“Just because you told a client how to set up a Twitter account and how to converse with their audience – that suddenly makes you an expert? Hell, you could get that advice from Ezine Articles, probably. I always feel that experts and gurus become so through earning it and recommendation.”

But, to some clients, showing them the basics really does make you an expert. And they will rave and rave about you and recommend you to their friends/colleagues/associates. You’ve “earned” as much there as you might have doing harder work for someone else. You can easily build up a “guru” reputation amongst people that don’t know much on a particular topic. “Peer acceptance” as a “guru” is a different thing, but your peers don’t pay your invoices – your clients do.

The self-proclaimed experts remind me of the folks that show up at the course with the $3000 worth of Taylormade clubs, the great outfit and excellent shoes. Most likely – can’t golf. they don’t last long around golfers.

All about credentials, reputation and results.

Everyone, more or less, has played computer golf or Golden Tee at a bar. Most folks have watched golf on TV. Some have been to driving ranges and some have enjoyed Mini Golf. I bet even some have played golf… at a golf course. A real golf course. Wow.

Of those – according to the National Golf Foundation – there are many classifications. I won’t go into it. But, most folks don’t even have a PGA or RCGA golf handicap. So you can see where this is going. like 2% of the world really golfs.

If you are a Golf Professional like .00001% of the world – you are A/ unbelievable, really fucking good (beyond what a mere mortal who plays golf would ever understand) B/ Get paid for performance (Not endorsements – thats like 50 people in the entire world who get sizable do re me) C/ probably don’t have to talk about it much.

The same as Social Media Expert. Or whatever folks want to call themselves …

Talk is cheap. In the end you have to tee it up and it is all about results – or as in golf a number at the end of 18.

Oh, and don’t cheat. We saw that it was a 6. Don’t put down “4″.

The self-proclaimed experts remind me of the folks that show up at the course with the $3000 worth of Taylormade clubs, the great outfit and excellent shoes. Most likely – can’t golf. they don’t last long around golfers.

All about credentials, reputation and results.

1. How do you define expert?
2. How do you deal with fake experts? (spam)

And I think a sub question that bubbled up in the comments was how do you show ROI/results from social media. I’ll be addressing all three issues in upcoming blog posts. Please keep this thread going if you have anything to add

@Danny – Yes, I retracted my jealousy comment after hearing feedback on that it was more of a problem of fighting through noise. I still don’t like generalizing all of these people because of “title squatters” that fake it.

It was an attempt at sarcasm. I was trying to say that the fake social media experts will tell you right away to do steps 1 – 4 in my comment. It was aimed at comic relief in agreement with your post.

I will be more clear next time. Sorry for the confusion. :-)

I always feel that experts and gurus become so through earning it and recommendation. Tools change every day; it’s impossible (IMO) to keep up with every single one. So, if you don’t know everything about an industry and all its tools, can you still say you’re an expert?

It’s like any industry – it’s not a “backlash” because of jealousy; it’s a backlash for the damage these so-called experts do to that industry or medium’s credibility.

We’ve been putting up with the methods of traditional marketing for some time now. We’re willing to sit through commercials, flip through pages of ads in magazines, and stare at giant posters at our baseball games. And let’s not forget telemarketing.

Social media is just another emerging form of marketing. And it stands to reason that it will get just as annoying as every other type of marketing that’s come before it. Quick example: The only reason a local company would follow me on Twitter is if they want me to know they exist (and a follow back). I’m pretty sure that Panchero’s isn’t interested in the happenings of my life. I’ll sort of put up with this if I like the company, or if it only happens once in a while. But if it becomes a marketing tool in such a way that I’m getting scores of follow notifications (or @replies) a day from random companies, then congratulations, you’ve just made that feature of Twitter worthless for me.

I’m curious to know if anyone knew anyone that was a targeted email strategist before spam was a widespread issue. Back then, when people looked at this profession and worried that some day it might cause trouble in mailboxes, I wonder if the targeted email consultant was upset at the backlash. I’d even wager that these experts were good, honest people explaining to businesses how to use email in a professional way.

These are all things that would probably lead to grumbling, but not public backlash. I think the ornate, overly-specific job titles are what did it. Think about it. Who are you more comfortable complaining about openly: a douche-bag, or a douche-bag who calls himself “Mystery”?

@Michael – like I said above I don’t think it has anything to do with follower numbers.. it’s about value. Okay – so 2 minutes is a bit of an exaggeration but the point remains – it’s fairly easy to weed out the good and bad. I totally agree with you that not needs to be a Scoble – in fact I dont even think the internet could handle that kind of bandwidth. Expertise does not befall those who have the most followers – it’s earned through added value to a community and expression of knowledge and passion on the subject. I agree that it’s the new SEO but you are wrong both are measurable if you know your goals ahead of time

@jakrose You are exactly correct – it’s going to happen with every new profession.. and the beauty of twitter is if you don’t like their noise than don’t follow them…

@johnpemble I think we all are having a semantic disconnect regarding the meaning of an expert – which is something I should have clarified from the beginning… My definition of an expert (coming in an follow up post) is a person who is a) respected in their field b) a leader in their knowledge community and c) teaches others their ways and d) shows results. It’s completely subjective – which is where our problem lies it sounds. If you have success and show other people how to do it – you are an expert… to them. regardless of your self perception you are considered an expert

@Kristen yes i self-admittedly live in a vacuum sometime and fresh voices are always welcome to set us straight .. that’s what I was attempting with this post

@Jason – back to the semantics of an expert but like I’ve said before, I think results are also a good sign of an expert and in the age of the web – everything is measurable with defined goals.

@Justin we are having a great discussion, please don’t patronize us

@randulo it’s very absurd – you are correct. I completely recognize that problem and have no proposed solution to that.. I just don’t think the real experts deserve to be classified under such a brash generalization

Thank you everyone for your comments – this is a great discussion