I’m a Social Media Rat-- Get Me Out of Here!

Lou Diamond Phillips may have won the not-so-hit TV reality series, “I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!” But when it comes to determining the winner of the social media rat race, the chances of finding “one”—let alone a frontrunner—are slim.

If you’ve been trekking the path of social media tools and analytics research, social media webinars and conferences, and flat-out social media involvement in every Web space imaginable, you’re one of the rats that is eager to find more stars in the caves and sewers. While we see reports on executives saying they don’t have time for social media, my realization of time is just that, too: how many hours can I spend conditioning myself to be the frontrunner for all things social media? What does social media director, manager or consultant mean anyway if we’re all on the same path of knowledge evolution? Some of us are farther along than others, but never in the lead. Repeat. Never.

While I don’t want this post to come off as a half-glass-empty opinion piece, it may remind us all that, while we’re sojourning the Web, making connections, building communities and linkbacks, accessibility is what makes the space remain very small. Eventually you’ll end up at Kevin Bacon again, thanks to a very tight-knit community of social media rats.

This couldn’t be more apparent than with the number of LinkedIn updates I receive. It’s not just connectivity within region, it’s nationwide connectivity and unfortunately, you’re probably not a ‘fave 5’ if someone broadcasts more than 500+ connections. If that’s not enough, my Twitter account, as well as my PR friend’s Twitter accounts, boasts the same name followers. Don’t even get me started on Friendfeed; it’s a community-driven paradise and the professional/person grouping tags don’t help the cause. If you haven’t figured it out by now, we’re all sharing our connections whether on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Yammer, FriendFeed, etc (enter site here), so play nice on the track everyone.

The social media rat race in perspective
Picture this: The whistle blows and you’re off. You’re jumping the same hurdles that 100 other participants have already completed, though some of you are approaching those hurdles differently. While some of you make it over, some fall or lag behind. Your heart is pounding and you can hear a similar beat—about 500 human heartbeats coming up from behind you, passing you, because you decided to skip conditioning for a couple of days. You’re tired, run-down, and overwhelmed by the rushing crowd. You only have two options: announce you’re a social media rat and cancel yourself out of the running OR stay in the game realizing there is no finish line.

What do you choose?

Cashing in on Social Media Ambiguity: What Every Company Should Know Before Signing on the Dotted Line

A while back, I wrote a post regarding how monetization was an ambiguous area, and while ambiguity seems like a negative thing, it’s reaping handsome rewards as an unsaid associate term of social media.

What do I mean by that exactly? The term social media has yet to really be defined (Honestly, ask any person and each will give you a different answer as to what social media is), so a lot of PR/marketing type folks are charging an arm and a leg simply for comment moderation, hashtag set-ups on Twitter, and my personal favorite—editorial calendars for blogs. The selling point: brand engagement. Engagement. Ah-- music to a client’s ears that has been trying to integrate social media ever since BlendTec increased sales 700%.

While a need to develop social media 101 kits for internal communication purposes is certainly legitimate, I think these add-ons (such as the ones mentioned above) are really just a way to a guaranteed long-term retainer with the client. The advantage is knowing enough, because it’s impossible to know it all due to social media’s continuing evolution, and that's a good thing for cash flow.

Funny enough—people do claim to know it all. We call them social media “experts,” and in my opinion, they’re overrated and they overcharge. Social media isn’t black and white like ad equivalency rates; there is a multitude of ways to measure, to define measurement, and to put a price tag to it. Fortunately, clients waver on the higher side when integrated, and that’s a good thing for PR/marketing agency revenue.

Overcharging isn’t anything new to building investment estimates. It happens ALL the time, BUT I’d say that social media experts are indeed the biggest perpetrators of this.

What companies can do to avoid social media overcharge

• Assign one person internally to social media comprehension, integration practices, and overall research.

• Read social media blogs by leading interactive and emerging media contributors that offer up wisdom against social media experts, such as Amber Naslund, Jason Baer, or Sarah Evans.

• Investigate the person who’s pitching you their understanding of social media. If you visit their self-titled Website and their Web bio says “expert”…. RUN.

• Set up a month-by-month project pay and base compensation on the results. After all, the focus is not engagement, but engagement that leads to click-throughs, positive commentary, and increased Web sales or those earthly cash register rings.
  

What do you think of social media ambiguity? What are some other ways companies can avoid pitfalls or ambiguity traps set by experts?

Thanks for reading!
Tim