Ian M Rountree

Copywriter, Project Manager, Digital Marketing

  • Copywriting
    • Content Marketing
    • SEO
  • About
  • Contact

3 Reasons Being a “New Media Expert” is Silly

August 27, 2010 by Ian 3 Comments

soldiers becoming experts - FlickrOf all the buzzwords out there these days, the idea of New Media is perhaps one of the most ill-defined, nebulous concepts in the mix. At the same time, it’s one of the easiest words to use. For this reason among others (especially with the backlash against Social Media as a term recently), the profile of the New Media Expert remains fairly high.

But don’t call yourself one. Why? Because:

1) There is Too Much New Media!

How many more varieties of communication do we need to fit under one hat? Blogs, online video, podcasting, media production, even “old school” online activity like email marketing, forums and chats. The length of the list plays a big part in determining the amount of raw information an expert has to internalize before taking action on behalf of a client. When you bill yourself as a subject matter expert, part of your job – your basic value – relies on your ability to keep up with changes in trends, capabilities, and capacities regarding your subject area.

Without specificity in your designated area of expertise, your liability is massive – just try explaining to a client why you don’t know about something THEY perceive of as New Media, when you’ve already told them you know All Things New Media. Awkward!

Also;

2) There is No Measurable Qualification for Expertise in New Media!

You can get a degree in journalism. You can’t get a degree in blogging. You can get a degree in graphic design or web design, but not in new media. There are even degrees relating to information architecture, public relations and marketing – but not a usable certification for social marketing.

The lack of standardization is what provides the agility the new media sphere needs to continue being what it is. What this does is take away any reasonable explanation (without tremendous spin) for calling yourself a Guru or Expert or Overlord – without someone else calling you that first.

Pro tip: Even when someone else calls you a guru or expert, never use it in your job title.

3) There Are Too Many New Media Experts!

If you’re already billing yourself as a New Media Expert, consider getting more specialized! While some of us are lucky enough to be real polymaths, not everyone is – and even if you are, using your diverse skills as a backing for a specialty can become a kind of superpower over others with the same specialty!

Alright – so what do we do instead, then?

The most longed for job titles lately involve being experts, knowledge workers, or consultants. But what do you want to consult on?Defining your specialty can be just as helpful for your professional development as building a strong business plan can be for your adventures as an entrepreneur. Being specialized isn’t a drawback – it’s a strategy.

But what do we do about the “expert” part?

Before being called an expert, you need three things: knowledge, experience, and trust. If you think you’re going to become an in-demand consultant right out of high school, college, university, or wherever else you’re doing your training – good luck.

Knowledge you can get from schooling, or in the grit experience. Knowledge always comes before experience, though – even with on-the-task experience, what you do before your understanding of a job counts as education only.

The biggest difference between a 20-something natural and a 30- or 40-something expert is a long history of execution and decision making. Making decisions – and handling the mix of success and opportunity for improvement that comes from those decisions – is the bulk of what we call experience.

Trust – I can’t help you with. Trust is built on the transmission of success. What I can tell you is that without the ability to execute in reliable ways (experience) strategies and tactics that are meaningful (knowledge), trust has a very limited utility. My friends trust me. But that doesn’t mean they’d do business with me.

We can do this better. What does your designation look like now – and what would you rather it be, knowing why we need to shy away from nebulous over-expression?

Image credit – The US Army.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: blogging, experts, gurus, new media, new media faux pas, online marketing, seo

We're Not Those Guys!

August 12, 2009 by Ian Leave a Comment

I came across an interesting thing today in my ambling over the internet. It’s a service called Plurk, and it claims to be the unTwitter.

Now, most of you probably know what Twitter is. Lots of you likely have Twitter accounts. I do, you can feel free to follow it, it’s @WhyRTM – simple, right? I love Twitter. But I don’t love Plurk, and I didn’t even sign up.

If you visit Plurk’s front page, the first thing you see is the bold question; “Tired of your existing social networks?”

Am I the only one this irks?

This tells me that the basis of all of Plurk’s identity is saying “But We’re Not Them” which is so faulty it hurts. Microsoft did the same thing with its rebranding of the Live Search engine, turning it into Bing. What does bing stand for? “But It’s Not Google” – and whether Microsoft intended this or not, this is the story that got out, and it’s what people will believe. Even now, with tales rolling in of Bing’s searches coming up massively pro-MS and anti-Apple, it’s easier to believe that this was intentional.

Best Buy has been running “We’re Not On Commission” ads for years now, and the effect is the same. It tells people not that your staff are better, that your prices are lower, that your store is more fun to shop at – it says nothing except “Oh, we’re not in that crowd” which is no incentive at all.

How does this not make sense? Failing to develop your own identity and leeching the popularity of others by sharking the people annoyed with them is diminishing. This means, as a business or as a person, you’re not making the most of your You-ness, you’re bashing the competition (unprofessional) at the same time as you’re telling people that you’re exactly what they are – but you’re not them.

Who cares if Plurk is better? Hundreds of thousands of people post hundreds of millions of tweets daily, and if I’m networking, I’m going to Twitter, because that’s where the people are.

Who cares if Bing is awesome? It’s not Google, according to my social awareness, which tells me that it’s exactly what google is, but with a different banner at the top.

Say it with me, now, it’s the motto of the day: I Want To Be Different, Just Like Evrbody Else.

Filed Under: Content Strategy Tagged With: google, microsoft, online marketing, positioning, twitter

Categories

  • Announcements
    • Event Notices
  • Blog
  • Communication
  • Content Strategy
  • Marketing Strategy
  • Personal
  • Reviews
  • Social Media
  • Technology

Archive

  • January 2016
  • June 2015
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • November 2008
  • October 2008
  • July 2008
  • February 2004
  • Copywriting
  • Blog
  • Reading Lists
  • Colophon

© Copyright 2023 Ian M Rountree · All Rights Reserved