Establishing yourself as a social media expert

I received an interesting LinkedIn message today from someone who’s headline reads “SEO & Social Media Expert, Author, Consultant & Blogger!” The message reads as follows (copied exactly – the typos are his own):

Hi,

I am trying to establish mysefl as an expert in eBusiness (Mainly Internet Marketing, SEO & Social Media).

Can you share some advice with me:

What areas have you diversified into?
What one area brings in most revenue?
How do you promote or create awareness of this service or product?

If you could answer my questions i would be eternally grateful.

Thanks in advance,

I am, of course, honored to be asked to assist someone on their journey to become knowledgeable in this field. But touting oneself as an expert when you are clearly not is not only a fabrication and unsupportable, it will ruin your reputation online and off. So what is my answer to this person and others who would seek us out for our expertise to mentor or train or provide advice?

Taking the time to provide insightful answers through type written answers is unrealistic. A phone conversation (or Skype) would be a better start, but even that won’t make you an “expert.” If you look up the term online you’ll learn that it takes 10,000 hours of Experience, not just training or education alone, to become an expert in a given subject matter.

While we purport honestly to be The LinkedIn Rock Stars and LinkedIn and Social Media Marketing Experts (having been active users of the platforms, training and speaking for over 4 years to the tune of more than 400 sessions to over 10,000 participants, you won’t see anyone on our team saying that we are experts on Facebook or Twitter or other “new” platforms. Those platforms are just too new for anyone to have acquired the necessary experience to become true experts. Overall, we consider ourselves to be–and have proven ourselves to be–knowledgeable and experienced in the social media arena to the point where we understand the industry and what is necessary to navigate safely through these ever changing waters for business and personal applications.

That brings to mind the analogy of a ship captain navigating through treacherous waters off the Ivory Coast. While you might have a rookie on the ship to learn, they don’t start in the position of captain and you certainly don’t put the in a position to command or navigate. It takes years of experience in all kinds of situations and in all types of water to do it well, and even some of the most experienced and best captains make costly errors (as evidenced by the number of ships at the bottom of the world’s oceans).

So, the question becomes: Who do you want to help you navigate your ship through the ocean that is social media?

Mike O’Neil, The LinkedIn Rock Star
- Active Charter User since 2004 (among the first 128,000 members), 28,000+ connections and the 27th most connected person on LinkedIn
- Over 280 solid recommendations on LinkedIn (remember that he is in front of a lot of people who have a chance to honestly review his work)
- On Facebook with over 3,500 friends, over 1,000 fans
- On Twitter with @MikeOneilDenver with over 32,000 followers; with @IASocialMedia with over 16,000 followers – and both of those accounts following most of their followers
- A long-time classic rock aficionado having seen over 1,000 concerts (he still has over 500 ticket stubs) – he is authentic to the brand

Lori Ruff, The LinkedIn Diva
- Active LinkedIn User since early 2005 (among the first 3 million members), 14,000+ connections, the 9th most connected woman on LinkedIn
- Over 68 solid recommendations on LinkedIn (remember that I am also in front of a lot of people who have a chance to honestly review my work)
- On Facebook since they were still just in school, with over 3,000 friends
- On Twitter with @LoriRuff with over 33,000 followers; with @LinkedInTrainer with over 21,000 followers – and both of those accounts following most of their followers
- Not enough concerts, but a lover of music and authentic to the brand

or my new friend… who according to his LinkedIn profile has been doing SEO work since July 2009 and a web developer since 2006, with 227 connections, 3 LinkedIn recommendations, and 60 Twitter followers and 26 Tweets, and is now an expert in social media?

I’ll refer back to the cartoon in our book: Rock the World with your Online Presence. In this particular cartoon, a woman is asked what she does. Her answer: “I don’t know, but according to my LinkedIn profile, I’m an expert!”

Share and Enjoy:

Tagged as: LinkedIn, LinkedIn Expert, SEO, Social Media, Social Media Expert

Geceimmen

Hello! Can you tell me how i can register mail at google google http://google.com
Lisa Diaz

Speaking of typos, I meant to say, thank you to Lori and Mike! Darwin, don't exclude me for that small error! :-)
Lisa Diaz

Great post Lori! It seems that any new business boom results in many people jumping on the bandwagon to get a piece of the pie. In each boom era like this one (a big boom in an industry) it vettes itself out and the seasoned best are left standing. Remember the big computer boom of the 80s? Everyone was in it and companies were growing faster than they could build desks to work at. Then there was the dot com boom of the late 90s early 00s. While working as eMarketing Manager at a division of Stanley, I remember getting calls from businesses wanting to work with us. Some callers could not send me information because their computer wasn't set up yet and they just had a desk and a phone! In both of those times, Darwin's theory proved to be true. I believe it will again in this boom. The good aspect of this is that the public acknowledges the importance of social media, and is ready to engage. The not-so-great side is that there are so many self-proclaimed experts that it can be deceiving to the unknowledgeable consumer who hires an expert. I say that the best thing we can all do is stick to our principals, do our best work and, when the time comes for Darwin to show up... the best will still be standing! Thanks Lori and Like for your principals of excellence in social media with LinkedIn!
Lissa Duty

Lori, great post! I actually specialize in social media, but I label myself a Social Media Strategist. When someone introduces me as an expert, I kindly thank them, but also correct them and state "I am a strategist, I understand how to leverage social networking sties. I am not an expert, social media is ever-changing".

Thanks for sharing! I actually wrote a similar post myself about this last November - Reasons I don’t like the label Social Media Expert, Guru, etc. . . (http://lissaduty.com/reasons-dont-like-label-so...). Thought you might want to check it out!
Mike Hanbery

Amen, Lori. I got the same request. Unfortunately I am unable to honor it as I'm too occupied with applying the acumen I've worked on my own to acquire. Social media for business is such a nascent pursuit that few "experts," as you so properly define them, in the specific field avail. Hopefully 2010 proves to be the year that those for whom social media marketing is a profession--in the true sense of that term, profession--separate from the black and gray hats who prey on ignorance, having only recently read a book and temporarily wandered away from the used car lots.