Is it me, or do you also feel like everyone is a social media marketing expert these days? It seems like the ranks of Social Media Experts (I’ll call them SME’s for short) has exploded in the last 9 months as a result of all of the layoffs at large corporations, ad agencies, and media companies.

While this isn’t a new trend, it was, for the most part, a trend that did not seep over into the multicultural marketing industry.

However, that is starting to change. I feel like every conference or event I go to these days is filled with 20-50 [fill-in the market here] social media experts.

So how do separate the wannabes from the real experts?

A couple of questions to ask and look out for in evaluating so called “Social Media Experts:”

1. Do they have actual CLIENT social media program experience vs. simply PERSONAL experience derived from their own Twittering, Facebook wall posts and blog posts?

2. Are they selling social media programs as finite campaigns (e.g. a Facebook fan page to go with a 4 month paid media campaign?). If yes, this is a red flag.

3. Do they have experience in launching social media campaigns for clients that involve more than a Twitter feed, Facebook Group/Fan page, YouTube channel, and/or Ning social network?

4. How well versed are they in implementing tracking, dashboards and analytics tying social media efforts back to concrete business goal, results and providing clear ROI?

5. Do they have experience running social media programs in complicated client environments with significant exposure to liability (e.g. Fortune 1000 companies, CPGs, regulated industries, government agencies, etc.)?

Start with question #1, and if they pass the mustard on all five questions, you know you’re talking to someone with valuable experience and insights

In terms of multicultural social media experts, use the same criteria listed above but in the context of real-life client experience with social media programs targeted to specific multicultural audiences. Multicultural social media programs are a recent phenomena, so be suspicious of anyone who claims 4 years of experience reach Hispanics or African Americans with social media!

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