In a recent post, CEO and consultant Peter Shankman argues against the validity of self-professed “social media experts,” whom he suggests would do better to light a match and swiftly put an end to their worthless existence. Yet, Shankman’s open-ended invitation for “social media experts” to set themselves on fire seems to come from a cloudy place, a place where the term “social media expert” becomes synonymous with the term “scam artist.”

Clearly, in titling his piece “I Will Never Hire a ‘Social Media Expert,’ and Neither Should You,” Shankman (a social media entrepreneur himself) was knowingly drawing a line in the sand. To be pro-Shankman, however, would mean that you reject the notion that social media experts exist, and, therefore, you would never hire someone alleging to be one.

It is true, of course, that social media (like any field where there’s money to be made) is not exempt from the fair share of bullshitting pseudo-“experts” running around and cutting corners, trying to capitalize on the next big thing and on those who don’t know or care what “good business” actually means. They measure success in Facebook fans, and they tell you that they can get you 10,000 more Likes in exchange for a few hundred bucks. What a deal! What they don’t tell you is that those 10,000 coveted “fans” are actually a bunch of snot-nosed, hormonal teenagers somewhere in Malaysia who will Like your company today and un-Like it tomorrow. These social media scam artists (Shankman’s “experts”) equate fans and follower growth to social media success; they neither know nor care about your business.

Real social media experts, however, can navigate through the hype to find and evaluate the business value of community. They understand how to achieve real, long-lasting results for a company, whether by generating revenue, enhancing reputation, lowering cost per acquisition, or using strategies that are uniquely informed by social media. True social media experts have done and continue to do their research. They practice the metrics in books like Jim Sterne’s Social Media Metrics: How To Measure and Optimize Your Marketing Investment, in order to optimize customer satisfaction, cost, and revenue for a given company. They approach any social media strategy with a comprehensive understanding of how the business functions. They understand that, while $136 may be the value of a Facebook fan for a global company like Coca-Cola, that same data point it not true for all companies.

So, the real issue isn’t whether or not you should hire a social media expert but, rather, how to determine whether someone is an expert and what type of expert would be most beneficial for your company. Here are 8 criteria to aid in the process:

1. Personal experience. In 2006, my friend Lorenz and I arrived at PodCamp Boston. We were welcomed by a very relaxed, unusually friendly guy named Chris Brogan, who showed a very real interest in us. Chris’s perspective on social media and business stems authentically from who he is and from his interpersonal connections. The same can be said for many social media experts whom I know, who don’t see their time spent on Twitter or at social events as a rigid work activity but, rather, as something very closely connected to who they are and to what they believe. Their relationship with social media enables them to understand the unwritten rules for engaging online.

2. Business experience. If you are hiring a social media expert, understanding their business background is key. What was their professional experience prior to becoming a social media expert? What clients have they worked for and what success have they achieved for them? How was that success measured? How has their business background shaped how they approach social media? Is their experience client-side, agency-side, or as an independent practitioner? What social media initiatives have they led and what were the results?

3. Reputation. Who endorses them? What have they published, and where? In what capacities do they have influence?

4. Ability to interpret metrics. Do metrics inform their decision-making process? Are goals and KPIs initially used to measure performance? Do they continually assess their work?

5. Knowledge of emerging trends. Do they have opinions about emerging trends that are based both on their own experiences and on reviews of credible sources?

6. Knowledge of frameworks. Which frameworks inform how they plan and implement strategy, and what sources influence those frameworks?

7. Ability to create and execute strategies. Not only can the social media expert create and execute strategy, but they also have the capacity to predict the outcomes of that strategy, to properly estimate and allocate resources, and to manage a budget.

8. What they hold sacred. Which tactics would they never use, under any circumstances? What would cause them to walk away from business? What are their fundamental values and approaches to social media?

Social media experts do, in fact, exist. They may, however, cringe upon hearing the term “expert” attached to their name. In general, there seems to be a stigma attached to the word “expert” (or “guru,” “master,” etc.) regardless of the field of expertise, and bona fide experts will go to great lengths to denounce their expert-status. Is it modesty? Insecurity? A self-defense mechanism so as not to be targeted for their “expert” opinion?

The term “social media expert” also proves challenging because it’s nearly becoming too general. There are experts in social media who understand promotions, experts who focus on research and sociology, experts who focus on sentiment analysis, and still others whose background lies in-stream advertising within social networks.

Below, I have included my own Top 20 list of social media experts (in alphabetical order), with sincere apologies to those who scoff at being labeled as such:

1. David Armano
2. Rohit Bhargava
3. Edward Boches
4. Dana Boyd
5. Chris Brogan
6. PR Sarah Evans
7. Jason Falls
8. Steve Garfield
9. Paul Gillian
10. Alex Howard
11. Joselin Mane
12. Scott Monty
13. Amanda Mooney
14. Darren Rowse
15. Steve Rubel
16. Brian Solis
17. Aaron Strout
18. Mike Schneider
19. Todd Van Hooser
20. Greg Verdino

Written by Zach Braiker, in collaboration with Lesley Yoder, Ph.D.

If you work in midtown Manhattan, you’re likely to know the food cart I’m talking about. It’s the one on 53rd and 6th with 30 people waiting in line. They’re waiting to eat middle eastern food sold from a cart the size of a mini-copper. And they wait at all hours. When I passed by at 10 pm at least 50 people were in line. When I asked them if the food was “that good” to merit the line, they responded, “well, I saw the line, so it must be.”

I believe the same psychology of lines applies to Twitter. So often people use following / follower ratio to determine who they want to follow before actually “trying the food.”

There are many ways to cause lines to form, yet far fewer to cook a great meal.

(Image: The Belle of the Ball, Secret Garden After Party Dance, when the Inn is Asleep by Wonderlane on Flickr)

We’re working with a few clients to build LinkedIn groups for their brand.
Before inviting others to join the group, we are starting an interesting conversation with just a few highly engaged members.
The reason behind this is simple and applies offline as well.

If you show up to a party with no people, food or music, then you’ll leave a few minutes later.
I think the same applies online.

If you’re invited to a forum and there’s no conversation, pictures or articles posted, you’ll leave.
Why would you invest time into a community like this? What’s your incentive to contribute?
If you’re building a community for your brand, start the conversation first with a few trusted advocates.

Get the party going and turn the music on.
Then, invite others to dance with you.

This week I noticed a few things on twitter worth sharing: best practices for disclosure, a glimpse into Guy Kawasaki’s tweeting life and Little, Brown and Co.’s exceptional use of the channel.

1. Disclosure
I noticed that my friend (and PR strategy expert) Todd Van Hoosear offered a disclaimer when he tweeted about his own blog.

Here’s the tweet:
[On Todd's Blog] Do you have a community manager? http://tinyurl.com/759rvh

In Todd’s words, “it’s all about disclosure.”

2. The Guy Kawasaki Network
I asked if Guy had people helping him tweet. He replied, “Does it matter as long as the content of my tweets is good?”.

On the one hand, it doesn’t matter. Just as a CEO certainly does not write every blog entry but is responsible for the overall blog, the same might be true with Guy and his twitter account.

There are two aspects of subscribing Guy Kawasaki’s tweets.
A. Guy: the person. Access to his personal comments, feedback, insights, humor, etc.
B. Guy: the network. Access to articles, links and cool stuff (a mix of Alltop + Truemors)

I expect that a support staff might help him with the second. It’s the former that would not be ideal for an intern to impersonate.

3. Little, Brown and Co. – @LittleBrown – Do What You Know. A Best Practice.
This famous book publisher offered to help anyone on twitter by offering a personalized book recommendation. @ChrisBrogan picked up on the offer and broadcast it to his followers. Great example of using twitter to help prospective customers and stay on brand message.

Did you spot a twitter best practice this week? Please share it in the comments.

Mr. Tweet, the personal networking assistant for twitter, has all the twitterati talking. According to the website, “Mr. Tweet looks through your extended network to help you build effective relationships on Twitter.”

I used and enjoyed the service. Recently, I interviewed its founder, Steve Ming Yeow Ng, over email. Our discussion is below.

Have you actively marketed yourself? If so, how?
We are almost at 14,000 [followers] now, gaining at about 1000 a day. The amazing thing is that all our users came almost exclusively from word of mouth, as opposed to active marketing, or even PR. Even all of PR came from users who used us and love the service.

Who are 3 of your most memorable Twitter friends and what makes them memorable?
Haha, I keep close track of the conversations, and I have to say it is these 3:

1) Gary V – cause his personality is so amazingly outsized yet endearing at the same time.

2) Marta Strickland – cause she is smart and sassy, and generous with ideas

3) Acclimedia – cause she is very critical, w/o ever being negative. Very hard balance to achieve, but she does it

4) KrisColvin – I was blown away when I read her blog (as part of user research), because she shares so much of her valuable thought process in such detail. She is actually a classic case where I felt that the world would be a much more valuable place if more people could learn from her, as opposed to being obsessed with the same few people all the time. And that kind of granularity of connecting is what we will be gunning for soon

If I use Twitter Grader do I need Mr. Tweet?
We are a very different ball game. We do not offer a universal grading statistic, because we think that is very misleading. Influence is an attribute of the audience, not an attribute of the person. IE, it really is personalized. My kid is highly influential to me, but he is probably has zero influence on you. On a similar note, Werner Vogels cannot be compared to Scoble when you try to apply a universal ranking, but as the is probably the leading thought leader when it comes to Cloud Computing, his thoughts are immensely influential for technologists and backend engineers. Hence, influence depends much less on the person being graded, but who he is being graded for.

Can you share a few interesting stats with us (your growth, what features people use, stats that marketers may find compelling)?
Haha, we do not have many features, and we are not ready to publish some of the stats yet, although we will do so at some point.
That said, I can say one thing with confidence: People are not interested in subscribing to marketing messages, or celebrities/companies who follow random people. They are interested in personalities who value relationships.
I know this sounds like common knowledge, but both the stats and the user feedback back these up ->People are really a lot more interested in listening to people who are building relationships. There is a very strong reciprocal effect here.

What has been the most interesting part of launching Mr. Tweet?
Definitely the enthusiastic user feedback, and seeing the diversity of ways we add value. It is an amazing feeling.

A recent presentation from Mr. Tweet’s founder:

Discovery Is The New Cocaine – Going Beyond Engagement

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: discovery ux)