Is practicing what you preach important?

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Permalink Reply by Tim Piazza on August 1, 2009 at 5:26pm

I'm trying to imagine how someone could capably offer social media services without ongoing first-hand experience. From the client's experience, it would be like learning to drive from someone who has only read books about driving.

But to be fair, social media is something that many people learn on the fly, much is improvised because there isn't a one size fits all solution, and the tools and opportunities are constantly changing. If someone isn't experienced with social media at first, they will become experienced very quickly.

Personally, I like to experiment with different tactics, changing one aspect or another and measuring the results, trying to better understand how to get the best results under various conditions. That is probably the key benefit to gaining first hand experience before engaging a client. Not everything you read about can be duplicated and it's better to find that out when it doesn't matter as much.

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Permalink Reply by Duke Snyder on August 2, 2009 at 1:39pm

Wolves in sheep clothing? They are out there to be sure.
Not simply indiscreet televangelists; how about uncertified auto mechanics, and, yes, social media marketers selling it as an add-on product while exclaiming it's "must do" importance yet holding only a monthly newsletter or blog as their main showpiece.
No pretense of being a social media marketer is made by me yet I feel a huge understanding of what it brings to us, both personal and business benefits and more than likely increased acceptance and tolerance of all people and greater openness towards seeking personal mediation to balance gaps in relationships.
Businesses obviously will all somehow, someday, see that consumerism is growing stronger and without partaking in social media marketing they definitely stand to be on the outside looking in.
A person does not have to be pounding the pavement and hawking a product to learn a great deal from association and participation within this SI group to gain insight as to how powerful this new tool is to all of us, socially as well as economically.

Thanks to these friendships I now stay abreast with blog mailings from Duncan's company and all of the SI sponsors and am enriched by them all. It isn't necessary to man a cubicle fulltime at any of these places to clearly see the outrageous talent level within social media found right here in Indianapolis.
Rest assured, they each practice what they preach.

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Permalink Reply by Dick Davis on August 2, 2009 at 2:13pm

I am first of all, a marketer. I have usually practiced what I preach, but occasionally, a client's needs may differ and require a different approach than what I preach. Conversely, I may need to do something different from what I preach. Until recently, I have not suggested social media as a means to enhance your overall marketing program, but as I am becoming increasingly more engaged in it I see that there are possibilities I may not have imagined before. In fact, I can see that in today's society, marketers may need to focus most of their efforts on social media versus more traditional approaches. The weak link in social media marketing is that it requires involvement! If a company wants to have a SM presence, it must get people in their organization used to using it regularly. I've found in the past the owners and executives want to do what they've always done and have someone else do their marketing, in this case social media. While a firm can hire SM people to ghost for them, there should still be some personal investment. I am Tweeting like crazy and FBing too, so I guess when it comes to SM, I do practice what I preach.

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Permalink Reply by Duncan Alney on August 2, 2009 at 2:26pm

Nice points everybody. Isn't it sort of like a personal trainers who'd really unhealthy and out of shape? Or tailor with ill fitting clothes? Perhaps ad agencies are an anomaly in this biz - when it comes to advertising. But lets face it if you want to play in the social media space - that old mentality isnt going to work. The I'm too busy working for my clients to engage online line doesn't work. Granted you can keep some secrets to yourself. But the norms of social media are more in line with the open source world than with the keep your successes to yourself mindset. Anyway, everyone know that just because you know about Blendtech or my starbucks idea doesn't mean someone else can rush out and replicate it. Knowing how something has been done and being able to do it are 2 different situations. Great conversation. I'm eagerly waiting for more!

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Permalink Reply by Mike Magan on August 2, 2009 at 3:58pm

I am simply a better consultant if I know what I am consulting about.

Someone pointed out some ideas to engage people better in Twitter as well as improving SEO results for client and I am trying these tips. Assuming it works, I can share those results with others and therefore practicing what I preach. It is really another way of saying do you back up your own words with actions that follow.

I hope that I do.

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Permalink Reply by Mark Juleen on August 2, 2009 at 10:19pm

Some interesting points made. Social media evolves daily. It's not just a new style of advertising (as many people "looking in" confuse it for), it's so much more. I think this is where the challenge comes from. I don't believe it's something you can read about, do your homework on, and then be considered an expert. As Tim said, we're constantly learning on the fly. It's a cultural phenomenon that in order to be proficient you must constantly participate. I don’t think there is any way of getting around this. So to answer your question, absolutely it is important people practice what they preach. With so many jumping on the bandwagon and so many people having no clue about social media the challenge is determining who can really help. It's an ongoing strategy with social media, and it's unlike a single project deliverable that many agencies are used to providing. For many, they will trust their current agencies to deliver social media assistance, and many of those companies will fail at social media not because the tools don't work but because they were never truly assisted with a proper strategy. That being said, I look forward to our strategy meeting this week Duncan!

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Permalink Reply by Rodger D. Johnson on August 5, 2009 at 1:29pm

I will always bring discussions about social media back to its focus on people. Why? Because social media begins and ends with people. There's a lot packed into that statement. In this instance, any agency, consultant, freelancer or clown that preaches social media better be able to show he are she knows online social engagement.

Too often we think of social media as tools that help us communicate better, faster and sometimes with more passion online. But social media is more than a blog, a Facebook account, and a string of tweets telling followers who your with and how drunk you are?

In fact, being able to set up a Facebook Fan Page, or a blog is something a 5-year-old can do. It's not impressive. If using social media (as it should be in any line of work) is about practing what you preach, the bar should be set higher than the usage of tool.

Some questions to think about:

1. What communities have you built? And how healthy are they?
2. How has social media impacted your business or organization? More importantly, how has your use of social media impacted the people you serve?
3. How have you influenced mainstream media with your online social engagement?

To the first point about building communities, in an effort to be transparent, and save my ass. I'll admit I've tried to build two communities online. Each attempt failed. But from those failures, I've learn a lot. To the second point, the web is information en masse. As the next generation of Web 3.0 gets underway, and it already is, your social media efforts will be measured more by how you impact people you serve than your bottom line. This comes from my background and extensive research I've done for the past two years.

So, while it's cool to say, I can make a Fan Page. Or, I built a blog or X company. The real ROI of practicing what one preaches is demonstrating how you've impacted the lives of those you serve. Waving a spreadsheet aroumd chanting the astronomical number of hits your company's website got because of your blog is bullshit.

Finally, I'm tired of seeing social media and marketing as a thing we do. I recently attended a blogging event. I'm not going to dive into great detail of that event because I'm involved with it and it's outcome. But the bloggers said with one clear voice. There is no marketing in social media done right. There's community building and using resources to impact the people you serve.

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Permalink Reply by Duncan Alney on August 5, 2009 at 1:50pm

nicely put! So you're asking a simple question right? Where are the results? Whether its client or your own work? Finally do you think practitioners need to practice what they preach?

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Permalink Reply by Rodger D. Johnson on August 5, 2009 at 5:10pm

Yes, practitioners should practice what they preach. If someone is a Twitter expert, then they should have an outstanding Twitter presense. If they are about building community for other companies, then they should have build a community for themselves. And it should be successful. Same with blogging. Same with blogger relations.

For example, I can confidently go to other organizations and show them that I'm a media relations and blogger relations expert, because I've used these same tools for other clients. And I've taken time to codify results in case studies.

Any practitioner should have this behind them.

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Permalink Reply by Chuck Bergman on September 25, 2009 at 8:42am

Absolutely. Funny story - a local "social media guru" who I friended on Facebook has been complaining about the amount of useless information he receives from "friends." Things like games, puzzles, challenges blue fish, etc.

You have to take the good with the bad when it comes to social media. If you are going to preach it as a marketing tool for someone's business, be prepared to take the "social" side along with the "marketing."

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Permalink Reply by Johnnie Firari on October 3, 2009 at 10:58pm

I do believe you should practice what you preach but with a small disclaimer.

Social Media is a marketing tactic and each company may have different goals for each SM outlet. For example, our business goal for Twitter is not to focus on creating tons of followers. We use Twitter as a information gathering source, though we still try to put out relevant information so people know we are alive. Creating followers is an added benefit, that I am sure will help my business in the future. Another business may have a SM marketing plan that would better benefit them by working to have more followers rather than gathering information.

@yougonetwork :)

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Permalink Reply by Duncan Alney on October 4, 2009 at 12:32am

good points Johnnie. I agree with you that each company's approach is going be based on business needs. Great point.

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