In most instances this is pretty harmless. It's fine to be interested in things and sure, you might know a little bit about them. But what makes you an 'expert'? What makes you know more about that thing than the average person? There's no certificate, there's no test process. If you can type the words within the 140 character limit then you're good to go. It can make spotting the genuine thing from a crowd of pretenders quite difficult and as someone who actually does know about social media this can cause problems. As someone looking for someone who knows about social media this will cause problems for you too. Here are a few things you should look out for to ensure you're not getting a dodgy deal:
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| This time next year you'll have a million followers. |
LOOK AT THEIR CONTENT.
A proper social media expert should be tweeting about proper social media things. This doesn't mean that all they ever talk about is Facebook insights or the latest Instagram terms and conditions, that would get a little tedious quite quickly. But the things they do talk about should be accurate, they should offer knowledge that would be difficult to otherwise attain and they should be doing it in an engaging, entertaining manner. Practice what you preach, social bods.
CHECK OUT THEIR WEBSITE.
Anyone who is good at something shouldn't be ashamed to show it off. If all they have to say they're good at social is the words they've typed then there's a chance there might not be that much evidence to back it up. Of course arrogance isn't all that attractive but proof should be available if you ask for it. I can show you some lovely pictures of work I've done if you say please and my website is more than just adverts and links to other bits of content. It's also got pictures of typewriters on it, yay!
READ THEIR BLOG.
"I can help your business grow on social media!" they say, but the only way you can tell they actually know what they're talking about is by checking for yourself. Anyone who says they 'live and breathe' social media is probably an awful person, but they should also have a blog. Blogs are a massive part of social and if they don't have one they're missing a trick which should be a worrying sign. Also if they only post once every few weeks then what the hell are they messing about at? Once a day people, once a day! Take the weekends off, you don't want to bore people, but regular content is a good indication there's plenty of knowledge in their heads to offer.
LOOK AT THE ADVICE THEY'RE OFFERING.
If they're suggesting you set up an account on every platform, if they say you should never follow back, if they say Google Plus is the future then you can pretty much assume they're mental and not to be trusted.
DO THEY HAVE SHIFTY EYES?
Good pictures are a sign someone has a bit of an idea how social platforms work. Anyone who has a stock photo of them in a suit folding their arms isn't really using the sites the way they were intended (it's called social for a reason, you're meant to be friendly) and if their pictures aren't the right size then an alarm should immediately sound off in your head.
Someone once told me there ought to be a blue tick next to all the actual social media experts to help distinguish them from the fakes who float around following everyone. They were speaking sense, there did ought to be. But there isn't, you have to make up your mind yourself. Don't waste your time listening to the time wasters as you'll end up going down the wrong alleyways.
They'll be dank, they'll be poorly lit and there will be an air of mugging about them. Use common sense and avoid them.