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Guest John White

John White Is Back! CMO & Founder of Social Marketing Solutions Guest Post.

Catherine Lyon Author/Writer Featured Guest, Featured Guest Writer, Marketing and More , , , , , ,

Is Your Company’s Social Media Expert Really an Expert? Here’s How to Know? By John White

 

 

 


( Credit Image: Getty)

.“So, You hired a social media expert for your business. But how do you know you hired the right one?”

It would seem that there are a lot of “social media experts” out there today.Social media arose quickly as a prominent way for businesses to showcase their brand. Anytime, a product or service enters into the marketplace quickly there are opportunists that move into space and become largely self-proclaimed experts. Hence, the rise of the social media expert.Just last week I had a college senior reach out to me over email about working at my social media marketing agency, Social Marketing Solutions. When I checked this person’s LinkedIn profile, there was no profile picture and it looked like it had been pieced together in between games of beer pong. Yet, when I scrolled down there it was, social media was listed as a skill.

Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of true experts within social media marketing. Many of whom I’ve met, been mentored by, and had the pleasure of seeing their work up close. These are the true experts that let their work speak for itself and their reputation as a guru spreads organically.

I’ve also come across my fair share of pretenders or self-proclaimed social media experts. These people talk a big game about their social media prowess but don’t back it up with results.

The problem is many entrepreneurs are unfamiliar with using social media as a marketing tool for their business. So, they may not be able to tell the difference between a true social media expert and someone who is hoping to fake it until they make it.

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Can’t we just hire an intern for that?

Whether your company is going to hire someone or bring on an agency to do your social media, there are specific things to consider to make sure your social media expert is indeed an expert that can deliver results for your business.

What were they doing before becoming a “social media expert?”

It has been my experience that the best social media marketers have a background in something related to marketing or business development. People without it, have a harder time understanding ROI. They may not have the analytical skills needed to monitor the metrics that directly affect the company’s bottom line.

If you’re hiring them to support social media campaigns in a B2B environment and they don’t have B2B experience, it should raise a concern no matter how great that person claims to be at social media.

Check their personal pages for signs of influence

I’m always surprised by how many companies don’t actually do research into the person or agency’s social media pages. If your company is hiring someone to manage your Twitter account, and that person hasn’t tweeted in a month and only has 200 followers. Here are some red flags:

  • Their posts have low engagement levels. If they have low engagement on their posts, how will it be different for the posts they do for your company?
  • They don’t have many followers. If you are hiring them to grow your community and they don’t have one themselves, it should be a big warning sign.
  • They don’t have any recommendations on LinkedIn from clients for the services you are hiring them for.
  • They have a ton of Twitter followers but when you click on to see who is following them, they have a lot followers that are egg heads (no profile pic). This is a sign that they have bought their followers. They may lack the skills needed to create an authentic online community.

What do their client’s pages look like?

Also, ask to see examples of their client’s social pages. If they have examples of clients either in your industry or a parallel industry it is even better.

Read Their blog:

“Chances are if you are hiring a social media manager, they will also be doing some content creation for your company as well. Make sure to read their blog posts and get examples of content they’ve written for clients. Ask about where they’ve been published beyond their personal blog and where their clients have been published.”

Content marketing is not a fad and has disrupted the advertising world in a big way over the past few years. Your social media expert must be able to create compelling content that gets read.

Companies know that they must have a social media expert on hand within their marketing department to compete in today’s market. However, clearly, not all social media experts are created the same. The person or vendor you hire will make or break your company’s online presence  .  .  .

 

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John White is the CMO and founder of Social Marketing Solutions. He is also a brand ambassador for Bebee (a startup social media site based on affinity networking with 10.5 million global users). White writes at the crossroads of social media, entrepreneurialism, startups, and marketing. Last year, he completed his MBA in marketing. White lives with his wife and two daughters in Fort Collins, Colorado.

 

PUBLISHED ON: June 23, 2016,  Written by John White of  Social Marketing Solutions  … Follow John on Twitter

 

Presented By “Lyon Book & Social Media Promotions” 

 

 

 

Guest Author Article by John White. Turn That Career Around Into SUCCESS Author’s and Business People.

Catherine Lyon Author/Writer Featured Guest, Featured Guest Writer , , , ,

 I Thought My Career Was Over Until I Did These 5 Things ~Here are 5 tips to turn your career around.

 

BY JOHN WHITE
Founder and CMO, Social Marketing Solutions 
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(CREDIT: Getty Images)

It was just over three years ago that I thought my career was over.

I remember the exact moment well: There I sat in my drab, mundane-looking cubicle, which sat in the middle of a rather large call center. Most days I could drown out the noise.

However, on that day, the sound of what seemed like 1,000 simultaneous conversations going on left me unable to focus. I sat there with my head buried in my hands.

You see, I had just realized at that very moment that the company I had recently joined was far more dysfunctional than the one I had just left.

This wasn’t the first time I had left a job to go to another company in hopes of greener grass only to end up being worse off than I was before. I was depressed and unhappy to think that a career that only a few years before had looked quite promising was in jeopardy of going nowhere, and I felt like a complete failure.

I needed to do something to change the course I was on, and it wasn’t simply to change companies again. I attribute reversing my career path to five things. 

1. Take ownership of your career.

Up until that point, I had been quick to blame external factors for my unhappiness and the shortcomings in my career. I put the blame on things like bad management, company policy, poor timing, etc.

The result is that I stopped improving as a professional, and if I’m honest, I probably regressed a bit.

Making a change in your career is tough. However, perhaps the hardest part is admitting that you need to change yourself to make the career change you desire.

2. Be bold.

If doing things the way you’ve always done them has gotten you to the point in your career where you’re feeling like a failure, it’s time to try something new and bold.

For me, that was starting a blog. Before I started my blog on LinkedIn just over two years ago, the only people who had ever read my writing were my college professors and my mother.

In fact, there was almost nobody from my inner circle telling me I should start a blog. I decided to do it anyway.

Can a blog change your career? After a few of my blog posts went viral on LinkedIn and received over a million page views, I began to get offers to write professionally, which led to the start of my company and the career path I’m on now.

3. Continue your education.

For me, that meant getting an MBA at age 39. I needed additional skills and knowledge to move ahead in my career.

I reached the point where I was no longer learning in my position. I needed an outside source to inspire me to develop the new skills I lacked, which was preventing me from reaching my career goals.

You don’t have to pursue a fancy degree from a formal institution. In today’s online world, there are all sorts of ways to further your learning and gain the skills you need to move ahead: certificate programs, short-term courses, webinars, online learning programs, etc.

4. Become entrepreneurial.

You don’t have to quit your day job! However, if you’re like I was and you feel stuck in a position where your skills are being underutilized, consider doing some consulting work or starting a side business.

Doing so could lead you to several positive career outcomes: additional income added skills that you can use to gain a more fulfilling position or a successful startup that ultimately replaces your corporate job.

Today, I’m working with two startups–my own Social Marketing Solutions, a social media marketing agency, and beBee, a high-growth business social-media and blogging network with 11 million users.

5. Get social.

Before I invested in social media, I was always the one reaching out to people about opportunities. My networking activities were 100 percent outbound-based.

Once I started to grow my online community and produce insightful content, a significant shift occurred: People began to contact me. In fact, all of the business for my company has come from my online activities. Instead of me always being the one to initiate contact, now people regularly seek me out to discuss opportunities.

While my career journey is far from complete, I now feel as though my work is appreciated, meaningful, and fulfilling. I’ve stopped blaming external factors and switching jobs when things don’t go my way.

“I finally realized that when it comes to my career, the grass is as green as I make it.”

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About John White & Social Marketing Solutions:

Columnist at INC Magazine. Founder and CMO, Social Marketing Solutions LLC.

Social Marketing Solutions, (SMS) is located in historic Old Town Fort Collins, Colorado, servicing clients locally, nationally, and internationally. SMS specializes in online branding utilizing today’s latest inbound marketing tactics to tell your brand story to potential customers, making it easier for them to find your website and purchase your products or services.

“Marketing is no longer about pushing a product, rather it’s the stories you tell about your brand value that sets you apart from the competition.”

 

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And with John White on LinkedIn or Email John: juanblanco61@gmail.com