Social Media Certification for Consultants is important, but …

Like everything else associated with social media, the issue of consultant certification is complex. So far, 67 people have voted (including the poll on LinkedIn) and the results are definitely trending towards a qualified dismissal of social media certification as a key criteria in awarding consulting projects. The general consensus seems to be that certification is OK, but that experience, references, and professional background are more important for consultants hired to help a client to achieve their business objectives. No surprise there.

However, several important issues about social media certification emerged in the discussion and I have attempted to summarize them below. (There were 24 excellent posts in the various spaces where this question was asked).

• “Social Media” is complex and changing. It would be impossible for any certification to be up-to-date on the latest hot site or technology.
  
• The characterization of a certification is not always clear.? Does it mean you have mastered Twitter and Blogger? Or that you can name the top analytic tools? Or that you can set up a good Facebook page for a client?
  
• Some certifications are more rigorous (and valuable) than others. Certification is more meaningful if students are tested on their skills and go on to apply the lessons learned in real-life business situations.
  
• The real value of a social media consultant is their ability to apply their understanding of how social media works to the bigger question of how to use social media to meet the strategic communication and marketing goals of clients.
  
• Certification is mostly for professionals that will be leaders of the “social media” discipline, not consultants using a tool casually or tactically. In other words, training is essentially worthless without application and no one needs to be certified to set up a Twitter account.

While few professionals describe social media as an art form, most would agree that there is a fluidity and lack of predictably that relegates social media education to a tactical realm. (Like learning how to use HTML to create a web site but not how to use the web site to attract customers.) It’s another way of saying that the industry is still a long way from having the social media methodologies, measurements, and established best practices that make certification meaningful for a large and disparate group of practitioners.

So get your certifications if you must. Use them in your marketing if you can. It won’t hurt. Just don’t expect that your next major project will happen if you are certified, but not experienced.

http://xeesm.com/mikedubrall

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Social Media Certification for Consultants is important, but …

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Social Media Tools – The Channel Top Ten

Social Media is confusing. What is it anyway? There are dozens of different definitions (check the blogosphere) and even more perspectives on how it can be used to improve channel performance. Unfortunately, there are still partner managers that are struggling to accept social media as a transformational technology. They cannot yet see the future, even as it begins to overwhelm them.

So in response to all the questions about what it is and how social media might be used to help channel partners be successful, here is a list of the top ten social media applications. The sites are used primarily for marketing, although sales results are definitely being impacted, especially by business networking sites like LinkedIn. (The use of social media to solve technical problems is already well documented.)

This ranking is mostly based on our on-going Channels of the Future research, with some fine-tuning from client projects. Every site mentioned has a least one worthy competitor vying for attention. This is the briefest of summaries, which only hints at the impact of these gathering places.

1. On-Line Communities: There are already thousands of partner-centric on-line communities in Google Groups and Yahoo, plus hundreds of branded and closed communities managed by the largest vendors (IBM, Oracle, Microsoft, Cisco, etc, etc. etc.) The amount of information exchanged is staggering – and the number of deals influenced is beyond counting.

2. LinkedIn: There are hundreds of thousands of reseller salespeople visible on LinkedIn, plus reseller groups, events, jobs and more. Salespeople who are not already using business networking for prospecting and customer communications are probably already on performance plans.

3. Blogs: Resellers rely on vendor and industry blogs for information. They have replaced newsletters and magazines as the primary reference point for new technologies and product releases. (Which means marketing managers also have to understand sites like Digg and Delicious.)

4. Facebook: Business has invaded this once personal/private site and vendors, resellers, and customers are scrambling to change their photos and update their profiles to make them more professional.

5. MySpace: There are more reseller groups and channel job postings than Facebook, maybe because MySpace is older and more basic in its approach.

6. YouTube: Resellers can view instructional videos on everything from changing printer cartridges to keeping products under warranty. Among others, Cisco uses it as a training platform, creating playlists that group videos by product or specialty.

7. Yahoo Video: Channel partners can check out the latest vendor pronouncements (IBM is very visible, among many others) on products, programs, and customers.

8. Twitter: There is already a whole micro blog ecosystem to communicate with resellers about special pricing, new products and programs, big deals, and company gossip – all in 140 characters or less.

9. Flickr: Perfect for posting pictures of products and schematics that help resellers maintain hardware products. Vendor-provided photos can also be used in marketing materials, websites and communities.

10. Tactical Sites (SlideShare, Issuu, Podcast, etc.): There are hundreds of free sites where channel managers (sometimes without “official” sanction) can post presentations, white papers, documentation, and podcasts so they can be easily linked to on-line communities or emails.

Vendors that do not understand and take advantage of these social media gathering places are already well behind their channel competitors. If you work in a partner organization that is not active on most of these social media sites, perhaps you should be updating your resume. (If you do not personally use most of these tools, then probably you should be thinking of retirement.)

Michael Dubrall is the Managing Director of Gilwell Group, a research and consulting company that researches “Channels of the Future.” He is a regular contributor to Channel Champion and other industry blogs on the subject of next generation partnerships. Join the Channels of the Future group on LinkedIn.

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Social Media Tools – The Channel Top Ten

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10 Absolutes of Social Media Strategy

Sometimes it good to step back and look at the bigger picture. Social Media can seem so tactical that its easy to forget how powerful a well-executed strategy can be.

Ground youself with these guidelines, take a deep breath, and then get back to your posting.

10 Absolutes of Social Media Strategy

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