Your mom is an expert.

A fellow social media enthusiast Bill Deys, whom I was lucky enough to meet at the PodCamp Michigan ’08 afterglow, touched on an issue that has eaten away at me for a long time, and that is the (over)use of the term “expert” in the social media realm. He made a point that I’ve been preaching since I can remember — nobody can call themselves an “expert” in social media. SM is so new, and things are changing so quickly here on the web, that it’s literally impossible for any one person to be an expert. Yet, it seems like everywhere I click, somebody new is proclaiming themselves to be an expert on it.

Stop it.

There is only one person I can think of that truly does deserve the title of “social media expert” under his name on a business card and that is Chris Brogan, and even he prefers to just say he “advises people.” He acknowledges the overabundance of self-proclaimed “social media experts” and started a list of things he wants every “expert” to be able to know, which is a good way of educating, humbing, and challenging himself and other students of social media, the majority of whom are his readers.

Did you see that word I used right there? Students. That’s exactly what we are. On the internet, ideas seem to exchange 100+ times faster than they did when we relied on paper as our main read medium, which means that we can hardly keep up with the changing ideas, techniques, strategies, etc. before what we just learned has already become outdated.

But that’s okay, because we are still learning.

Brian Solis, credited as being one of “the original thought leaders who paved the way for Social Media,” says social media

… is about facilitating interactions between people online. Just because we have the tools to engage, doesn’t make it any easier to do this the right way.

Social media is about sociology and the understanding that with the new social tools available to us, we can more effectively observe the cultures of online communities and listen to and respond directly to people within the communities.

Sociology – The study of human social behavior, especially the study of the origins, organization, institutions, and development of human society.

(Source: “Will the real social media expert please stand up?“)

See the language he used there? Tools. Understanding. Observing. Cultures. Communities. Development. That is the vernacular of education. Doctors and lawyers call what they do “practice” for a reason — knowing that their field is always changing and there is always something new to learn.

One may argue that I’m just a pedant for semantics, but I truly believe in the power of language and when the masses misuse or abuse certain expressions, meaning gets lost among the societal understanding.

Remember in the ’90s when “alternative” music became, well … mainstream? People failed to understand the irony.  The word “alternative,” in the sense the music was intended, meant “employing or following nontraditional or unconventional ideas, methods, etc.; existing outside the establishment: an alternative newspaper; alternative lifestyles.” No so much if it’s all over the FM radio airwaves and MTV, VH1, etc. The alternative to “alternative music” was anything but “alternative” … like polka or flamenco. Those are alternative!

Along the same lines, if everybody and their brother declares themselves and “expert” in social media, does that not cheapen the very meaning? If everybody has the same level of expertise (theoretically), then “expert” becomes less “expert” and more “average.” Then once again we struggle to find meaning in terms which there should really be no confusion in the first place.

Bill has the right idea. He says

What you have to do is find someone you feel you can trust and listen to them, it’s not a bad idea to seek second, third, etc. opinions but don’t be surprised if you get different answers. Ask questions from anyone your talking to. Ask if the first guys plan would work, if second guy shoots it down completely maybe guy two sucks.

Hmm … that sounds a lot like what people do with doctors and attorneys. There may be something to this idea.

What are your thoughts? Can we all be experts and not average, or are we just cheapening our language and making the very field of PR/SM more blurry than it’s already become?

In the meantime, I’ll be not proclaiming myself an expert on anything, only a student.

It’s worth bragging about.

I am very involved with my local chamber of commerce as an Ambassador and intertwined with it through Fenton Area Toastmasters, which is spearheaded by the Chamber. I’ve also been involved on a smaller scale with the Grand Blanc Chamber and the Genesee Regional Chamber. (As my father’s daughter, I would have to be.)

I cannot stress the importance of chambers of commerce not just to small businesses, but to the vitality of communities as a whole. The Fenton Chamber is a tight-knit community and many of the members are like family to me. I always knew we were awesome, but this just seals the deal. I’m so proud of us. I love my town.

RECOGNIZED AS OUTSTANDING CHAMBER IN MICHIGAN

LANSING, MI– The Michigan Chamber of Commerce Executives (MCCE) association recognized the Fenton Regional Chamber of Commerce with the 2008 MCCE Outstanding Chamber of Commerce Award—Small Chamber Category at the MCCE Leadership Conference & Annual Meeting held at Crystal Mountain Resort on October 23, 2008.

The Outstanding Chamber of Commerce award is given to one chamber of commerce in each of three membership categories (small, mid-size and large chambers of commerce) and based on a comprehensive application judged by chamber of commerce professionals from six Midwest states including Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin. Applicants must demonstrate quality, innovation, and effectiveness of programming in the areas of leadership and governance, finance, business advocacy and programming/membership development. The highest scoring applications receive the annual award.

The Fenton Regional Chamber of Commerce was recognized for its achievements including its work in meeting the needs of underserved business communities, its success in merging with the Linden-Argentine Chamber of Commerce, a successful membership development strategy that resulted in 23% growth, and its expansion of membership benefits and services to keep business members informed and active in the chamber.

MCCE also presented 2008 Outstanding Chamber of Commerce awards to the Saginaw County Chamber of Commerce in the Mid-Size Chamber category and the Rochester Regional Chamber of Commerce in the Large Category.

The Michigan Chamber of Commerce Executives is a statewide organization of executives involved in the management of chambers of commerce. Its mission is to promote excellence among chambers of commerce through innovative and industry best practices programming. It represents more than 100 local chambers of commerce in Michigan.

It just so happens that we will be hosting next year’s Michigan Chamber Ambassadors Conference. We were required to make a preview presentation of some sort at this year’s conference, held this past September, and I was elected to be the one to do it. Whereas other chambers did a boring PowerPoint, I decided to go a step beyond that. The video is in the extended entry. My boyfriend, a radio DJ, did the voiceover.

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Public Service Announcement: Don’t be a Stuart.

Amber over at Altitude Branding has a great post on Twitter etiquette in the same vein as Shannon Paul’s “Don’t Be That Guy” that I mentioned in my previous post, and I can’t express my sentiments enough when people send me DMs that say, “Thanks for following, now click on my junk.”

I had to comment for the second time tonight just to share my recent revelation with everybody:

I was watching MAD TV the other day and it dawned on me that these “click my junk” tweeple are the online equivalent of that giant man-child character Stuart. You know, the one who’s always like, “Look what I can do!!” and does a stupid little dance just for attention. I am sooooo calling these people “Stuarts” from now on.

Don’t be Stuart, people. It will only make you look like a giant man-child.

Now go click on Amber’s junk. (This time’s OK, it’s for the greater good.)

What my small town dentist can teach us about social media.

Last week I found a surprise in my mailbox. My real mailbox, not email inbox. I know it’s not often in snail mail that we get something that isn’t a bill or waste-of-trees direct mail piece, and I wasn’t expecting a package from anybody, so this flat envelope addressed in Sharpie (complete with a smiley face) piqued my interest, to say the least.

Oddly enough, it was from my dentist, Dr. Patricia McGarry, affectionately known in the area as “Dr. Patty.”

Dr. Patty had seen an article in the local paper about my recent success competing in Toastmasters “Table Topics” contests, and decided to not only cut it out, but laminate it and send it to me. Included was a small “Congratulations” postcard from her office, and a handwritten note on the back.

She wrote:

Dear Stacy -
Congratulations — Toastmasters is a very prestigious organization. It is really exciting — be sure to keep us up on what’s happening!
Dr. Patty

That, boys and girls, is the very ethos of social media. Many a social media evangelist will tell you that it’s all about relationships.

But if you’re like me, you immerse yourself in so much meta social media that you find yourself caught up in the social media echo chamber, wondering if we’re all just a bunch of PR-type folks talking amongst ourselves, trying to learn from one another, sharing best practices, yada yada yada. This cacophony of blogs and tweets and Diggs (oh, my!) has the ability to become extremely overwhelming, and sometimes it’s hard to weed out the core principles for yourself, let alone new people new on the scene.

The Very Official Shannon Paul, cognizant of the echo chamber and its importance among like-minded online communities, also recognizes the need to open it up and make access easier for new people.  By doing so, she offers these basic steps for those who “don’t know where to start” with social media engagement, demonstrating that the #1 thing in social media is not being “that guy,” but instead putting more emphasis on listening.

But getting that piece of mail from Dr. Patty last week suddenly made the echo chamber come to a screeching halt. (Cue the needle-on-vinyl sound here if you must.) I thought about Dr. Patty and I realized that one doesn’t necessarily have to go spelunking the caverns of social media voices to get a good grasp on the idealogy.  Sometimes, all it takes is a step back from the internets to realize that answers and examples are right in front of us. One need not look any further than their local dentist for best practices in social media marketing. Or, my local dentist, anyway.

Dr. Patty gets it. She doesn’t even have a Facebook account, but she puts in practice in the real world what many of us are discussing every day here on the net.

Be seen where the people are, and for the common cause.

Back in June, I was participating in Relay For Life, and Dr. Patty was there walking around the track like everybody else, there to raise awareness and money for cancer research. She had a booth set up that was less “that guy” advertising herself and more providing informational literature on the importance of getting regular checkups, noting that dentists can detect cancer early. Everybody knows who Dr. Patty is, not just by her big U of M tent, but because she’s all of about 4’11″ and in case you have any doubts, she wears a visor that says “Dr. Patty” embroidered on it. She’s definitely seen, and people definitely know her.

I had a long conversation with her and her husband at Relay For Life, just catching up on things while on the track. Later that week I received a “thinking of you” postcard in the mail from her, signed by her entire staff that was similar to this latest one, that said,

Stacy -

Thanks for the Relay walking & stopping by the tent–my husband really liked meeting you!

Dr. Patty

Listening, engaging, and giving props.

This segues into listening, as mentioned above, and along with listening comes engaging in the conversation and giving others recognition. These three things are separate but entwined, you can do one without the other two but you’re better off with a mix of all three.

Not only did Dr. Patty engage in a conversation with me at Relay For Life, she recognized me and indicated that she was listening by following up with that postcard. More importantly, she was paying attention to the local papers (the offline, “old school” equivalent of keeping up with the RSS feeds), by sending me the laminated clipping and the “Congratulations!” note, recognizing me and giving me props.

Give away free stuff.

This isn’t brain surgery, but it amazes me how many people don’t understand this concept. If you have a product to sell, whether it’s a book or those roasted nuts at the mall, your best bet for earning business is to give people free samples. This strategy has been in place by drug dealers since the first time somebody accidentally lit a certain plant on fire, but if you’d like a more credible source, David Meerman Scott is more than happy to tell you about it in his free eBook. It’s even been implemented by the U.S. Government — even though the entire 9/11 Commission Report was available free online, a gazillion people bought the hard copy, anyway.

As a dentist, Dr. Patty obviously gives out free toothbrushes and floss to people. That’s kind of expected, and she’s not expecting to sign people up for appointments every time she gives someone a toothbrush at a community event. But she knows it will lead to future business. At our annual Fenton Business Expo this past March, she held a raffle for three professional teeth whitening kits, approximately a $500 value each.

Out of about 6,000 attendees at the expo who could have entered the drawing, my name was one of the three drawn out of the hat. Winning a $500 professional whitening kit is a pretty big deal (especially when you drink as much coffee as I do), so I told everybody I knew and gave Dr. Patty some mad props all over the county. So of course when my boyfriend, who is afraid of dentists, needed a tooth pulled a few months ago, I dragged him by the ear took him to Dr. Patty’s office.

All of these things that my small town dentist does can and do apply to social media best practices. Listening. Being where the people are. Being for the common cause. Paying attention to the news. Engaging in conversation. Giving others recognition. Giving away free stuff. True, the further you dive down the rabbit hole of the echo chamber you’ll figure it out more, but sometimes you need to look off the court to get in the game. Dr. Patty has established herself in my local community by implementing these ideas and formed strong relationships not just with me but with everybody she meets. In fact, because she’s just that good, she recently had to bring in another dentist to keep up with all her new patients.

I wonder if she knows I’m way overdue for a cleaning.

Geeks have more fun!

I have had one hell of an exhausting weekend. Friday night I finally made it to my first ever BIG tweetup, sponsored by Biznet, where I got to meet a large chunk of the people I regularly tweet to and follow over on Twitter. It so great to finally put faces and real people to the icons and @twitternames I see all the time online. To see a glimpse of how much fun you missed, the folllowing video is courtesy of the fabulous Ms. Shauna Nicholson, marketing manager over at Biznet (and quite possibly the most adorable person person in the Twitterverse).

Biznet Tweetup from Shauna Nicholson on Vimeo.

A list of attendees and another video from the tweetup can be found over at Shauna’s blog. It was an absolute BLAST and I can’t wait for the next one. Photos of the Biznet Tweetup are on Flickr thanks to Brian Ambrozy of Icrontic (@primesuspect).

Although, the next one was sort-of the next day at PodCamp Michigan, where I saw many of the same people and then some, but because of a random power outage in my area combined with my own exhaustion and lack of following directions correctly, I was only able to catch the tail end of it. Luckily, it’s PODcamp, meaning that it will all be online in the near future so I can watch everything I missed.

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