Stay away from posers
Recently I have been reading articles that complain about all of the “social media experts” and gurus popping up all over the place, and while I do agree there are many unqualified people calling them self’s experts on social media, and marketing in general, I think that has always been the case with advertising, web design, and the internet as a whole.
The web is full of new technology, new marketing possibilities, and in reality this web of ours is still in its infancy even now. I am sure none of us has come to realize the full potential the internet will bring into our every day lives. As information grows, and technology evolves it is going to be very important for all of us to become better at using it.
“Social Media” is only one avenue, and while it seems there are a million new “gurus” out there every ten minutes, we are still in a shortage of people who understand how to harness the power of these new marketing mediums.
It is important to remember that no one web company can accomplish every goal for every company in every industry. As technology evolves more experience, and more talent are needed to fill the information void businesses will experience. I believe the storm of new “experts” is a reaction to a need that many web professionals, and others are seeing in the industry. The last big buzz word was “SEO” and while search engine marketing is as important as it every was (if not more so) many search engine experts are not experts at connecting with people or building relationships. Social Media requires a mix of talents. The first being the ability to use the power of new social media tools in the webosphere and the other is the ability to help make relationships happen.
Social Media Experts should be like the man behind the curtain in OZ. This is much like a good SEO, in that the client does not need to understand every aspect of what is happening, but the client needs to learn the basics to keep a good thing going. Social Media is more personal than SEO, and requires more involvement by the company trying to create new connections. This is even more true for small business and non-profit organizations that need to develop lasting relationships beyond a point of sale and product relationships that good marketing can create.
When choosing a web design expert, development expert, Search Engine Expert, or Social Media Expert it is very important to choose a real professional with experience that can show true results. The web has been an ocean of fakers that have been taking money from businesses without really knowing their craft for its entire existence. Real marketing and development companies have always stood out because they provide real results, while everyone else needs a website makeover on launch day.
In a recent conversation with another industry professional of ten years web experience she told me “Aaron, in the last ten years everyone went out a paid a lot of money for a website. Almost none of them got what they paid for, and now its a golden opportunity to fix/rebuild/redesign all of those sites for all of those unsatisfied people.”
Whatever the project may be, always remember that paying for a true professional to do the work will turn out so much better in the end. Everything else is a waste of your money.
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Aaron Mills is a Project Manager for Jailbreak Creative. He has many years of experience working in the web industry and regularly works with local and national clients on a variety of web projects.
Aaron has extensive experience working in both PHP and Ruby on Rails Projects. Aaron also does work with Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and web marketing. 
