We’ve talked a lot about Twitter and Social Media Marketing over the past year. To truly build an online brand, you need to become an expert.
Darren Rowse had an interesting tweet last Friday. It was something to the effect of, “I wonder how many people on Twitter have Social Media Expert in their profile?”
The answer is far too many.
People, in thinking that it will get them more leads or more money or more followers, will quickly add the word ‘expert’ to their online identities. They feel it makes them more valuable to the community and it reinforces their own self worth.
Expert status is something that’s earned though, not given. Self proclaimed experts are just that – self proclaimed.
Think about it. If I was to put a pool in my backyard and then tell all the neighbors I was an expert in pool installation, is it warranted? Have I tackled every problem that has come up regarding pools?
Hell no. I am simply someone that follows an instruction manual!
Establishing Expert Status
Two Christmas’es ago, I finally got an Xbox 360. Not that I have a tremendous amount of time to play, but when I get the chance I enjoy it immensely! Shortly after I unpacked the console, I took a trip to all the regular video game shops – Best Buy, Circuit City, Game Stop. It’s been a while since I played anything with a controller, so this was all new to me.
My first stop was Best Buy. The number of games sitting on the shelf was unbelievable. There were first person shooters, role playing games, action / fighting games and on and on. I stared at the rack for close to 10 minutes trying to choose something, but nothing jumped off the shelf into my hand.
Next stop, Circuit City. As soon as I walked over to the game section, a sales guy greeted me. Normally, I don’t like to be helped when I’m shopping, but this was a different story. I was hoping this guy had recommendations as to what the good games were.
He didn’t. It wasn’t that he was clueless, but he was a car stereo guy filling in for a buddies shift.
Strike Two.
Around the corner from Circuit City is Game Stop. Immediately after walking in, I noticed this slightly overweight, pierced, tatoo’ed god of a gamer. He was busy unpacking boxes, so I started looking through the shelves and checking out the backs of cases.
When he finally walked over he said, “Don’t buy that. It sucks. You’ll be back before the end of the day…”
“I gave him a quizzical look and thought, that’s not how it’s done! Your supposed to be selling me stuff!”
He went on to show me three great games, of which I bought all three. He also recommended a game that was coming out, so I put it on reserve.
After that simple exchange, I knew that I’d found my new favorite video game store. And it was all because of the clerk! He was a gaming expert and wasn’t afraid to stop you from buying something that sucked. For that, he’ll get my business for however long he’s in the store.
People’s Opinion Of You Matters
In social media, it doesn’t matter what you think of yourself. People can’t be fooled. You either are an expert or your not – there isn’t any in between. If you find that people are unfollowing you faster than you can send a retweet, something’s wrong.
If you are an expert though, that fact will shine through every time.
The trick is to be genuine. To feel truly connected to who is on the other side of the tweet. To respect them as people do in day to day conversations.
Social media isn’t a one way promotional engine that lacks credibility. It’s a conversation where expert status is given and taken away every day.
Over the past week, I’ve been getting a lot of emails and dm’s about holding another webinar on social media. Since I’ll be in teaching/training mode next week with 
You gotta love viral marketing. Within a few short hours you can get hundreds of people to sit up and pay attention to what you have to say.