Why You Don’t Need Social Media Consultants

Posted on November 2nd, 2009 by Spike and currently 57 commenting.

You can’t swing a tweet these days without hitting a social media consultant. Those kids are EVERYwhere. You can usually find them traveling in packs and holding events where they talk to one another and tell each other how great they are. Good times. Good times.

But you know what? If you listen REALLY closely to their advice, you start to realize that most of it you already know. Because you have all the basic tools you need: Your humanity. Your ability to communicate with people around you. And your intuition. Because when you think about it, using social media is just a natural extension of yourself. Asking questions. Listening. Responding. And remember, social media apps are tactics. And tactics are tools. Sure, you might need some guidance on how to use that bandsaw, but you picked up a hammer and pretty much got the gist after you hit your thumb a few times.

In other words, we’re getting all worked up about (wait for it, wait for it) common sense. Common courtesy. And the best way to find that is to take off your marketing hat and use the hat you were born with – being a person.

It really seems to me that the social media folks that are blazing the trails out there and actually DOING something are the ones that are inside of companies. And why are folks like Scott Monty of Ford being celebrated? Because they do what comes (humanly) naturally. It’s not rocket science, people – but it does take a lot of elbow grease. And trial and error is not a bad way to figure things out.

Look, SM consultants have their place. But before you start your search and spend your money, do a gut check and some research. Realize that nobody has this thing all figured out. We’re all in social media grad school right now. And you’re probably just about as well equipped as anyone out there.

Let the flaming by the SM counsultants begin.