Marketing Places, Spaces, People & Ideas
Do You REALLY Need These Experts?
Disclaimer >> I’m upset. This post will be a bit snarkier than usual. You’ve been warned. Few things upset me like lies, and here’s a whopper I found today:
I saw a message in my LinkedIn digest of activity about a Social Media seminar. It was posted in the Oklahoma Networking group, so I clicked to check it out…
Being the curious person that I am, I looked at the name and affiliation of the poster. Didn’t recognize the agency, and I’m familiar with most in the Tulsa/OKC area. So I clicked to check out her profile:
I am tired of all the spam out there. I know this post won’t change anything, but I also know that all of us doing nothing won’t work well, either. So I decided to keep digging…. I followed the tinyurl to this page:
Not content to just feast my eyes on the ugliness… I mean, really… it’s ugly. I clicked the Register link. Here’s what you see next:
Note that no where yet have we seen any promise of speakers/teachers we can check out, or actual content or any other thing that would validate this program. But hey… you say… it’s free, right? Not really. It is in the sense that you don’t pay anything for the seminar (except for the cost of that 90 minutes of my life). It’s NOT in the sense that the whole thing is a hook for their “Social Media University” (see tiny link to “University” at the bottom of the the landing page?) which costs $597.
The worst part is that a visit to the home site will tell you that this is a “we’ll do it for you” system. It’s not that they understand how to build connections any better than you do, it’s that they intend to set up an auto-profile, auto-manage your online presence and you’ll somehow make lots of money. They’ll only take another $297 per module (LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.) of your money. Up front, of course. Plus $597 per platform, per month. Guess who’s making all that money on social media?
The lead guy? Here’s his Twitter page as of today:
Um, yeah… expert connection wizard, to be sure. And the Shottiger Agency in New York? A Google search reveals exactly 1 (yes, uno) result… Lia Moores’s profile on LinkedIn. Created August 1st, 2009. Go ahead… try it… I know this kind of crap is everywhere out there, but I am so tired of being treated like I’m stupid. I love social media. I like learning about it, using it, sharing it, speaking about it, teaching others to use it and use it well… and set ups like the social media magic one are why everyone with knowledge in this space is afraid to be called an expert. If these are the “experts” I’ll happily stay a novice.
6 Responses to “Do You REALLY Need These Experts?”
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About Mandy Vavrinak
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I liked that this post was a quick read – I was feeling your pain – so emotions were provoked and although you were “snarky” you were not slanderous. Excellent post! BTW – I too get very irritated when ppl out there think we are idiots and waste my time. Give me a break!
First, thank you for checking out the blog and commenting
It’s not the first (and I’m very certain it won’t be the last) spaminar I’ve seen advertised, but I thought it was particularly bold to post it to an Oklahoma Networking group on a platform like LinkedIn. Ugh. It was rather the last straw and the post ensued.
I love it when you get snarky, Mandy!
You are so right.
Experts, not at social media, not at teaching, but at taking money for things people like you and the Tulsa Social Media Masterminds group teach others to do for themselves, for free.
Stay the course. Spread the word. Not all “experts” are experts.
Thanks, Walt. Spaminars bring out the snarky in me, for sure & certain!
One other thing you might consider: send a link to this post to the owner of the networking group. I’m very disappointed at the people who own groups on LinkedIn and don’t take responsibility for deleting this crap.
Mike…
That is a great idea