I’m obviously a believer in social media and its possibilities for businesses. However, I’m also extremely conflicted about consultants who are solely focused on social media. Many of them, who I personally know and like, are extremely talented individuals and any business should feel confident to use them. There is also a large group of ‘others’ out there but there have been plenty of articles bashing the “snake oil salesmen” of the industry that I don’t need to rehash that discussion.
The problem, as I see it anyway, is that having all of these folks focused on one single element like social media can create a polarizing environment. You end up with the vocal proponents of social media side by side with the naysayers, but very little discussion about integrating social media into a business in a measured way. This then creates confusion amongst businesses trying to understand the space because they are receiving opposing opinions and you have to essentially take sides.
Social Media, like most things in life, is not black and white. Hell, we can’t even define exactly what is and isn’t social media anymore. The usages and permutations are so vast that trying to pigeon hole social media into a “good thing” or “bad thing” is a ridiculous exercise. If as a social media consultant you only sell social media then are you really gauging a client’s options in a holistic manner? Are you really weighing social media against the other means available to that organization to determine the best expenditure of their dollars? On the flip side, if you believe that social media is a big waste of time and can’t understand why so many people are taking the bait then it’s clear you need one of those social media experts to help explain to you the many ways your business could be utilizing it.
In short, from my perspective social media should be a component of a larger strategy, not a strategy unto itself. Relationship Marketing is built on this principle of an integrated strategy and I’ve seen nothing that tells me that social media will *replace* all those other marketing mediums. A social media consultant as an “educational” role makes a lot of sense, as a partner alongside a larger strategy also works, but as a solo effort being sold into organizations? It simply doesn’t make sense to me.
Businesses need to see social media plans that have taken into account their other needs, ones which have accounted for and justified against the other ways those dollars could have been used, and shown how you can cleanly integrate and compliment their other efforts. Otherwise you’re selling ground beef. It might be awesome ground beef, but without a grill, a bun and condiments you’ll never be able to compete with my hamburger.