3 Signs Your Social Media “Guru” Isn’t a Guru After All

You do a little searching and finally ask your friend’s friend (the amazing social media guru) to help you with your online presence. Weeks later, you’re not seeing any results, but you assume it’s because you don’t really know what you’re doing with it all – so you aren’t sure how to measure success. Even more time passes and you are frustrated, running out of money and downright annoyed. Unfortunately, this is happening all too frequently as businesses are trying to outsource work they don’t understand. In general, I always suggest trying your hand at something before hiring someone to manage it for you – just to ensure that you know what to ask for when hiring, managing work and measuring outcomes. But – if you’re already in a relationship with a social media consultant and wondering if they’re doing the right thing for your business, here are 3 signs you may want to get ax your guru.

They say that social media isn’t measurable.
This is one of the biggest ways that small businesses get swindled by consultants. The truth is that enacting a social media strategy does take some time. However, there should be a set plan and measuring sticks all along the way. You can measure success if you have set goals you are working towards.

They talk more about the # of followers you have than strategy.
When you meet for an update, you don’t want the focus to be on the # of new people following you or becoming your fan. Ask your consultant to talk about engagement. Who have they recently formed a relationship with? What strategy are they following? In other words, your consultant should help you lay out a strategic plan that outlines goals and a working plan to achieve them. Many brands can have a huge reach with a very small following. It’s all about engagement.

You are not seeing any increase in business leads.
Let me first start by saying that it takes time to build relationships online and begin to see the fruits of your labor roll in. However, that should start to happen as your online brand expands. First, you’ll hear more people talking about content that you are putting out. Old colleagues will mention how they really liked an article you shared on Twitter or a recent blog. Then, you’ll start to hear from new customers. They will want to inquire about your services and will mention something they’ve seen online that prompted them to call. This is a great sign. If you aren’t getting these results, something isn’t right.

What other signs have you seen that a social media guru is not all he/she is cracked up to be?