Learning to setup a Facebook page and making a few posts does not make you a social media expert. There seems to be a trend with local marketers advertising their expertise in social media. Seeing as how FB is relatively new as a marketing tool for business it’s a bit odd people/agencies are pitching their expertise in this field. If you look a little deeper most people who are making these claims only recently started a FB business page in the last 2-4 years themselves. But you’re a social media guru? Really?
There are very few people in our local market I feel have any expertise in this is field, Aliza Sherman (http://alizasherman.com/) is one them. Like most people that I consider any kind of expert in “social media” she has her roots in more then just FB or twitter. She has deep roots in the early days of the internet, blogging, and technology. More important she understands when and how all these tools can be used along with traditional marketing tools to reach certain goals.
There are some basic criterias I feel you should have to be considered a “social media expert”.
Below are some basic criterias (solely my opinion) :
- Past experience running, moderating, actively involved in an online community or forum. Being a troll also counts. Before most modern social media sites we had online communities that were in the form of online games, forums, chat rooms and blogs. In my opinion this was social media in it’s infancy.
- Advanced understanding of the internet. I once had to explain to a so called social media expert what cookies were and how they worked. The internet is your playground if you claim you’re a social media expert I expect you to have a thorough understanding of the internet and web browsers, after all the are the vehicles in which social media is delivered.
- Basic understanding of html and css.
- Basic concepts of communication/graphic design. Yes you should know the difference between a jpg, gif, png.
Again these are only some basic things you should have under your belt before you start labeling yourself as a “Guru” or “Expert”.