I came across an interesting article this morning which, in the light of that current government marketing programme, "the recession," has seen a distinct shift in the way we see business. We have talked in the past at great length about how we are reacting with each other due to the pressures of today's society, and this article here, http://marketing.about.com/b/2009/07/05/five-guidelines-for-outsourcing-your-social-media-marketing.htm delightfully highlights the shadowy phenomena which has graced our Internet screens in recent times - The Social Media Marketing Expert...
We see them everywhere - little one page websites which literally pop up from out of nowhere and claim they have all the trade secrets worth knowing to kick start your business within hours, so much so that you'll be booking that three week holiday to Barbados in no time. These pc geeks, usually men in their middle forties dressing like students with caps on the wrong way round, conkers on string round their necks and transfer tattoos, make amateurish home videos of themselves and one other mate, sitting on a flea bitten couch telling the viewer how they can install this piece of groovy software (download for a hefty price) and within minutes be raking in the cash. Who are these guys? Well, last week, they were probably working as a clerk for Barclays, but during the layoff's they started up this neat scam - er, marketing ploy making them media experts.
I have yet to come across a system that works, but, (and as the article points out,) the number of amateurs are vastly outweighing the real experts. Yet how on Earth is the small business owner going to pick out the men from the boys? Simple - if it sounds too good to be true then it probably is (how many times have we heard that one before?) So, we look for an element of qualification don't we? I would hope so, or the scammers will sniff you out a mile away...
I too have nothing against free enterprise - after all to a certain degree, it keeps a small amount of people going/generating income etc but to who's expense? It keeps the grey matter ticking over but it fools everyone else who signs up for this nonsense. Anyone can set themselves up as anything these days, and as a good friend said to me only a few days ago, in the ten years she had been a financial advisor, no one had ever asked to see her qualifications yet she takes home a figure most of us can only dream about ...
The real bet here is to do what everyone else is doing - if they are claiming to be experts, then surely you can train yourself? The only fooling around which is going on this life of business is the fools taking in the fooled - there are only tricksters around if there are those around who are "willing" to be tricked. If we keep one step ahead of these guys and do it ourselves then we can only win. After all, it does not take a degree in rocket science to discover how the likes of media monsters Twitter and Facebook can really do for you....
Until the next time...
Michelle Duffy 2009
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