Here’s One Way to Find a Social Media Marketing Expert.

There are a lot of self-proclaimed experts and gurus out there,claiming to be able to help you navigate the web 2.0 world. Social media's been around for awhile, but the concept of companies using social media as part of their marketing mix is one that's just now really starting to take off. Most companies, especially small to mid-sized ones, don't know how to use it and are looking for experts. But how can you tell if the expert you're talking to truly knows what he or she is talking about. Are they able to practice what they preach? Finding out who really knows their stuff and is capable of creating measurable ROI was the idea behind Blog Off II – a contest that pitted bloggers against each other for 12 days in December. created by Andrew Ballenthin and the Community Marketing Blog.

I had the pleasure of being on the panel of judges who formed an international"Dream Team" of social media and digital marketing practitioners for the contest. We had 28 contestants from the U.S., Canada, England, Italy, India and the Netherlands who wrote over 110 blog posts. This created over 27,700 page views and generated over 1,260 comments. Those are good, hard number, and pretty amazing for a 12 day period. The entrants were judged on these numbers and then we (the judges) looked at qualitative characteristics such as writing quality, how well they engaged in conversation with their audience and other similar issues.  The top 3 winners split $45,000 in prizes, including a new logo and branding package designed by The Yaffe Group.

In order to do well, Blog Off II contestants needed to use all their social marketing skills to drive traffic to their posts. They needed to write good content about things people wanted to know more about. They had to engage them to get them to come to the blog and then engage them further in an on-going conversation once they got there. In the end, the winners were those who had already created a strong enough social network that they could tap into it and drive traffic. They were also those who had the strongest personal brand, so people were interested in what they had to say and trusted them enough to engage with them. In return, each blogger's social network was expanded by the contest and blog readership. And their personal brands were enhanced by being a part of it. That's the kind of results you want for your company's brand. It's also the qualities you want in a social media expert/guru.

Unfortunately, not everyone has been able to be a part of something like this that proves they truly understand how to use social media and leverage their own personal brand for marketing purposes. However, you can look at who excelled in this contest and watch for the upcoming Blog Off III. You can also look at the dream team and the community marketing blog team. Each of us has our own twist to offer and, since we've all built communities of our own, can likely direct you to someone who's the perfect fit for your needs, even if we're not.

The most important thing you can do when looking for someone to guide your company through the new social marketing landscape is to take the same care you would if searching for a new marketing firm, PR company, HR resource, employee trainer or any other professional service. Because, social media has parts of all those functions rolled into one and you need to make sure the person or firm you hire doesn't just talk a good game, they play it well, too.

Mike McClure, Exec Creative Director/Social Media Director