Social Media in Philadelphia – maybe

Interesting comic in this weeks Philadelphia Business Journal. The comic is a doctor talking to the nurse and they are looking out on to  sea of new babies – all of whom have a blanket with the words, “new media expert” on them and the nurse says, “There seems to be one born every minute”. It seems this way to many who are trying to figure out what social media is and now everyone seems to be an expert.

We have no one to blame but the industry for all those out there jumping on the bandwagon. If you have done a blog or use Twitter some think it makes you an expert. Unfortunately the public does not know and to be an expert all you need to do is fool a piece of the public.

The reality is that social media is too often defined by the tools and not what it really is – a mind set, a way of doing business, a way of thinking about your prospects – but not the tools. One who knows how to use a tool does not mean you know the why and what of the tools.

In Philadelphia we are very fortunate to have a few folks who I consider “experts” in social media because they are looking at what is the purpose for the tools, what are the right ones and how best to meet the use of the tools while managing expectations of the clients. My short list based on my experience with these folks would look like this:

Daniel Endy

Beth Harte

Valeria Maltoni

Cathy Larkin

There may be more but these are the ones I really think know what they are doing. I know of many who are representing themselves as part of this elite group but they are not – if you are inPhildaelphia give one of these folks a shout if you really want to know about Social Media and not just the tools of the trade.

We play in the Internet visibility space and we have done a very good job of getting the pretenders out of there so lets not do the same thing in the social media space. Use those who know what they are doing and send the rest home.

Send me the names of others in the Philadelphia area you think belong here but don’t just give me the names – tell me why they belong here.

Rick Simmons is a principal at Dinkum Interactive, a firm specializing in online marketing solutions for small and medium sized businesses around the globe. With more than 25 years of experience in advertising and marketing, Simmons has spent the last four years focused on search engine optimization, and other Internet marketing strategies. Reach him at 267-626-9094 or rick@dinkuminteractive.com.