Earlier this morning, my hospitality podcast co-host, Scott Roloff, texted me that he was attending a web conference with “social media experts” and he told me later they had actually been introduced to the conference as “gurus.”  This struck me as funny because, to me at least, Scott is a bit of a social media expert!  I mean he has been engaging in “new media” (podcasting) for over three years now and has thousands of hits on his YouTube channel, he knows his stuff.  He was excited, it seems, about some new data they were introducing.  Essentially they were explaining to him the WHY of what he was already, to some extent, doing intuitively.  I guess that is really my point, Social Media needs to be done, you can’t sit around and wait for an expert or some magic template!

I remember a discussion in a networking group associated with the “tribe” that taught me social media marketing that you should never trust anyone that styles themselves a “guru!”  That’s not to say that there aren’t people with MORE knowledge than us in social media, it simply means that this is “new media” and “constantly changing” and no one really knows it all.  Take me, for example, I “do” social media on a daily basis, commit more time to research, reading and training than most people I know and yet the new Twitter profile page took me completely by surprise!

It is constantly evolving; things I learned a year ago when I started my company no longer applies and the changes keep on coming!  Part of that is that this is a “social” interaction and people want MORE, Facebook, Twitter and the rest are constantly changing merely to keep up with demand, people are the variable that precludes it being a constant.   For example, let’s look at football (another area I am NOT an expert in) to see if my theory, that once the public is allowed to express their opinions things must change, is true.

Marcus, the official mascot of the Fritos Banditos Report.

I recently spoke with David Fernandez one of the hosts of the Fritos Banditos fantasy football podcast and asked him about the differences between football (a closed activity) and fantasy football (an open social activity).  According to David football has set rules that rarely change except as they pertain to player safety or how officials call the game.  Fantasy football, however, has an ever evolving rulebook that is set, primarily, by public opinion and changes as opinion changes (sounds a little like Social Media).   He has been playing since about 1996 (although he has heard of pre internet groups playing as early as the 70’s) and his group regularly changed their rulebook during the first 5 years and again around 2000 as the activity started having “generally” accepted guidelines.

He does acknowledge that there are some “experts” with credibility among fantasy footballers, personalities that have gained a following, yet individual leagues still will find the off rule or nonstandard rule to spice up the fun!  He states that it’s “like art, you may have studied for years but you can’t tell me what I might find beautiful, it’s the public setting the trends.”

Likewise, there are plenty of people that “get” social media marketing and can help you shape your efforts but if you are waiting for an “expert” to guide you, STOP.  There isn’t one, at least not for long, so jump on in there and get your feet wet, get started now!  Find someone, or a club or a group who “makes sense” to you and learn what you can but in the end your social media experience is going to be unique to you.  There is no official play book, there is no magic formula or template, it’s just being social and chances are you’re already an expert in that!

When I was four or so my Aunt Dee, who isn’t actually my Aunt, though she always has been in my heart, had the privilege of babysitting me.  This occurred not too long after we first met, before she REALLY knew me well and the resulting story has become a piece of family lore.  Suffice it to say when my mother picked me up some hours after dropping me off my Aunt asked her…”Does he ALWAYS ask so many questions?”  I guess what I’m saying, in MY typical fashion, is that I like to talk and I always have!

I always assumed that it was THIS fact that brought me to Social Media; after all I started in “new media” as a podcaster, so of course it was the talking that attracted me.  Indeed if I had REMAINED a podcaster, podcasters being (peers please hold your jeers) the consummate Social Media amateur, this might have adequately explained it.  However, I continued on past the ranks of the skilled but unpaid and dared to try my hand as a “professional” social media manager.  Surely, this could not be explained MERELY by my love of talking, there had to be another component or else why would I limit myself to a mere 140 characters per tweet?

The answer eluded me ( many answers do) so I went on my merry little way LEARNING the trade of a Social Media Manager.  I studied, I experimented, I made stubborn mistakes and learned to eat humble pie.  I even went so far as to begin to wonder… am I too old for this(I am not the only one of my peers I have heard hint at this)?  Could it be that I finally found a situation I could not talk my way around, through or over…?  Luckily, I kept my fears to myself and kept right on talking (as I am wont to do) and talked myself right into a client!

That was a couple of years and more than a few clients back and yet the OTHER half of what it takes to be a Social Media Manager only JUST occurred to me (I said I was a Talker, not a deep thinker)!  This part of the equation even helped quell my fear of “am I too old for this”.  Recently  my wife was grieving over the very cutthroat and complicated process of job hunting in modern times and I thought out loud, “Why jump through all the hoops and requirements when you could go out and convince people to pay you for work they’ve been neglecting or could do themselves.  Why not just go tell someone they need you,  that’s what I do”  I chalked it up too the generation X need to do it for myself, to captain my own ship and to manifest my own destiny.

That’s when it hit me, if you’re over 40, you’ve probably been “engaging people socially” to hire you/work with you/or buy from you since you were a kid.  Think about it, when we were 12 if we wanted to play the latest video games we needed a bag of quarters.   Money, that’s where the social skills came in, back then we could try and convince our parents, and our local paper, to give us a paper route OR… we could hustle!  We could get out there and convince our neighbors that they could relax while WE weeded their gardens, mowed their lawns or washed their cars, all for a modest fee.

Essentially, we sold our services and talents socially, kind of like what those of us engaged in social media attempt to do now! So, my rather long winded and simple point (I did start by saying that I like to talk) is that Social Media should be EASY for us older professionals.  We already mastered the thing the younger generation (the ones that stayed INSIDE playing Nintendo alone) finds most difficult, being engaging and genuine and committed to offering a value heavy service (whatever that may be for your company)! So stop procrastinating, go out there and do what we’ve always done…talk!