Influencer vs Social Media Strategist

We’re there again! At that same place we were a number of years ago in the Web Development Industry in Jamaica. Where companies in the market are waking up to the possibilities of the Internet, the reigning technology tools and tactics and are seeking service providers to guide, to strategise and help them grow their business within that context.

We’re in the Social Media phase of the Web and in Jamaica and the Caribbean we’re poised for a major spike in people going online for pleasure and for business. Natural then to have more social media job openings advertised, more digital marketing RFPs, an increase in the number of meeting invitations from traditional ad and PR agencies, as well as brand and marketing managers.

In that context, the professional, experienced service providers compete with each other and with others. Those others, who believe having a couple hundred twitter followers, a number of Facebook friends, or because they write a blog makes them an expert vs a potential brand influencer, in the social media space and it seems a few companies believe that too. Those companies, seem to believe also that they’ve lucked out by connecting with or hiring these individuals especially if they are cheap, under age 30 as they believe social media and specifically Twitter and Facebook are “young people things” even though there is plenty of public stats that prove the opposite. Isn’t that’s like giving the friend of your son or niece your company to run because he knows how to send a tweet or put up a Facebook page? Just saying.

Never confuse a potential brand influencer (once their demographic and psychographic profile and that of their followers are friends match the profile of your target market that is) with a social media strategist.

Very different from a strategist who does 360 degree research to understand the psychology of your user and community and being able to engage with them on that level. Someone who has the ability to develop a strategic blueprint, be smart in selecting the most effective and relevant tools and platforms, implement, manage, monitor, measure and report on the process and then some.

Every brand has their own requirement, there is no cookie cutter solution for social media, for digital marketing. It’s a delicious hybrid of art and science. So, yes, we’re in a fantastic time – great opportunities abound. A time too, though, when smart choices even within the context of experimentation, will determine success or a call to the social media strategist to clean up the mess.