Inbound Marketing and SEO by Rand Fishkin and Thomas Høgenhaven

Author:Rand Fishkin and Thomas Høgenhaven
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Wiley Publishing
Published: 2013-05-12T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14: Everyone Should Hire “Social Media Experts”

By Rand Fishkin

Editor's Note: Some marketing professionals are still hesitant to trust anyone who calls themselves a “social media expert” these days, believing that the rules of the game—and its players—change too quickly for anyone to master the field. This contrasts sharply with the nature of the complaint about the social media expert that Rand disputes in this post (originally published on The Moz Blog in 2011), as it is based on the premise that social media skills are merely common sense.

I caught a post from Peter Shankman entitled “I Will Never Hire a Social Media Expert and Neither Should You.” It's not the first of its kind, nor was it the best argued, but it struck a nerve and has made a number of waves around the web. Needless to say, as someone who employs multiple team members with a great deal of social media expertise, I strongly disagree with the substance and sentiment of the piece.

Here's Mr. Shankman's argument in his own words:

No business in the world should want a “Social Media Expert” on their team. They shouldn't want a guru, rock-star, or savant, either. If you have a “Social Media Expert” on your payroll, you're wasting your money.

Being an expert in Social Media is like being an expert at taking the bread out of the refrigerator. You might be the best bread-taker-outer in the world, but you know what? The goal is to make an amazing sandwich, and you can't do that if all you've done in your life is taken the bread out of the fridge.

The full piece (see http://shankman.com/i-will-never-hire-a-social-media-expert-and-neither-should-you) makes a passionate case, but an entirely false one. There's no evidence, only opinion; no examples, just speculation; no data, but loads of stereotyping. Peter founded and sold HARO, the social media service that connects journalists to subject-matter experts. He is certainly one of the premier benefactors of social traffic and of a new, more socially connected web, yet Mr. Shankman somehow manages to ignore the benefits social media has brought him (and his company and its clients) to write a scathing post that dresses down anyone who dares claim expertise in this marketing discipline.

As with my arguments against Mr. Roadruck's sensationalist post “White Hat SEO is a Joke” (see Chapter 1), I'm worried that I'm falling for troll bait. Regardless, the people who do great social media marketing deserve a strong defense, and I believe the evidence is almost entirely in their favor. Besides that, as an SEO, I've long felt the brunt of baseless attacks by ignorant skeptics. I feel a kinship with those who've had their profession ridiculed, and have a duty to stand up for them.

Let's start by exploring the popularity of the social media expert in comparison to a more traditional marketing job role Mr. Shankman points out, media traffic planner:

Marketing involves knowing your audience, and tailoring your promotions in specific bursts to the correct segments. “Social media experts” don't know this.

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