helps them find like-minded users more easily.

Have three main social networking sites – Facebook for people, MySpace for music, LinkedIn for business. Integrate some of the better features from other sites like Bebo and FastPitch and make these three sites the one-stop shop for whatever field it covers.

Combine the best of Stumbleupon and Delicious to offer a bookmarking site that truly does drive traffic to your website or blog.

These are just some ideas to bring social media to everyone. The biggest stumbling block for people and businesses is simply confusion as to what social media offers. Having so many platforms doesn’t help. Narrowing all the current options down into a more manageable resource would go a long way into negating this confusion.

I’m not saying it’s the ideal solution – but it’s got to be better than the mish-mash that’s currently out there, no? What do you think – are there too many social media platforms or is all this choice a good thing?

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Discussing Social Media with… Lisa Hoffmann

A little while back, I sent out a request via Twitter asking if anyone would be interested in being interviewed for a discussion on social media. With the medium meaning so many different things to so many people, as well as how it can be used, I was interested to hear the views of the people I connect with.

My original plan was to run a ?round table? style of blog post – raise the questions and then have a mix of views as the responses. However, the answers I received back were all excellent, and showed why social media is the mix of interesting people and views that it is. So, I decided individual posts would be far more effective in an on-going series of interviews.

Sharing her views today is Lisa Hoffmann, Chief Copywriter at PRstore, offering small businesses an invaluable and affordable marketing resource. My sincere thanks to Lisa for taking the time to reply and share her views. To connect with Lisa, or find out more about her, please visit her blog new media lisa.

If someone was to ask you for your definition of social media, what would it be?

Media that allows for two-way conversations. Social – or interactive – media offers everyone the opportunity to contribute. Where our parents and grandparents were merely media consumers, we are media participants. This includes blogs, forums, photo and video sharing, microblogging, virtual reality – all the gadgetry that encourages sharing, interaction and community building. Social media technology makes it possible, social media culture makes it powerful.

What is your reason for using social media?

I became interested in it purely to figure out how it can help clients with their marketing and PR efforts. The more I researched it, the more fascinated I became. The communication potential is enormous. I’m still on the far side of the learning curve and drink up the great conversations centered around social media. It’s so exciting to witness its development, to consider the implications.

Do you feel that social media is being used to its maximum effect?

Not even close. It will continue to develop and evolve. On a recent vacation I stayed at a bed and breakfast with a group of American and international business people. Smart, accomplished folks. None of them had any idea what social media is or understood any of its business applications. They all associated it with kids fooling around on MySpace and Facebook.

What social media tools or applications do you use? Why these ones in particular?

My big focus right now is on blogging and Twitter. I’m a big believer in concentrating on one or two tools at a time, so you can test its compatibility and you can become a part of the community. I love blogging because I’m a writer at heart and it gives me the creative and communication outlet I crave. I love Twitter because it opens the door to stimulating, educational and perspective-changing conversation.

I can’t be at all the wonderful conferences that are happening across the country, but I can soak up a lot of what’s coming out of them. And people are so generous with their knowledge and insights. It’s exhilarating – sometimes exhausting – to engage with all these brilliant, forward-thinking people. Many are true visionaries.

Where do you see the future of social media, both in general and for you?

It’s hard for me to see the future, since I’m relatively new to the scene and still trying to get my arms around the whole thing. But I can safely say it will continue to grow and change and find its way into everyone’s living rooms and offices.

Are businesses effectively using social media? If not, what can they do to improve?

No. Many business people in my small corner of the world aren’t using it at all. They don’t understand it and they don’t realize its benefits. The only Web-related things most of the small business clients I talk to want are static websites and e-mail advertising campaigns. Education is the biggest obstacle to social media truly entering the mainstream as a marketing/PR strategy.

What do you feel are the best and worst features/uses of social media?

Best: Community building and information, and idea-sharing capabilities; facilitates quick feedback.

Worst: Too many applications; 24/7 availability and steep learning curve threaten my work/life balance.

You can find more ?Discussing Social Media with?? interviews here.

So What is a Social Media Guru, Exactly?

I’m tired. Not in the physical sense (although I will admit to some late nights recently working on a particularly in-depth client project).

No, I’m tired of all the “social media gurus” that have suddenly appeared from nowhere. Now I don’t want that to be misconstrued, nor do I want it to sound as if I’m disrespecting anyone – that’s not the intention.

Instead, I’m tired of looking at someone’s Twitter profile, or blog bio or similar, and finding the description “social media guru” or “social media expert”. I’m not saying that they’re not a guru or expert – but is that really for someone to decide by themself? And when did they decide that they are a social media guru or expert?

It probably wouldn’t be so obvious (and therefore so visual to me) if social media wasn’t still such a new medium that everyone is still learning about as we go along. There are so many facets to it, so many different windows that we can look through and see a different view each time, that it’s pretty much impossible to class yourself as a social media guru, or expert.

Even in other mediums or industries, can you really class yourself as an expert or guru?

For example, I own a boutique PR agency that specializes in search engine optimized press releases and social media PR. Yet I wouldn’t say I’m a PR or social media expert. I have expertise in these areas, and I’d like to think that I offer an informative outlook on both as well.

Yet that doesn’t mean I’m a guru or expert.

Social media in particular changes so fast that no-one can keep up with everything that’s happening. Even the guys that could truly be classified as social media gurus would struggle to know all the ins and outs of the latest applications, tools and similar.

And that’s the difference – they don’t proclaim themselves as social media gurus. Take a look at Chris Brogan, or Brian Solis. Both leaders in the field of social media and PR respectively, and sharing their wealth of knowledge and experience with anyone that wishes it. Yet neither of them describe themselves as a guru, or expert. And that’s why I respect and acknowledge them as the most accurate description of “gurus”.

To me, a guru or expert becomes one from people’s views of them. Recommendations to go to a person because of the help and knowledge that will be forthcoming. After all, you wouldn’t recommend your friend to someone whose view you didn’t respect, right? Or who couldn’t offer your friend something valuable?

As I said, I’m not meaning this post to be in any way disrespectful. I just feel that to be known as a guru, you need to prove it. And earn it. Self-classification doesn’t quite count.

5 Ways to Ruin a Perfectly Good Twitter Relationship

As I’ve mentioned before on this blog, I find Twitter to be one of the best social media tools around. The fact that it only allows you 140 characters to get a message across usually means that there’s no waffle.

People genuinely think about what they want to say, and it’s a great way to connect with people you share interests with, personal and professional.

Yet lately I’ve been getting a little frustrated with Twitter – not the service itself (although the fail whale is never a pretty site). No, my frustrations lie with the way many users are spoiling what Twitter has to offer – at least for me.

I know that people use Twitter for different reasons and I have no qualms with that at all. I just feel that some use it less effectively and far more selfishly than others. So here, in no particular order, are my Top 5 peeves when it comes to Twitter use. (These are just my peeves – it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re right – Twitter should be used how you want to use it).

Shameless self-promotion. Yes, we’re only human and that means we like to talk about ourselves. Yet social media is all about the conversation and interacting – sharing others as well as yourself. There’s nothing more annoying to me than a Twitter stream from someone that is nothing but a plug for their latest blog post or product. To me, that doesn’t offer anything to the community – sorry.

Selfish shouts. One of the reasons I love using Twitter is the way I find great new content, thanks to users I’m following recommending new blogs to check out. This has introduced some great opinions to me that I would never have been aware of otherwise. However, only recommending blog posts where you’re mentioned? Just as bad as shameless self-promotion (and possibly a little egotistical).

Twitter DM spam. So I’ve just agreed to follow your Twitter updates, and BAM! All of a sudden you feel it’s acceptable to send me direct messages telling me to sign up to your newsletter or join this group or that forum. Sorry, no – show me that you’re offering something selflessly and I’ll find that information anyway. Bombarding me with DM’s is akin to email spam and I instantly delete that.

Open conversations. This might be a bit contentious and I apologize if it comes across wrong – that’s not my intent. But if you feel that you’re going to have a long conversation with a particular user, can you use the DM option? Seeing half a conversation taking up every other Tweet isn’t particularly conducive to community spirit. You wouldn’t like me listening in on your phone conversation, would you?

Competition Tweets. While it’s nice to have the chance to win something at any time, Tweeting about it every other minute is not a great way to go about it. Instead of blasting everyone in your Twitter stream, why not have the competition URL and short spiel about it in your bio?

I’m not saying that Twitter is becoming annoying per se – just some of the ways that it’s being used.

Of course, maybe I’m missing the boat altogether and it’s me that’s in the wrong and the above points are moot. I’d love to hear your opinion, and if there are any other Twitterisms that annoy you.