Social Media Savvy is a Cheap Commodity

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Breath easier agency creatives, business consultants, and lawyers. You are not getting left behind in the age of the social web. You might be noticing that those around you, offline and online are quickly growing their knowledge in the realm of "social media" and perhaps you're even nervous that your skills and business are going to be obsolete by the emerging group of social media gurus, experts, and so on.

Don't be worried. There is a unique difference between the skills of a such a person focused on social media strategy and yours: The skills required for your job cannot be googled. 

Now please don't take the above as a free pass to not get yourself educated on new technology, social/cultural implications of new media, and evolving business models. It is absolutely in your best interest to jump into these subject immediately so you know what they know (they = social media experts).

Trust me though, it is much easier for you to learn what "THEY" do versus "THEM" learning what you do. Take the knowledge you build (it's a relatively cheap commodity care of your friends at Google and the hundreds of blogs coveraging the topic of social media for free) and apply it to your own business. Improve facets of your company or your specific talents with the tools you have now at  your disposal, and then continue to use the hard earned skills of creativity, business strategy, financial planning, legal experience, etc that built your success in the first place.

Lastly, I want to highlight the brilliant individuals who compose the emerging practices at advertising/pr/design agencies who are helping drive brands into the future. This is not a shot at you nor a question of your value. You are the ones who have grown with brands, felt their legal/political struggles, lived through their fluctuations in financial stability, and helped transform their infrastructure. Boosting the valuable experience you have with knowledge of the social web will only make you better equipped to strengthen your partnerships and outwit your competitors. As my title indicates, you all have access to this cheap commodity of knowledge. Take advantage of information and stay ahead of others. See how it can overlap with what you are already doing. Invent smarter and more efficient ways of delivering your value. You don't have to start building a new house from scratch, you're simply adding a garage.

Comments

[Mike Maddaloni - @thehotiron]

On behalf of those of us who somehow managed to make a living prior to the advent of social media, thank you.

Especially for those of us in Web design and development, who many times feel that what we do is of lesser value unless it has an API hook to Twitter. We're all in this together, and we have a lot to learn from each other. I realize that, and all I ask is the same from others. Note not everybody in social media is in the same bucket... and I like hanging around with those who are not!

mp/m

[Len Kendall]

Thanks Mike,

I felt like people like yourself are getting the short end of the stick lately even though YOU are the ones molding the web into what it is becoming. Your skills are extremely valuable and anything you learn (theory) on top of it will only make you more valuable.

[Mark Wanczak]

I agree 100%. While at one time it may have been enough to simply be knowledgeable of social media technologies, that time has long passed. Instead, we're back to the resource that drives all marketing: creativity. If you can't create smart ways to incorporate the new online media platforms, all the familiarity in the world isn't going to help you.

I think that SM's biggest proponents forget this and are prone to rely on the idea that the increased consumer voice will revolutionize marketing, that we won't need creative because consumers will drive everything via social media.

Good post, Len.