I love social media. If it weren’t for Twitter, you wouldn’t even know that I, or this site for that matter, even existed. But I’ve seen a veritable overflow of social media “consultants” riding the bandwagon of the new trend, the new hype.

The problem with social media “consultants” is that social media is in its infancy. Well, perhaps more like the kindergarten years. Everyone’s still in this large group where everyone’s equal, everyone gets to have milk and cookies and a nap, and no one knows who is better than the other. It’s forced equality because there hasn’t been any time for anyone to prove themselves to be the honor roll student yet.

There is a small group of consultants who really DO know what they’re talking about. They know how to tailor a strategy for your particular business, they work to understand your market, and they’re more interested in the success of you and your product and less interested in the money that’s being PayPal-ed to them.

But some social media “consultants” can be very much like snake oil salesmen. It’s all very showy. Very step-right-up-and-take-a-look-at-the-magic. Very flashy.

A good consultant in any kind of business will be more than happy to be the guy behind the scenes, the guy behind the curtain, pulling the strings. Making recommendations. Making suggestions. You should be able to talk to them and have them consult YOU on how YOU can better promote yourself and your product to the public.

The problem with finding a good social media consultant is that right now, it’s hard to separate the wheat from the chaff. There are simply just so many out there – and they’re most definitely hanging out on the main social media sites – Twitter, Facebook, FriendFeed, etc. They’re all telling you how great their service is, how amazing they are, how well-connected they are into the social media matrix. They lead you, the entrepreneur or business just entering the social media landscape, into believing that if you would only hire them for a few months, they can transform you and your company into the next Apple or Twitter or Google or…or…or.

That’s the thing. If you had a marketing company, back in the old media days, touting how amazing they were – what would you usually do? You would research and do your due diligence, wouldn’t you? You would Google the company. You would ask around. You would see who else that company has represented, handled, marketed – and how much success that company was able to gain by having hired that marketing firm. So why aren’t people doing that with social media “consultants”?

A lot of the “why” is because on sites that are running in “real time,” such as Twitter, social media “consultants” interact with the thousands of followers that they have. It’s very in-your-face, follow-me-I’ll-follow-you, and can easily be manipulated. It gives the ILLUSION that the person is an expert in his field.

But take a closer look. Is that person really saying anything of value? Or is it the _____ Show? Are they just regurgitating things that they have read elsewhere, spending time flirting, or using the social media outlet of choice as a means to promote THEMSELVES more than teaching anything? Those may be red flags.

Now, don’t get me wrong – flirting is a-ok by me (obviously). What I mean is that as a potential customer, you shouldn’t be swayed by emotions, ego-stroking, and/or flirtatious come-ons. You should be able to subjectively look at EVERYTHING the consultant/company has to offer from a business standpoint and THEN make your decision on whether or not to hire them/procure their services.

Here’s a short checklist that might help when you’re choosing where to spend your marketing dollars – after all, we’re in a recession (as if you didn’t know), and these consultants are asking for thousands of dollars per contract:

• Do they provide anything of value to you for free – as in, if you spent some (free) time researching things that they have said/written, could you pretty much teach yourself how to make social media marketing work?
• Do they have a regularly-updated blog where they outline certain social media marketing ideas?
• Can they provide a list of companies that they have helped in the past?
• If so, how did they do? Was the social media marketing campaign outlined by the consultant successful?
• Are they able to devote the time that you need to learn how to market yourself properly? Are they swamped with other clients?
• Are they willing to share the credit, if not give you all the credit for your success?
• Are they willing to share who their mentors and colleagues are?

Obviously there are other questions that can be asked, but that’s a good starting point. A blog post on ZDNet.com mentions this rather well:

“Social media consultants can be a worthwhile investment, but not if they are merely telling you how to use social networking tools,” said Jeffrey Mann, vice president of research in Gartner’s collaboration and social software group. “These consultants can be valuable if they have an overall understanding of your market and your business, and can help you connect social media to your strategies.”

A business strategy should not be altered to fit social media; the social media approach needs to be altered to fit the business strategy. Not every company needs to be on Twitter or Facebook or FriendFeed. Companies need to, above all else, consider where their customers and competitors are before making a decision as to where their social media presences should be. And if a consultant says, “You need to be on Twitter; everyone is on Twitter” then it’s time to run. Fast. In the opposite direction.

This is the thing about social media marketing – there really is only one rule to it:

BE SOCIAL.

That’s really it. You might need to hire a social media consultant to walk you through WHERE to socialize…but the essence is that if you are SOCIAL in a SOCIAL MEDIA NETWORK (get it?), you’re effectively marketing in social media. Here’s another little bit from the ZDNet.com post:

“By embracing social media, PR goes from authors of corporate character and advocates in the court of public opinion to smarmy shills on the midway,” said “Amanda Chapel,” the Web personality notorious for trying to put PR and social media in its place. “We are in the business of presentation NOT conversation. Keep in mind, in a competitive situation, the guy who’s chatty… he ain’t your friend and he ain’t talkin’ to you other than for a reason.”

Overall, while there are a lot of consultants selling snake oil, the pushiness of the salesman should not scare companies off of social media completely. It can be a tremendous — and free — resource for branding and customer engagement if used in the right way. It does not need to overtake your business objectives and it does not need to cost a fortune. It does, however, need to be strategic and it needs to be done right.

Bottom line: before you jump in with your $500, $3000, $10,000, or $25,000 to spend on a social media “consultant” for their services, you have to ask yourself…is this something I can do on my own? Can I research this and figure it out and make it work? Maybe all you need is a consultation with a consultant (oh, how novel!) – a short meeting on learning the basics of social media – and make it work for you in a way that you’re comfortable. You’re already on Twitter (otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this), right? You’re already going in the right direction. Perhaps attending a seminar or two might be enough.

Of course, hiring a social media marketer might be the right decision for you. You might just be too busy to tend to all of the different social media outlets out there. But make sure that the marketer you hire has your best interests in mind – and not more interested in their own promotion in the process. Make sure that after your contract with the marketer is over (or before you hired him/her), that the marketer’s antics or perceived personal branding of themselves is not going to come back and bite you in the proverbial butt. After all, they may have worked to raise your visibility online, but if they’re entrenched in some scandal later on, you don’t want to be known as the company that used their services to promote your own product. Part of that involves seeing if your social media consultant is willing to be that person behind the curtain. If they’re more willing to promote you through their site, or account – then maybe you’re not the product that’s being promoted.

Do your research. Do your due diligence. And especially now, make sure that your money is being well-spent, and not on the snake oil salesman on the midway, but rather on someone with an established track record and/or experience in the field that you are trying to market your product to, who understands your target market. Why gamble right now, when your money is at a premium?

*Addendum* Yes, if you look above I do provide consulting services of my own. But you’ll probably never see me pitching my services as a social media consultant to the likes of Ford or Visa. Rather, my consultations are threefold: as a mentorship program to girls in the industry, as a social media consultant to the entertainment industry, and as a marketing consultant to mainstream companies that are looking for new and nontraditional ways to market their product. Yes, from time to time I do get social marketing questions from mainstream companies. I also get a lot of questions as to how to incorporate adult aspects into mainstream companies. I definitely do not turn them away, but I also do not ever say that I am a social media expert to them. Of course, that may change in time…I’m always learning too. But for now, I’m very happy being a social media consultant to the industry that I understand the most – entertainment.

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