- Image via Wikipedia
Browsing through various social media job specs I have come to realise that the market is ripe for the role of Social Media Strategists. Well, the point is not that the economy is set to boom (may be?) but it reflects the change in corporate mind sets. It’s a strong evidence of the adoption of Social Media in the core business processes. There were times not so long ago when strategy and social media were two words distant apart. ‘Social media is not for us. All it takes is to have a Facebook and a Twitter account to fix it,’ is what one got to hear from senior management simplifying or rather underestimating this medium some time back.
But things are beginning to change rapidly now. The change led by few early adopters (both B2B and B2C businesses) is beginning to bedazzle the rest of the business community especially the banking and the finance sector, which in my opinion has failed to adopt social media as effectively as other sectors especially here in UK. It was easy for such companies making their profit from B2B engagement to assume that they would remain untouched by the wider context and reach of social media. Since the realisation of being too late adopter or being left out is beginning to set in there has been demand for social media strategists who can guide them through the process of social media adoption.
These new converts are enthusiastic about the prospects but also very much in dark about how to set up the social media processes within their business processes at a rate that does not undermines their immediate interests. What is not helping this process are strategists who have a myopic vision of social media. They understand its scope and immediate impact but fail to develop strategies that evolve with the changing social media landscape. This undermines businesses faith, blurring their vision for social media’s potential which eventually turns into a defensive or survival tactics. Such tactics are mostly deployed to counter the strides made my competitors through social media ends up being their long term strategy or let’s say a reactionary mechanism to cope in social media. Unfortunately, this is stopping businesses to take a plunge into what is quintessential for their evolution to the next phase of Socially Integrated Economy (SIE) (more on SIE in future posts).
Such businesses are doomed to ‘trash’ in the long run. Such strategists are nothing more than ‘clowns’ says Gary Vaynerchuk, who is introduced as a wine enthusiast, author, founder, blogger, investor and serial entrepreneur in an interview with TechCrunch Co-editor, Erick Schonfeld (Watch Video: Gary Vaynerchuk: “99.5 Percent Of Social Media Experts Are Clowns” (TCTV) )
Clowns or not, the fact remains that businesses worldwide are reaching out in an effort to gauge what lies in it for them.
Part II of the post to highlight what is leading businesses to social media and reasons for its adoption.
Related articles
- Gary Vaynerchuk: “99.5 Percent Of Social Media Experts Are Clowns” (TCTV) (techcrunch.com)
- Gary Vaynerchuk Hates Clowns (pr.typepad.com)
- The social media strategist’s guide to the Geosocial Universe (writerway.com)
- Social business vs. social media (beingpeterkim.com)
- What a Social Media Expert Does (concepthubinc.com)
Thank you for including the Concept Hub link. I like your balanced approach here. You make a very valid point about how there is a reactionary effort happening with social media, but oftentimes it is the client (business) who is being cautious about how much time and effort they commit to social media no matter how much the consultant/strategist tries to explain the importance of a long-term integrated strategy. Businesses who are bent on just getting a twitter or facebook channel set up and managed by some hired hand will do so no matter how much they hear that they need a more holistic strategy. But what people like Gary V are doing is trashing the industry that needs to be nurtured in a way where we are able to help companies not make these mistakes. With comments like “99% of social media experts are clowns” it makes a company less likely to listen to sound advice from a true social media expert and instead hire someone who has added social media to the long list of offerings.
I agree with you absolutely. Branding 99.5% social media experts as clowns is a bit too much of an exaggeration. SM is an evolving medium, and marketers are evolving too along with it. Sooner or later every one is going to be there but not before they have gone through their learning curve. In contrast to Gary’s approach I like experts like Brian solis and Chris Brogan, who are always sharing new strategies and ideas guided by ‘empathy’ an underlying virtue of social media and its experts.
Its too early to pass judgements but as you said clients approach would eventually go on to decide where they lead their businesses to.