Nobody Should Want To Be A Social Media Expert

Thursday, 26th March 2009
Marketing Social Media

All around the social media industry their is a constant complaining about people that call themselves “Social Media Experts” or “Social Media Gurus”. Most of this discussion centers around the fact that most people calling themselves these titles know very little about social media. That is the wrong thing to focus on. We should be focusing on the bigger issue.  NONE of us should want to be social media experts. This is not a good long term goal. It doesn’t scale. All media is quickly becoming social, meaning the idea of a social media expert is far to general.

What should we want to be then? I contend that we should look to fill a niche within the broader social media industry. Some folks should focus on creating great written content, while others could peruse web audio and video distribution.   Or you could want to become an expert in the social web’s application on a particular niche like B2B.  Regardless what your goals are, I can tell you the if you say you are a social media expert that will be a quick assurance to me that you don’t know what you want to do.

I have some additional thoughts on this topic in this video:

Agreed? Think I am crazy?

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1 Comment 14 Tweets 4 Other Comments

21 Responses to “Nobody Should Want To Be A Social Media Expert”

  1. Mia D

    Friday, 27th March 2009 at 6:53 am
     

    Love your post and the videot!! I couldn’t agree more. I recently had the same discussion with Jeremiah Owyang on his blog http://www.backtype.com/MiaD/comment/36986724.
    He claims there are “social media experts” with whom he meets all the time but I echo what you’re saying here, the “expert” term is abused and is way too generic. to be meaningful. Social media has evolved and so should the so-called “experts”.

  2. Meryn Stol

    Saturday, 28th March 2009 at 9:13 am
     

    "if you say you are a social media expert that will be a quick assurance to me that you don’t know what you want to do." :)

    This comment was originally posted on FriendFeed

  3. kbodnar32

    Monday, 30th March 2009 at 9:38 am
     

    @MackCollier in light of the attention of your post today. What are you thoughts on my take on the issue from last week http://bit.ly/9oang

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  4. waynesutton

    Monday, 30th March 2009 at 11:11 am
     

    Sharing: Nobody should want to be a social media expert from @kbodnar32 http://bit.ly/35B22 – totally agree

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  5. tyme

    Monday, 30th March 2009 at 11:19 am
     

    via @waynesutton “NONE of us should want to be social media experts. …not a good long term goal. It doesn’t scale.” http://bit.ly/9oang

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  6. Britopian

    Monday, 30th March 2009 at 11:25 am
     

    excellent post by @kbodnar32 http://bit.ly/35B22 way too many experts in SM but I believe it is scalable. Skill set should be experience.

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  7. Jayson Flint

    Monday, 30th March 2009 at 11:32 am
     

    It’s so easy to jump on the bandwagon and adopt titles for all kinds of reasons. I agree it does not scale and we all know how it works. Thanks for reminding me to look for the deeper meaning to a title.

  8. TheWordPainter

    Monday, 30th March 2009 at 11:32 am
     

    ~ SEO Expert RT @waynesutton: Sharing: Nobody should want to be a social media expert from @kbodnar32 http://bit.ly/35B22 – totally agree

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  9. Clarence

    Monday, 30th March 2009 at 12:03 pm
     

    I totally agree with you Kipp. I have read about people being coined “expert bloggers” and I can sense that the term is starting to be abused in this field also. Blogging, like social media is a constantly evolving method of interacting and sharing with society. An individual can become an expert in a particular area of any given topic or subject matter, but the style and methods used to share information or opinions with society are a form of individualism and should be respected in that way.

  10. valnelson

    Monday, 30th March 2009 at 12:13 pm
     

    Great advice from @kbodnar32 – Nobody should want to be a social media expert http://bit.ly/35B22 – via @waynesutton

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  11. Wayne Sutton

    Monday, 30th March 2009 at 12:19 pm
     

    I totally agree, find what you good at and do it well.

  12. Maria Harison

    Monday, 30th March 2009 at 12:19 pm
     

    Could not agree more. Focusing on being an expert in “what works” is the best approach.

  13. Val Nelson

    Monday, 30th March 2009 at 12:29 pm
     

    Great points Kipp. Social media is already too big. “Social media expert” is almost like saying you specialize in everything, which of course makes no sense.

    The typical layperson however still doesn’t know the difference between an IT person, a web designer, an SEO provider, etc. I provide SEO but people ask me to fix their computers or design a website. So I’m always ready with a name of an expert to refer to and that keeps us all happy.

  14. Robin Deacle

    Monday, 30th March 2009 at 1:45 pm
     

    I think your point makes a lot of sense. Social media is too broad and works in to many different ways to have a single person know it all, let alone be good at it all. At its heart, social media is people connecting because of similar or complementary interests. Therefore, each person has strengths that fit different aspects of communicating via the Web – their own niche. Just like every other business or skill set in the world, people will succeed in social media when they have their own unique value proposition.

  15. kev097

    Monday, 30th March 2009 at 6:41 pm
     

    @danielbachhuber “Social media expert” = someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing, sayeth @kbodnar32: http://bit.ly/35B22

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  16. Rebecca

    Tuesday, 31st March 2009 at 6:46 am
     

    Thanks for the link. I’m looking forward to visiting the other posts as well, particularly the first one :)

    This comment was originally posted on http://www.livingstonbuzz.com/)“>The Buzz Bin

  17. Marinel Mones

    Tuesday, 31st March 2009 at 10:43 am
     

    Rebecca – Thank you! Your post was very thought provoking and I look forward to reading more. =)

    This comment was originally posted on http://www.livingstonbuzz.com/)“>The Buzz Bin

  18. Kipp Bodnar

    Tuesday, 31st March 2009 at 10:46 am
     

    Marinel,

    Thank you for mentioning my post it is very kind of you. I think this is a really hot topic now because we are seeing so much attention being paid to emerging media. To me this is the prime opportunity to find a niche and be great at it.

    This comment was originally posted on http://www.livingstonbuzz.com/)“>The Buzz Bin

  19. Marinel Mones

    Tuesday, 31st March 2009 at 11:18 am
     

    Kipp – Very interesting perspective. I agree that now is a prime time for the social media savvy to develop their interests and to really engage their individual niche communities. Thanks for your post and your video!

    This comment was originally posted on http://www.livingstonbuzz.com/)“>The Buzz Bin

  20. Jaheed

    Tuesday, 31st March 2009 at 8:01 pm
     

    Yeah… you’re article is right on point. Being social is a given. We all social by nature. It’s what you do and how you evoke change is what makes a difference.

    Thanks for the write up.

    Jaheed.

  21. nickrp

    Wednesday, 22nd April 2009 at 6:37 pm
     

    @waynesutton Oops, sorry! Didn’t know it was a bad thing to be called a social media expert – http://bit.ly/35B22

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter


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