Can Anyone Be A Social Media Marketer?
What is the required skill set to become a “social media marketer” (a title that I am not sold on, but will use for lack of a better one)?
This is not a new question. In fact, this questions has been asked more times over the past few years than I care to recount, but the fact of the matter is that the space is reaching an age of maturity whereby we need some standards.
Are these the standards;
- A Facebook account and a copy of The Cluetrain Manifesto
- Some SEO chops and access to PRWeb
- Web design skills and the knowledge of what an API is
- Over 5000 Twitter followers
- A blog with a Technorati ranking above 200
- Spending a lot of time on Plurk talking about Twitter
- Have had dinner with Robert Scoble
While the answer to this question is still unclear, one thing I can say with 100% certainty is, the above criteria are not the standards.
I tend to be a purist. I think that if you are a modern marketer you should be, by default a “social media marketer”. If you are not, you are simply a poor marketer!
If you were never a marketer to begin with and decided there was a tremendous opportunity (due to lack of knowledge) in the “social media marketing” arena and fulfilled the above criteria, can you then be considered a “social media marketer”?
At the end of the day it does not really matter how you got to become a “social media marketer”. The only thing that matters is the quality of work you output.
Those who are passionate and diligent (and of course intelligent) should rise to the top of the stack, but in the interim the onslaught of those claiming to be “social media marketers” is potentially diluting the market and making it difficult for those individuals that are just good old savvy marketers who understand new media.
I would love to hear your thoughts on what makes a “social media marketer” (I know many of you out there have them)
Tags: cluetrain manifesto, plurk, prweb, robert scoble, seo, social marketing strategy, social media marketing, twitter
Jul 29, 2008
Adam, great post – I so agree that there are tons of useless advisors out there who don’t have the skill set and will lead their clients in the wrong direction.
But how is this different from any other services offering? There are strategic consultants who don’t know what they’re talking about, accountants who don’t know what they’re talking about, lawyers who don’t know what they’re talking about, programmers who code for sh*t, etc.
What’s really needed is a 10-point checklist on how to choose a social media marketer. So I wrote one this morning:
http://blog.isabelhilborn.com/2008/07/how-to-choose-a-social-media-marketer.html
Jul 29, 2008
wow, this is great!
Thank you so much for creating this, I think it will be a benefit to the community
Jul 29, 2008
Personally I believe that social media requires a bit of a different skillset, but it’s nothing that any competent computer user couldn’t handle. The question is whether the person wants to be in social media. It takes an especially active and opinionated individual to keep their perspective on the ever-changing social world fresh and relevant… Not the best place to get comfortable and just go about business as usual
Jul 29, 2008
The one thing I always tell people is that you need someone who is an enthusiast. They don’t necessarily need to be a geek for what you are hiring them to market (in fact, that sometimes can work against you) but they need to have the ability to dig in and get genuinely excited about something. All truly effective marketing people who work with social media you will notice are enthusiastic about what they do and what they are marketing – this is what is so infectious and what makes it ’social’. When one person is excited about something it’s catchy.
Jul 29, 2008
thanks for the comment Link. I agree, it is not for everyone with a computer.
Mica
Enthusiasts are great, but don’t you feel some general marketing chops are essential as well?
Jul 29, 2008
Certainly enthusiasm is not the ONLY quality that makes one a good social media marketer but it is one that is not always found in an otherwise qualified marketing professional.
You can train someone on the job to understand commercial marketing and all kinds of other skills that help in social media but what are those skills that specifically qualify someone as a good ’social’ marketer?
Jul 29, 2008
I am not sure I like the label “social media marketer”…
Social media has changed the way that buyers behave and provided new challenges and opportunities to marketers. But the primary goal of any marketer is still what it was when Peter Drucker defined it as “creating a customer.”
Unfortunately there are too many marketers who have not yet realized how social media has rocked their world – and who are considering social media as another media channel.
And unfortunately (squared), there are too many so-called social media experts who have no clue what marketing is all about and are being zealots about how marketers are not getting it.
Some, if not most/all, of the Cluetrain authors truly understood both sides of the equation…but many late adopters of the cluetrain manifesto do not.
So back to the original premise – if the purpose of a company is to create a customer, and the only two things that matter in achieving this are marketing and innovation (again – according to Drucker), there is no need for a “social media marketer.” What companies need is someone who truly understands how to “create a customer,” and how the social media platform of participation changed all the rules to make that happen…
Jul 30, 2008
Mica
I think that the answer to your question is in Isabel’s post..
http://blog.isabelhilborn.com/2008/07/how-to-choose-a-social-media-marketer.html
I could give you my thoughts but I really enjoy having the community get together and answer the question
Francois
Great points!!!
I completely agree with the statement:
“there is no need for a “social media marketer.” What companies need is someone who truly understands how to “create a customer,” and how the social media platform of participation changed all the rules to make that happen…”
I truly agree that someone who can be considered a good marketer must know how to create customers; and in modern times, social media is essential in that effort.
I don’t really like the label “social media marketer” either.
What are we going to do about it?
We need a new title. Something that we can use when referring to the type of marketer that is an expert in the area of marketing in social spaces in particular (at least until the social media mania dies down, and all media is referred to as social)