How to Survive a Social Media Guru Explosion

Everybody seems to be a “social media guru” these days. Like a real world sausage-fest, the “guru-fest” on Twitter and Facebook where four out of every five members claim to be some sort of ninja, jedi, maven, strategist or expert cannot possibly be a good thing. I exaggerate but echo chambers are not productive. What’s an earnest social media consultant to do?

Before you read on, you should know that I wrote this post only for those folks who are totally committed to the social media “industry” and intend to make a difference and long term careers out of this.

The Service Industry Cycle

Great, you’re in a service industry. This happens to every service opportunity. Something new and exciting happens and a few people move quickly to capture the opportunity. Others see money being made, mistakenly think it’s easy money, and then flood the scene.

We’ve reached that tipping point. We now have too many social media gurus.

How did we get here? The lowest barriers of entry ever before seen in history - except maybe for the world’s oldest profession. Anyone can build a website for little money and tell the world he is now a “social media guru” who will show clients how to navigate social networks. Even more absurd, he can go on a social network like Twitter, set up for free, and tell other members of the social network of his expertise. That’s like going to a hospital and having a fellow patient tell you he can cure your ills.

Plus there isn’t some lazy way to verify the quality of a guru like we have for accountants with CPAs, financial analysts with CFAs, or even clever business people with MBAs.

The Sameness of Promises Problem

If you want to be a successful social media consultant, you need to understand the Sameness of Promises problem. Every social media consultant promises the same thing - increased traffic and eyeballs, more buzz (whatever that means), higher search engine rankings, more followers, etc. By merely promising great results, there is no way to differentiate yourself and stand out from the guru crowd.

Now is the time to grow. To do this, you need to do something drastic, something different.

The Consultant as Curator

Fire your clients. Not all your clients, just your bottom 20% clients. Yes you do need to prioritize your client list. You need to be prepared to do this once a year. Your client list probably conforms to the 80-20 Rule: the top 20% of your clients is responsible for 80% of your revenue or profits. Your bottom 20% clients probably account for less than 5% of your revenue or profits.  You might actually be losing money servicing them.

Why fire your clients? When the promises you make are the same promises every other social media consultant makes, prospective clients have little to judge you on. Your client list is one of the few things competing consultants cannot copy. The quality of your client roster will signal to prospective clients if you’re truly a guru. Think of yourself as a curator of a gallery or museum. You’ve got to constantly clear space for bigger and better projects.

Bottom Line

None of this matters if you cannot execute and deliver on those cookie-cutter promises. But I’m assuming you’ve got the chops. I’m also assuming you want to grow and succeed in this business. You have a finite amount of time in a day. In order to get better clients, you have to free up time by firing low priority clients. I’ll leave you to define low priority. Maybe the readers of this blog can help. What are some ways you define low priority? What would make a client less important going forward?

Comments

[Jason Markow]

Allan,

Great post. My only problem with the "bottom line" is that the people who don't have the chops disappear at a much slower rate than the new experts appear (since the barrier to entry is so low). The implications of this are obvious.

Your post has inspired me to take action. I will follow up with another comment soon. Well done.

[Loyan]

Alright I admit it...ninjas are way cooler than guides. I want to be a ninja too.

[Jeff]

I want to be a ninja...

[John]

Allan, I posted about all those self proclaimed Social Media experts here http://flurrycreationsblog.com/theblog/?p=213 and a good friend went further in his reply on how to choose a guide. http://www.proworks.com/blog/2009/09/selecting-social-media-guides/

Jon maybe we need a few "dips" in the industry. At least real estate agents have one, a license.

[Jeremy M Bryant]

Allan,

Great ideas to think about. I believe in just like every other venture, that the market will eventually work itself out. Everyone rushed to myspace because it was the thing to do, and everyone was a consultant of how to set up your profile and what trinkets to add to drive traffic. Where are they now? On to the bigger, better, and next craze. Are there still opportunities on myspace for some, you bet. Those with the skill and mileage to market to that group are there and profiting. Currently, I think there is room for all. There are those that are great at large corporate strategy opportunities. Others are better suited for small business or "mom and pop" shops or the low hanging fruit. Others are a better fit in the non profit sector. As was mentioned, it is important to find your niche, stand out, and take your place as the one to do business with. The challenge is sifting through all the noise and static; but we all know in the end, its the connection in the beginning that brings the referral later.

Thanks again for a well thought out post.

[Matt @ Kurb]

There is an expanding market for social media because it's needed. When I accepted that I wasn't so peeved about the noobs.

Besides, if you're good, you'll have no trouble getting clients.

I used to be right into social media years back, I had one of those myspace friend adder programs, it was great.

What I appreciate now is less people are learning seo and that suits me, i got sites i built 5 years ago.

[Jon]

Allan,

I joke that social media consulting is the new real estate. For the last few years it seemed as though anyone who was out of work would get a real estate license and go into real estate. Now if you're out of work and you've got a twitter account you can be a social media guru.

Jon

[Strategic Growth Advisors]

Thanks, SAMBA team.

I think this is a timely post to describe the status of social media goings-on these days.

Presently, there are a lot of individuals who proclaim they are "self-made" men and women who discovered the pot of gold at the end of the social media rainbow.

You are very right in describing them: they promise the same thing - increased traffic, higher search engine rankings, as well as more followers. And honestly, I also don't have an idea what "buzz" means.

In my own point of view, becoming a genuine social media guru involves proving yourself to others that you are smart, innovative, creative and, of course, using social media to offer something new (and not just spammy messages that pop up every time you browse the Internet).

[Joseph Joel Sherman]

Allan,
Great post. Yes, the low barriers to entry and promise of easy money have flooded the market with 'experts'. History shows that new markets will bring a flood of providers, only to be dealt with during the market slow down. But, what if the social media market does not slow down?