Can You Advise Clients On Social Media If You Aren't On Facebook Or Twitter?

VERY well said Tom, couldn't agree more. What's frightening is how many people at the tech agencies (particularly in the leadership positions) are exactly like the woman you describe!

You are absolutely right. To understand a community you have to be part of that community. I blogged about this same issue here http://koifishcommunications.com/blog/?p=63

It is amazing that academia is so often removed from the real world -- particularly when it comes to topics like PR. I remember telling a PR professor who was trying to teach us to do newsletter layouts that I'd more likely outsource this work to a graphics designer. She told me I wasn't going to get very far in the "real PR world" with that attitude. 24 years later, and I've never done layout and page design.

Sadly, I meet people like this every day. What's most scary is that this woman is about to share her "knowledge" with unsuspecting MBA students. As they say, those who can, do. Those who can't, teach.

Hi Tom, absolutely spot on. I am constantly amazed when I meet people in marketing or PR (especially in Silicon Valley)who have not even tried out the main social media platforms - and it happens often.

I hope her students take your position! I left tech PR to get an MBA and feel I'm reasonably up to speed with social media. My classmates are overwhelmingly highly social media literate and I think we bring this sensibility to marketing. In fact, today about 30 of us competed at Microsoft to conceive of how the company should help it's partners approach social media. Many of my classmates could articulate the "why and how" better than senior people at my former employer.

I totally agree! I am an academic - teaching undergrads, MBAs, and international executives through the Stockholm School of Economics in Sweden (and the caretaker of our island in Second Life). The challenge is to get other academics and senior execs to jump over the technology barrier. I take the approach that this is like any organizational change project - behaviors and attitudes take time to change. However, creating a sense of urgency for change and orchestrating hands-on experiences showing short-term wins are some of the best means to do this. Please contact me directly if you have any comments or interesting experiences you would like to discuss.

For the past few years I have found the younger people within PR companies are more interesting because they don't have entrenched attitudes towards blogs and social media, they just jump in and do it. Their bosses, however, don't and they feel justified in their (bad) attitude towards blogs and social media. That's why I recommend to companies check to see if your PR company and the person you are working with, is involved in social media because if they aren't, they don't know what they are talking about. If you aren't in it you don't know it. It's as simple as that.

And the reason senior people aren't active on Facebook, Twitter, Friendfeed, blogs, etc, is that it takes a lot of time. And that's time that they can't bill. PR people sell time, their own, and if they are active in social media that is time they can't (shouldn't) bill.

Tom, I think I beat you to the punch on this one...just kidding. I see this everyday in the recruitment industry. I'm doing another follow up story to my orginal one entitle How To Spot A Digital Wannabee In The Recruitment Advertising Space about a VP at TMP who has 63 connections can't be found on facebook or twitter. Granted they are a competitor but how can you advise if you don't do it?

Exactly. I agree with everyone here, and on facebook and on Twitter but it's preaching to the choir:)

I kept this lady nameless because there are dozens of senior PR people that have said something similar to me over the past few years. She represents many people. If I named her she would represent just that one person and this is much broader.

I think it's OK for people to be wrong and change their mind later. I do it all the time.

I agree, the more I use Twitter, Facebook, etc., the more acquainted I am with the subtle nuances that make a difference.

What I also see as a weakness, however, is when a person who is FB or social media savvy in their own lives, believes that that's all they need in order to go out and create a social media plan for others.

Stop. Take time to get into your AUDIENCE'S mind, and don't assume they'll use all the social media tools as you do. They may have an entirely different way of using them.

It's unbelievable what people will sell these days, and as much as those of us deeply embedded in social media may think, most of the world doesn't know enough about it to see through this kind of person.

Everybody's suddenly an expert whether they have any experience or not.

Actually, I know some people with thousands of followers on Twitter who still don't get it...

Great post! I worked at a PR firm where the principal was constantly sticking his foot in his mouth by not knowing about social media because he never used it. This was a guy who couldn't remember how to access spell check on Microsoft Word, yet for the past year and a half he has championed himself as a master at social media strategy. The crazy thing about it - he still manages to pull in unsuspecting clients because he knows just a little more than they do about social media. Little do they know that their summer intern could do a better job with everything.

I totally agree that you need to be in it to understand it. Providing insight in this medium can only be achieved by consuming, watching and learning. You can't get this stuff from a book.

Definitely agree. At a conference the other week I met a senior multi-channel exec whose comment on social was "it's a load of rubbish and means nothing to me". His social media viewpoint was based purely on his own subjective experience and not related to his customer base (young, trend setters, fashion orientated etc). He had never been on facebook, flickr, twitter, WAYN, Bebo, YouTube......

My comment was how can you dismiss something you have never used? I think this is the same principle as not being able to advise someone on using something you don't use yourself. And not just use, but be passionate about. To 'get' social media, you have to be passionate, You have to welcome engagement, embrace negative as well as positive feedback. And you need time. You must invest time in building a profile, a reputation and most importantly trust. Once you get a feel for the community, it is amazing what you can get from it.

However, now that i've learnt that you don't have to know anything about something to make a living from it, i'm putting my name down for surgery at the local hospital..........

Tom, As with most people on this post, I simply could not agree more with this post.

I share the same views with my colleagues daily... By all means ask me about it... I can tell you but you won't truly understand unless you (drum roll) GET INVOLVED!

Thanks for a great post!

Sure you can advise on social media without practicing it - you just can't give valuable advice. But, neither can the majority of social media practitioners. Mediocrity is the cornerstone of American business today- why would social media be any different?

That said, great post! lol.

-- Eric

I dare to be different and disagree with you.

You say that one cannot understand blogging without being involved in it in some way. I think it's simple enough to understand the power of blogging without having ever even looked at one. I only became involved in blogging after doing some research and I haven't seen anything yet that has surprised me. It's already having a direct impact on my business, yet I haven't learned anything new since doing my research.

Looking back at your post, I see that you only mention that the woman wasn't personally involved in Facebook or Twitter. Had she read any blogs?

It wouldn't surprise me if there's a man out there teaching lamaze to pregnant women. Even though he's never given birth, he might still be doing a damn fine job.

Damian: Being involved in blogging by reading AND commenting will get you further, she had read but didn't comment. I think a better example might be: A man teaching women how to push during child birth. We all know how to breathe:)

Yeah, good post... HEY! Maybe she has staff to cover those topics.

At the same time, these tools don't require PHDs to use. Really, what does it to be able to claim you are a "social media expert"... what is there a certification test for twitter usage? No. Is someone with 300 followers less of an expert than 3,000 or 30,000 followers? Please..

We're not building nuclear reactors, we're just figuring out how to keep in touch with each other better.

Ernesto

Ernesto: She doesn't have staff to cover those topics. Yes, it's not rocket science. It's experience that counts. If you have some experience with Twitter, for example, you'll know far more than someone with none. 300 or 3,000 followers, it doesn't matter, what matters is you have experience of the platform. Without that experience you should not advise clients about the use of that platform.