I’m going to get on my soapbox for a minute here.
It drives me absolutely batty when I see students with no actual real world experience calling themselves a “Social Media Expert” on LinkedIn. Stop it. You are actually devaluing my industry. The industry that I worked so hard to break into. The industry that is “cut throat” as it is since so many people want to “break into digital and social media”.
For the record, I absolutely love the highly ambitious students who find themselves internships and productive things to do in their spare time. Those guys are fabulous and in fact, as a 9 – 5 Social Media Manager – I can always use great interns who are willing to get their hands dirty with social media marketing – but I’ll only take the ones who don’t call themselves “social media experts”.
You know why?
You can’t really be an “expert” in social media. As far as I’m concerned, it’s not even possible. The term “expert” to me (and I believe to others) is another word for “having X topic positively nailed”. Other people call me a “social media expert”. I will not. Is it my area of specialisation? Abso-freaking-lutely. Do I love it? Yes. Do I think know I’m good at it? You betcha. But claiming to be an “expert” is not something I will do. Here’s why.
Unlike other jobs, working in social media will teach you to never rest on your laurels. The environment we work in is a volatile one and everything that worked for you 6 months ago – heck even one week ago could be a risky strategy today.
Yesterday was different from today. Today will be different from tomorrow. With the environment changing so quickly and more and more content being created and consumed all the time, you are only as good as your ability to adapt.
Of course, with experience under your belt, this becomes easier. My experience has helped me to know what to look for and now I know I can adapt quickly therefore making me an experienced social media marketer (see what I did there? Experienced, not expert).
I urge beg you to remove any mention of being a “social media expert” on your LinkedIn profile. If not due to the fact that we use the word to mean “the most knowledgeable” but for this reason alone
Here’s what I think you should say instead:
- I’m a marketer.
- I have high emotional intelligence.
- I have strong communication skills. I don’t confuse people and I can succinctly get to the point I am making.
- I have fantastic customer service skills.
All of these statements (if true) are fantastic to put on your LinkedIn profile. Show me someone with those skills and I will believe they can rock social media marketing. Telling me you’re an “expert” means nothing because if you think you’ve mastered it, you haven’t. If you think your past experience will guarantee that you will be a successful social media marketer tomorrow, then you’re sorely mistaken.
Please, stop calling yourself a “social media expert”. You’re not one.
Is there something that really irks you in your industry? Let’s discuss in the comments below!
About the author:
Kate Cook is a Digital Marketer who specialises in Social Media Marketing with 5 years’ experience under her belt. She blogs about her digital marketing learnings in addition to business tips and lifestyle posts over on her blog Small Paper Things.
**Note from Chrissy*
Kate and I connected via instragram and interacted via there. I loved her blog and asked her to add me to her e flyer and newsletter. Each month, she selects someone to send out as a surprise a cute note book and a card. That person was me much to me surprise and we struck up a great friendship I hope for a long time to come. She is a kindred and kind spirit and amazing business woman who we’re happy to have connected with and also looking forward to referring and working with her in the future.
It’s a reminder that there are beautiful people out there and that the digital world is a great place to meet talented, passionate and amazing people like we’ve met Kate. That we should be working together and supporting each other in the same but different industries. Thanks Kate, you are amazing and we can’t wait to tee up a catch up and cocktails down the track and are so glad we crossed paths xx