A fairly common – and quite fair – question by many companies when seeking a social media consultant is, ‘can you help us with Facebook?’
The answer, provided by most firms, is ‘of course.’ But what positions some social media consultants above others is this: the best consultants will never agree to such a narrow focus.
For metaphorical purposes, let’s pretend the consultant in question is a golf instructor. Each day, you pay the instructor, and he helps you master the first hole of stunning 18-hole course. Weeks later during a tournament, you double-birdie the first hole – and don’t come within a whisper of the competition the entire balance of the day. Would you consider the money paid to the golf instructor as money well spent?
In much the same way, a consultant that agrees to a narrowly defined program – for instance, just growing Facebook likes – is agreeing to something they know cannot produce anything more than narrow results. (Or rather, they SHOULD know.)
Succeeding in Facebook represents a vital indicator of any online marketing program – just as performing well in the first hole of a golf tournament is critical to your overall finish. But it is simply a slice of your online marketing program – a contributor – rather than a representation, of your overall objective.
A true online marking consultant will never lose sight of this – and this will be most evident when they turn down an engagement focused on nothing more than Facebook.