SmartPulse — our weekly reader poll in SmartBrief on Social Media — tracks feedback from leading marketers about social-media practices and issues.
Last week’s poll question: The conventional wisdom is that anyone can be a “social-media guru.” But does that work in practice? Is social-media marketing something anyone can do well?
- No, it takes a certain kind of personality to excel at social media — 49.08%
- Not everyone can plan a social-media strategy, but anyone can execute one — 24.31%
- Yes, but it takes a certain amount of education and formal training to be great at social media — 16.06%
- Yes, people can figure out social media all by themselves — 10.55%
I don’t always have a ton of patience with some of the kumbaya tenets that get batted around in social-media circles. One of my least favorite tropes is the idea that social media is an absolute leveler — that just about anyone can become a legend in the Wild West frontier of social networking. I think that’s kind of like saying anyone can grow up to be a congressman or a famous actor. Technically, that’s true. The reality, however, tends to be a lot more complicated.
It looks like a lot of SmartBrief on Social Media readers agree with me: 49% of the 291 SmartBrief on Social Media readers who took this poll think you need a certain disposition to succeed in social-media marketing. About a quarter of respondents think it depends on your role in the process, 16% say social-media success stories start with training, and about 10% say the door is wide open.
I think the truth here lies somewhere in between those four answers. Social media is a leveler — in the same way many Web technologies allow people to push out their own content at little or no cost. But it doesn’t eliminate the need for talent and training. If you’re a terrible marketer, Twitter won’t magically make you better. If you’re an inexperienced public relations worker, Facebook isn’t going to turn you into a veteran overnight.
But it’s equally important to recognize that the same skills that make a person great at attracting followers on Twitter don’t necessarily equip them to design, monitor and monetize a social-media strategy. Organizations that use social media effectively are able to assess the skills at their disposal and act accordingly.
What characteristics define a person who excels at social media?
Twitter
Facebook
Linkedin
RSS
Seeing as social media is at its core a conversation, I think the people who excel at social media practices are the ones who enjoy talking to a wide variety of people. And can distill their thoughts into small chunks that are easily understood.
Greetings Jesse…great posts. Your statement "Why Social Media isn't really for everyone" brought the movie "Ratatouille" to mind and made me want to share my personal opinion on this topic. If you watched the movie you might remember Anton Ego, the grim food critic, feeling disdain for chef Gusteau's motto "Anyone can cook". Ego could not, even remotely, accept the idea that just "anyone" could become an artist in the kitchen. Further in the movie, he is made to reassess his most ingrained belief, when confronted with "he" who prepared the best meal he had in his entire life…to sum up what Ego realizes is basically this: (you kind of said it too..) Can anyone become a social media guru? Absolutely! Will everyone succeed? Most unlikely….Should you be discouraged to try to become someone in this emerging industry just because you're a star up, didn`t go to an ivy league university, and aren`t in your early twenties? Absolutely Not!!!
Thanks Mauricio. I loved Ratatouille — and I see where your coming from. But i never said you needed a degree from any institution or needed to be young to be awesome at social marketing. I think there are qualifications, yes. But they're not what you think they are.
My grandfather didn't finish high school. He wasn't what you'd call technology junkie. But if he were still alive, I think he'd dominate Twitter and any other social tool you care to name. Because he had an innate understanding of people. He was a really great salesman, but that's only part of it. He liked and he understood people. That's what you need to be great at social-media marketing. Just like you have to really love and understand your ingredients to be a great chef.
Training and experience can certainly make you better, but your enthusiasm, your magnetism, your ability to forge connections — that's always going to play a heavy hand in your social media success.
Thanks for reading!
Jesse, thanks for taking the time to read my comment and writing back. That says a lot about you.
I totally agree with you, I just wanted to say that those other things, like age and formal education couldn't keep anyone from succeeding, I guess. Best regards!
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I think the bottom line requirement needed to be effective in social media is the same sales skills needed in the face-to-face world, including the ability to connect with people, like people, and communicate in the language of our audience. Isn’t social media just an extension of other forms of media?
[...] the summer, I asked SmartBrief on Social Media readers if social media was something anyone could become great at [...]