So I was reading Malcolm Gladwell’s latest book The Outliers the other night and he goes into a discussion about violinists and on how long it takes them to become a master at their craft. So without spoiling the book for you …. the bottom line was …. it takes 10,000 hours to become a Master Violinist. This got me thinking about how it could apply to Social Media and how long it would take to become a Social Media Expert.
If you listen to popular books on becoming an expert in your field of study …. most of them say “read an hour a day in your field”. Members of my team will recognize this from their goal setting with me as I often coach them to read an hour a day of good marketing material. But 1 hour a day x 5 days a week means you would be a social media master in about 38 years! Let’s say you are really dedicated and you up that to 1 hour a day x 7 days a week means you cut that time down to 27 years just in time to retire!
In my new role at Avaya I am traveling 3 hours a day (1 ½ hours each way) by car …. listening to podcasts like MarketingOverCoffee, HubSpot TV, Duct Tape Marketing …. essentially turning my commute into a rolling Social Media university. So if I factor that into my calculation …. 3 hours a day x 5 days a week means I could master social media in 12.8 years. Assuming I throw in 3 hours a day on the weekend and it drops to 9.1 years! By the way 10 years was also an average that Malcolm Gladwell cited in the book for most people to master pretty much anything.
But wait …. I also practice Social Media on the job for a few hours a day. So let’s say 3 hours a day learning more about social media and 2 hours a day practicing social media x 5 days a week means I could become a social media master in 7.6 years. Throw in the weekends and that drops to 5.5 years!
People like Dan Schawabel (one of the hardest working people in Social Media I have ever met), have the luxury of practicing social media 40 hours a week as the Social Media expert for EMC …. 40 hours a week x 5 days a week means you reach social media mastery in 4.8 years. But Dan also blogs, writes books, a magazine and more so say he works 80 hours a week (including weekends) and you can reach social media mastery in 3.8 years!
My point being Social Media is still relatively new and there are plenty of people out there calling themselves Social Media Experts but in reality they would have to have a pretty aggressive schedule of social media learning and practicing to become one. In essence, there are a handful of people who truly have a good head start on the pack but it’s not too late for you to get started in creating your own plan to become a Social Media Expert. So what’s your plan? I would love to know.
Tags: Social Media
Good points! It’s easy to call yourself an expert if you seem to know more than the rest of the herd. Truth is, social media is evolving so rapidly, you are always on a steep learning curve. So why worry about your status? Just enjoy the ride!
Hi Paul,
Very nice blog.
If you are an expert it will be reflected in your work. The amount of expertise which one shows in any given area is easily evident; I am not too big on labels. I may call myself an “online entrepreneur” but if somebody asks me what I do I tell that I am someone who loves what they do for a living
It’s a great idea to expose yourself to as many recordings and books as possible. An hour a day is definitely not enough. I’d say 4-5 hours minimum to become really proficient at your craft.
Thanks for sharing your insight.
Ryan
Good post Paul. Frankly, I have never met an expert at anything. My business career spans three decades of 50 and 60 hour weeks. I learn something new daily.
There are people who know more than others. That doesn’t make them an expert. To me, the word not only implies they are the best at what they do (only 1 person qualifies for this title) and they can’t get better at what they do (no one qualifies for this title).
I think that the key is that you can not self-appoint yourself a community expert. Even with your background or your education. You truly need someone that is already an expert to recognize you as such, as a true peer.
I have been building and managing communities for almost 10 years. It was not until I was asked, by peers that I respected (already experts), to be an “expert”, that I actually felt that I had achieved something.
Mike P / @nhscooch
This is a very interesting point of view. One thing stuck out: the on-the-job practice. I daresay many of us have interests that, at least on the surface, fall outside of our current job descriptions. IF you can find a way to implement them into your daily office schedule, not only will you add hours toward your expertise, but you’ll also enjoy your job more.
The “expert” tag … i dunno. I agree with learning-expert Lewis on this one — we should always be learning.
One thing I try to bear in mind. In “Social Media” – the people part comes before the tool part. It’s the talk, not the tech.
And I think you’re doing a bang-up job!
The problem is that anybody can pose themselves as an expert at anything these days. While the violinist might work 10,000 hours, the proof of their expertise comes out in their profound knowledge and execution of music with their instrument.
In marketing, for example, once the web came around, millions of people with no training in marketing were immediately calling themselves marketing experts (just type that into Google and you’ll see how often the term comes up).
The main problem, as Brett points out, is that very few marketing experts have ever really done marketing (except for marketing themselves). Oh well, such is the new world we live in.
Thanks for the post Paul. I’ve spent the last six days second-guessing myself after a job interview.
You are right – it is relatively new and evolving at a faster pace than most.
Even the great masters never stop learning.
Cheers mate.
No one is an expert in social media marketing. It is a vast arena where we are all still learning how to us ethe tools. It helps to have a lifetime of marketing experience, because nothing is 100 percent new and that includes social network
ing. Only the tools change.
No one is an expert in social media marketing. It is a vast arena where we are all still learning how to us ethe tools. It helps to have a lifetime of marketing experience, because nothing is 100 percent new and that includes social network
ing. Only the tools change.
If you call yourself an expert in anything, you’re probably not.
If others call you an expert, you might be.
If you ever believe you’re an expert, you risk no longer learning because you believe your own press. Then, you’re a former-expert…
“Experts” and “gurus” are such gimmicky titles. Don’t self-proclaim anything. Just look at people’s results/case studies – those are all that matter.
I think this question does have a valid point: there are a lot of self-appointed “Social Media Experts” out there that have no real valuation as an expert.
You also have to inquire about several more aspects to properly define your question. Social Media is not exactly new, in fact many parts of the social media ecology have been around for decades.
The terms for social media have changed substantially over the years:
Social Media = New Media = Blogging = Chat Rooms = Online Forums = Bulletin Board Systems…
The acceptance of social media as a catch-phrase has clouded the way many people view the marketplace.
In a world where the terminology and technology changes every 180 days, no one could really claim to be an expert in any of these classifications. They simply don’t exist long enough.
Social Media is also hundreds of interconnecting technologies and trends.
If we use the violinist example- a violin would be Facebook. Social Media would be the entire orchestra set: including audience arrangement, event planning, dozens of instrument skills, evening promotion, singing, and valet parking lot administration.
Just like the Orchestra: any one single instrument may take center stage but it is more likely accompanied by a dozen others.
Fortunately for music: talent is timeless.
Unfortunately for social media: talent only matters if you can learn a new instrument.
If you are off line more than 2 hours…you are not an expert.
It’s not about knowing the tools & seeing the success (and capitalizing on it-*sigh*) of how SM works, but understanding that there is a purpose of why you are “on”.
6 months is NOT enough time of understanding “it” to sell “it”. Hopefully those needing help will look past the hype (aka: the pitch) and look what people are saying about that person. Ahhh, first lesson in SM – what are people saying?
Cheers!
-jen
@jenharris09
I am with Harry Hallman on this one – I see all too many people jumping onto the social media marketing expert bandwagon who have absolutely no marketing background or marketing experience whatsoever.
I don’t care what people may say outright, social media marketing is about marketing – connecting with people and eventually getting sales. Businesses wouldn’t be involved in social media if there wasn’t a plus side – and most businesses exist for the plus side of making money.
Social media is a set of tools. You need to know the fundamentals of marketing, advertising and sales to grow a business. Just like everybody can send out an email, not everybody is an effective email marketer.
Yes, social media can be used to listen (market research), build brands (brand management), promote products (product marketing), interact with prospects and customers (customer service) and get leads (sales!). These are all typical functions of folks who have marketing backgrounds.
Now, it doesn’t make you an expert if you use social media and have a marketing degree or experience, but if you are experienced in marketing, it should cut down the “mastery period” to leveraging social media as an effective tool in the overall marketing mix.
Gladwell’s point about practice is that focused hard work has its rewards, that of becoming very good at what you do, and valuable to others because your abilities improve their lot. Many of those passed off as self-proclaimed experts are merely competent technicians in a field much broader or complicated than can be captured in the “social media” definition. It’s all about perspective, and mature perspective doesn’t come easily or quickly, but it does help us to form understanding that’s valuable. I think Gladwell would agree that perspective is one of the critical byproducts of practice.
I think there are many interesting points made here. I am often contacted by other companies and even freelancers that are trying to offer me their services. One thing I often find comical is the fact that the many people that contact me often have lower ranked overall websites than me. I wonder would they even know mine if I called and asked without giving them the time to look it up? Once quick I have found to find out if your wasting you time our not with supposed experts with big claims it to simply look them up. There are plenty of free tools that can tell you the pagerank of another company or individuals website offering the services. Also just because may be ranked low it doesn’t mean they aren’t offering a valuable service etc. But it should make you second guess your descision about going with a company without a second opinion from a real person or company that has worked with them. There are plenty of marketing consultants in your local area that should also be able to tell you who the players are in the market for these services, perhaps even for a small fee. This could potentially save you thousands by making a quick descision from using a fly-by-night social media shark who is only looking for personal profit.
You may simply not want to consider working with a company or individual unless they at least are currently outranking you. Chances are they know what they did to obtain the rank and can easily duplicate the process.
Great post.
No one should feel threatened by it, but I’d argue that you need more than 10,000 hours to remain a master at this stuff.
The violin will have the same number of strings after your first hour of practice that it will after your your ten thousandth hour.
Social media keeps evolving…
Even masters shouldn’t stop practicing.
Paul,
I like your post, though I don’t even think we need to bring Gladwell into the equation to know that most people who deem themselves “experts” in this field are no more than either skilled practitioners or at best nascent strategists. Give it a couple of years while the field emerges (and changes dramatically) and we’ll see who was just dipping their toes in the stream to generate personal buzz and who was actually going to make a career out of all of this.
Hi Paul,
Great post, and I completely agree. There are clearly way too many people out there claiming to be “social media experts” that haven’t put in the man hours required to truly deserve that title.
I just want to make one observation to open up the discussion on how these hours should be classified – i.e. what hours actually count toward your 10,000? I’m familiar with Outliers and also read Geoff Colvin’s “Talent is Overrated,” and both assert that these 10,000 hours cannot be just any assortment of hours spent on your desired expertise. They must be spent in deliberate, focused practice of the craft (not necessarily passive podcast listening or reading, though that is no doubt very helpful as well).
It’s important to remember that the 10,000 hours that Gladwell and Colvin refer to take a great deal of mental energy, and according to the experts you aren’t physically capable of more than four hours of this labor-intensive practice per day.
It’s great to ingest all the information out there on social media, but until you put it into practice in the wild west of the Internet, in my opinion you haven’t really started building up your 10,000 hours at all.
Umm, so it takes as long to master the nuances of Twitter, or other social media, as it does to become a virtuoso violinist? Hmmm, probably not. That’s one of the great things about social media: it’s everyone’s playground. No special talent or skills required, just a desire to learn. Those who are passionate may become virtuosos because their passion drives them to it. But I think you can become pretty good at it without the same amount of practice that it takes to get to Carnegie Hall. Besides, how can you master something that changes every day?
Hey Paul,
Thank you for this! I totally agree. I had the exact same thought the moment I heard about the 10,000 hours metric in Outliers. And I also agree with Harry Hallman and Brian Fluhr. If you are not an expert in MARKETING, there’s no way you can be an expert in “social media marketing.” There’s been way too much hucksterism promoting social media as a REPLACEMENT for everything including “marketing” and “PR.” It’s not. There are some great tools that allows us to do new things–but some of them are still solutions in search of business problems.
I don’t think there are any true experts out there but there are lost of people that know more than others.
It’s hard to be an expert at something that is constantly changing.
@jayphilips
Hi Paul,
I had this same discussion with my wife a few weeks ago, and she pretty much convinced me that Gladwell had a point.
Personally I determined that I am an expert in Internet technologies, teaching/training (10 years doing each), and an evangelist black belt ninja guru Expert at Procrastination (41 years and going strong). ~@jesseluna on Twitter
Great post, thanks! First, let’s define social media because I am still trying to figure that one out. I work 50-60 hours a week, 6 days a week and launched FohBoh.com 16 months ago. I learn on the job every day and am far, far from being an expert. I agree with the comment if you are offline for more than 2 hours you aren’t an expert.
Great post. I like to use this analogy: “Just because you have a hammer, does not mean you are a master carpenter”
I’m pretty sure I mastered jerking off in less than a year.
Most skill sets aren’t as difficult as becoming a master violinist, which is among the most difficult. Plan accordingly.
I am familiar with this topic– though I completely disagree. “)
The life span of the future projections for any internet based company rarely passes 18 months, per my interviews with AOL and Google exec’s.
The masters of this new media are the creators and first adopters. Another way to look at it is from the point of view of the none users– to you, Larry and I are “Genius” at social media and the implementation process– only because you know little to nothing about it. That makes us the “Expert” in relationship to you.
My take on the outliers concept is that it is correct for a skill set like learning the violin, which is a true art– but come on, if my 4 year old could play old mcdonald on the violin, she would be an expert to me and I could learn from her right? “)
I would argue that experts are made in moments actually, not in years of hard work. Look at Einstein– hard worker, no doubt, but there was only one moment in his life when the light switch turned on and he figured out E=MC^2. Moments are what we are all looking to find– it’s that moment of clarity, that big idea, that moment of focus, that propels us into Expert Status and even at times, the abyss of nothingness, depending on how we harness “Moments.” Thought Leaders are made with “Brilliant Thoughts” as Larry puts it, and I think Brilliant Thoughts don’t take years of hard work, but insight, wisdom and the ability to listen to the divine– then that “Moment” will appear before your thought.
So, the point, if you can achieve the goals you set out to achieve with someone that knows more than you do in the social media space– they then are the “Expert”. “)
It’s true when they say, “knowledge is power”…
I honestly think anyone can become an expert in their field with the right dedication and diligence towards their genius. Of course you’re going to need hands-on experience and a lot of know-how. It’s about YOU being the ultimate FAQ for your industry or field of study. Always make it a point to never stop learning – learn something new everyday. And always make smart strategic partnerships to help excel you because no one can really do everything by themselves.
On Social Media – everyone should embrace it – networking is a vital part of creating strategic partnerships with not just business contacts, but also with your customers or clients. We are no longer subjected to just doing business through traditional marketing media (tv, newspapers, magazines, etc)…it’s about utilizing Social Media effectively to reach your market potential.
Add me on http://twitter.com/elleferrer
Add me on Facebook http://is.gd/kjfD
How can anyone be an expert on something that is constantly changing? maybe we should all just focus on being the best we can be and contributing the best content possible. I am by no means a social media “expert” and there are people that are social media “experts”- to me at least that may not even fall on anyone else’s radar. It is all very subjective, probably because of the social aspect. Thanks for the great post though. . .I am all for anything to learn even more
It’s interesting how many people are playing the “humble pie” card here and saying “you can never be an expert/you can never stop learning.”
I think expertise presents quite a paradox. On the one hand, the closer you get to “expert” status in your field, the more you realize that there’s so much more to learn (and thus you don’t feel like an expert). On the other hand, the people asking for your help want an expert.
Maybe expertise is in the eye of the beholder?
Expertise in social media marketing comes through immersion in the services, technology and culture. It also comes through working on real projects, not just reading a book, magazine, blog or listening to podcasts. There are too many people putting up a Social Media Expert shingle who have never worked on a true social media project for a brand. So, be wary of anyone claiming to be an “expert.” Social Media Marketing should be thought of as a journey and is NOT independent of the overall integrated marketing plan. Currently, you cannot reach enough consumers/customers/shoppers fast enough with social media alone…you need more scale.
There are many opportunities in social media marketing, but it is not the silver bullet and there are very few true experts out there. We are all still exploring the social media ecosystem and how it can best be used, engaged with and integrated into the integrated marketing plan and brand strategy.
I think you also have to consider the learning curve. Sure it might take 10,000 hours if you have no marketing experience. But because much of social media relates to (good) marketing, many may have a jump on that goal by understand the methods and tactics SM and marketing share.
After all, social media is just a piece of the marketing pie.
That’s why I simply refer to myself as the “handyman” Paul.
Paul,
I have to drive 1/2 hour each way to work, not quite as bad as your 3 hour drive.
Another option for keeping up-to-date with current industry news is to use Jott.
Their RSS feeds to voice feature works really well with a phone and blue tooth headset.
If you use something like Yahoo Pipes, you can mash all your favorite marketing feeds
together without the need for switching back and forth.
Only problem is it will eat away at your minutes unless you have a plan like t-mobiles
my favs, etc.
Isn’t saying ‘I’m a social media expert’ a bit like saying ‘I’m really good at talking to people’? The point about social media is, it’s social. Not sure you can be expert at that.
Paul,
Enjoyed your post. I too, believe you have to dedicate time to reading and researching social media. It’s continuing to evolve, and I don’t think anyone of us can afford to become complacent. It takes a rigorous approach to reading, and sharing the gems with others. We’re not only conversing but educating–and that makes for very meaningful conversation. Ones that will be more memorable.
Debbie Hemley
http://www.impressionsthroughmedia.com
I loved Outliers, such a great read and I recommend it to anyone reading this article.
Regarding the subject at hand here, though, I think that “expertness” in the case of the violinist and the programmer, it had a lot to do with being an expert at the use of the very few tools for those 10,000 hours (violin + sheet music or computer and programming language).
Social media is a variety of tools most of which are continually evolving and tactics as well as strategy and creativity. The chess example, with the exception of Bobby Fischer, was a bit closer because you’re dealing with a competitor, but even then the moves and board are consistent.
Anyway, I think expertness in social media is defined by your ability to achieve consistent, continual results for a myriad of clients and using the variety of tools. This requires history, but not a history that has a time stamp on it, more of a body of work.
Nice post! It’s hard for me to imagine anyone being an expert in any industry where the rules really haven’t been established yet. Social Media is such a new concept that no one really knows the difference between right and wrong.
Let me ask this from an academic point of view… Are there any Professors at Universities that have a PhD. in Social Media? And are there any courses in a program’s Marketing Curriculum focused solely on Social Media? Once we get to that point, we may be able to define what an “Expert” is. Whachu Tink?
Always enjoy reading your posts. Found this one particularly interesting. If we hurry towards social media mastery, we’ll probably miss enjoying the steps it takes to get to mastery.
I thought about this some more – you don’t need a social media expert – you need a good marketer:
http://thefuturebuzz.com/2009/03/16/social-media-expert/
Interesting perspectives here… I tend to agree with Lewis that we need to always be learning. Especially important in a field that is evolving and changing. Even if I put in some magical number of learning & practical applications (and agree both are important) the subject will continue to evolve while I’m studying.
Also agree that you better have a solid understanding and proven experience in marketing before you try to be a social media marketing expert. Thanks for staring an obviously needed discussion, Paul.
This is a great article. For me learning about social networking has been a chance to look, listen and then try new things. I think we can only learn from case studies at this point and make some somewhat educated guesses. When it comes down to it we are throwing pasta at the wall and hopping it sticks.
Hi readers posters very good point I like the comments to … one look at this blog and my first and only impression was very clear Paul Dunay you are an expert … I visit so many blogs and most can not get more than a couple of comments … here your not only have many comments you have feed back style comments and they enhance the quality of the subject on view better than most, so I say if you get an interaction your well on your way to wear the badge of an Social Media expert … because most newbies coming online soon find out also the ones who give up quickly know its not easy to get a thread going…
All my best to you and your expertise
Phillip Skinner
Great article. Some great points here. It’s difficult to train someone with social media as it changes so often and great technique that gets big results with search engine are chaotic in nature.
The 10,000 hours concept seems to me as nonsense. All this does is take a few people, without considering any mitigating circumstances, and infer a “rule”. Let’s think about this. Compare a person who is really gifted but has no motivation and another is just average and has tons of motivation (and control for the fact that each is exposed to the same wonderful teachers), would they both need 10,000 hours to become an expert? Compare that to someone who is gifted and has tremendous motivation. Would they take 10,000 hours? The problem is that the rule is simplistic (good for selling books, but not for understanding what truly makes someone an expert).
One other thing, I don’t think there is anybody who is a serious academic who has a PhD in Social Media. If they did, they probably wouldn’t call themselves an expert (most academics, surprising as it seems, are more humble than that since the more we learn the more we know how much we don’t really know).
To be an “expert” at social media you first have to be an expert at being social – forget the media. It seems like the various blogs and sites (Facebook, etc) are a big party where you can mingle, and just like at any party you once in a while bring up business, but only when its appropriate. A lot of the most successful business people I know are just really nice people, who never spend time on blogs and don’t have Facebook pages. They use their phones. They get together with friends in person, or meet colleagues at conferences. I don’t mean this as a put down on social media -it’s fun and valuable. But all the technology is simply designed to magnify the personality you were born with.
Before someone gets concerned about whether they can invest enough time to become an expert they might want to set some goals and define how they’ll measure results.
Being proactive in managing issues that go public
You can spend thousands of hours on Social Networking and generate very few results to show for it. Ask yourself first what precisely you hope to accomplish BEFORE you get started.
Adam Singer commented above and is so right about one instrument not being enough – it requires an entire orchestra.
Understanding Social Networking is similar to understanding ecommerce Web design or the difference between a free blog and a highly customized effective blog.
The effectiveness of Social Media is as challenging to measure as the effectiveness of branding. Neither happens overnight and neither may necessarily generate income although done well they will EVENTUALLY.
Social Networking can be used successfully for:
1) Driving Traffic
2) Developing Relationships
3) Finding highly qualified collaborators
4) Easy, fast connections with others who MAY be interested in working with you
5) Getting immediate answers (sometimes, if you know precisely who to ask AND they are available).
6) Learning from other experts
7) Listening to what others are saying about you, your blog, or your company
I’ve published over twenty posts on Social Media if anyone is interested in more detail. I’ve linked one to this comment and the others can be found by looking under Social Networking in the right sidebar under Blog Topics.
It only took me about 40 hours to become an “expert” at spotting fake experts though.
And that may actually be more important than “being” the expert.