SOCIAL MEDIA experts (READ: SPECIALISTS) SUCK…

at marketing and branding. I’m sure this will be controversial.

There is the Right Way to do Social Media… And there is the wrong way to do Social Media. First, Social Media is not some revolutionary thing. It’s relationship marketing re-imagined. RM has been around for over ten years now and if you’ve been under a rock, google it to see what the hell I’m talking about.

Then, like now, there are boutiques and experts popping up all over the place. Some aren’t snake oil salesman, most are. There might even be a bubble (social business) that bursts. I hope for the sake of our industry that doesn’t happen and we all learned a lesson the first time.

Then, like now, relationship marketing… (ahem sorry about that) Social Media is your BRAND as much as anything else. The difference is that back then, it took enormous amounts of money and effort and it hardly got noticed… at all.

Nowadays, the common perception is that all you have to do is sit an intern down, make them create a Facebook page and a twitter account and you’re in the game. That approach is fraught with peril, I know. Keep reading.

So you ask… What’s the right way to do social media? Let me answer that by answering the second question: what’s the wrong way…

Well, simply put… the wrong way is what I’ve already mentioned: Hire a boutique, an expert, or sit an intern down to do it. Would trust somebody who has never built, managed or marketed a “brand” before to be responsible building, managing or marketing your brand? Or even a piece of it? Didn’t think so.

The right way involves hiring a company that can understand your brand, believes in strategy, can create one for you, and has a marketing pedigree with the chops to build a contextual connection that cuts through the noise and resonates with your audience.

Don’t say we didn’t warn you.