Regarding “Social Media Experts” from Aaron Lewis on Vimeo.

Not sure if you’ve noticed but Twitter is jam packed with myriad forms of “Social Media Experts” and other digital marketing prodigies. With over 400 “Social Media Experts” out there ready to share their e-books, digital marketing dept.’s can rest easy knowing that an army of self-proclaimed pros is ready to be tapped.

Ok enough with the sarcasm. Here are my thoughts on the “Social Media Expert” (or Pro, Guru, Ninja etc … ) phenomenon and its potential implications on authenticity and personal branding.

Technorati Tags: social media personal branding

Comments to “Regarding “Social Media Experts””

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1. Michael Brito says:

   March 17, 2010 at 3:08 pm

   thanks for the mention Aaron. Great post. I couldn't have said it any better myself.

   Michael

   Reply
2. Erica Glasier says:

   March 17, 2010 at 9:36 pm

   Not to nitpick, but you call yourself an “online marketing mercenary”. Are mercenaries more qualified than gurus and ninjas?

   I hear your rant though. Doctors aren't called “medical experts”. (Well, they kind of are. Not a great piece of supporting evidence). Perhaps we need a Board Certified Social Media Academy.

   Reply
3. Aaron Lewis says:

   March 18, 2010 at 11:29 am

   Thanks Michael!

   Reply
4. Aaron Lewis says:

   March 18, 2010 at 11:45 am

   Hi Erica, Good point, I guess someone could perceive the “mercenary” terminology as a self proclamation of superior social media acumen. I meant it in the sense of being rewarded to perform work.

   Thanks for the comment!

   Reply
5. Mark Kithcart says:

   March 20, 2010 at 11:31 am

   Aaron, great video post! I found this on Michael Brito's Facebook page and followed it here. I recently wrote a blog post about this very topic – but I wasn't quite as diplomatic as you were.

   Well you can imagine I did get some people riled up. But I completely agree. I have run into more 9 month old Social Media Guru's and Experts in the last few months and they have no idea what a TRUE social media campaign is.

   Social Media is an important part of the puzzle but it's not the only part and when a campaign is designed and developed social media is one element of that plan (for me anyway).

   So, I guess I'm not the only one at the cocktail party who isn't an expert now. I'm going to link your video and blog post to my blog as well.

   Mark

   Reply
6. Mark Kithcart says:

   March 20, 2010 at 11:32 am

   Thanks for putting this on your FB page Michael. I hadn't discovered Aaron's wisdom yet!

   Mark

   Reply
7. Aaron Lewis says:

   March 20, 2010 at 9:12 pm

   Hi Mark,

   Thank you for the kind words and blog post link/mention!! 100% agree with you that “social media is one element of [a larger puzzle]” – so very true! Organizations omit much of traditional to their own peril. Holistic approaches are the way forward.

   And yes, I'll be one of the non-experts with you : )

   Love the blog BTW … good stuff indeed!

   Reply