By B.L. Ochman
With Google+ less than a month old, and Google still developing features, there already is a growing army of self-proclaimed experts on how to use Google+ to grow your business. Some offer free advice, some are charging for their advice. Even Google hasn’t figured out how to use Google+, which is why it is changing and evolving daily.
Just as there are an army of more than 16,000 self-proclaimed social media gurus, experts, ninjas, and superstars, we’re already seeing the growth of an equally large, and mostly vapid, cadre of self-proclaimed Google+ experts.
Everyone involved in emerging media marketing, sales, development, PR and community management needs to get involved in Google+ and kick the tires to understand how it works. We all need to help each other learn the best practices and most effective tools.
Impressions, thoughts, opinions about Google+? Absolutely, bring em on.
But jeez, it’s way too soon for anyone to be calling him/herself a Google+ expert, or to be running webinars about Google+ unless their names are Chris Messina or Matt Cutts. Down Sparky!
Bonus Links:
o Here’s another video from “D”
o Cy Hossain’s Google+ StartUp Guide
Sad but true, BL! Everyone runs after the new “hot” thing and it’s seems G+ rightfully earned this title (for now!)
I don’t think it’s a smart move to pretend to be an expert in a tool that’s still being “tweaked” as we speak!
But I guess people are getting smarter on the web every day and could easily tell difference real experts and “desperate wannabes”!
Thanks for this funny video. You put a smile on my face today. I could add you to the list of experts who know that social media, in essence, is all being fun and non-intrusive. Keep up the good work :).
I understand where you’re coming from, BL, and I don’t disagree with the premise that there are no Google+ experts yet (outside of Google itself). However, you don’t need to be an expert to offer a webinar, a workshop or a conference session that offers some genuine value.
People like us are inclined to spend a lot of time in the new social spaces. Most communicators (and other business people) are not. They’d rather pay $99 to have someone fill them in on what they’d learn if they took the time to do it themselves. You don’t need to be an expert to explain circles, sparks, hangouts, etc., and to share observations gleaned from your own experience and from what you’ve read by others.
After all, people pay 75 cents for a newspaper (yes, a lot still do) so reporters can tell them what they might have gone out and learned for themselves. The reporters aren’t experts in anything but reporting, yet their skill at learning and then translating what they’ve learned is worth a fee.
Calling yourself an expert is wrong. Charging a modest fee to share what you know with people who know less and prefer to learn it from you — and think what they’ll learn is worth what you’re charging — is just fine.
Shel – i think you’d be absolutely right if you weren’t talking about Google+ which is one month old, in closed beta, changing daily. Google has videos that explain – free of charge – what the features are.
I can see the value of speculation about how Google+ might eventually impact on marketing, search, etc,
But I stand by my conviction that it’s way too early for anyone to be charging for information about how to use Google+.
I, BTW, am one of the people who still reads two newspapers a day :>)
Ha’penny’s worth from me, Shel. I’m a long way from being an Internet expert, but I would really resent it if I found I’d paid $99 to someone with little or no more expertise than I had, just because they’d played around on Google+ – or anywhere else – for an hour or two.
Shel – i think you’d be absolutely right if you weren’t talking about Google+ which is one month old, in closed beta, changing daily. Google has videos that explain – free of charge – what the features are.
People like us are inclined to spend a lot of time in the new social spaces. Most communicators (and other business people) are not. They’d rather pay $99 to have someone fill them in on what they’d learn if they took the time to do it themselves. You don’t need to be an expert to explain circles, sparks, hangouts, etc., and to share observations gleaned from your own experience and from what you’ve read by others.
I don’t think it’s a smart move to pretend to be an expert in a tool that’s still being “tweaked” as we speak!