Recently, I read about a social media workshop, touting the wonderful benefits of using social media. Touche!
It looked great . . .
The workshop promised to give attendees everything they needed to know about this hot tool for business. I was intrigued by the description (and it was in my area), so I wondered who this outstanding presenter was. I searched out the presenter’s Twitter account (which was easy with a link in their bio), and clicked over to find out more about this enlightened individual.
Um, is that number missing a zero or two?
As I arrived on the presenter’s Twitter profile page, I glanced over to see what their follower count was. 176. (No, I’m not kidding.) A Twitter and social media expert, teaching a class, and you only have 176 followers? Ummm . . .
I don’t know about you, but if I’m going to spend my time and money attending a class, I want someone who has a little more experience to offer.
What if you want to have 2,000 or 10,000 or 100,000 followers on Twitter? Could that “guru” show you how? Maybe, but I’d like to see him have a little more time in the trenches (or having raving fans and clients) before teaching a class about raging success in social media.
Who wants to be “that guy?”
I don’t want to be “that guy” (or girl). I want to help entrepreneurs and small businesses understand, find and implement technology solutions for their business. I help my clients with many things, but there are things I don’t know how to do and I’ll say so. What I won’t do is teach a class on a methodology I just learned about yesterday.
I don’t take issue with those using the title “guru,” because there are some fabulous services providers out there who truly are all that and a bag of chips. They are thought leaders who inspire, guide and have more information to give than we can possibly imagine.
The ones that get my fired up are the imposters. Reading a book and setting up your account yesterday doesn’t make you a guru. So please stop telling people that you are – it cheapens the word. Seriously.
Stop the insanity.
So please, if there’s very few (or no one) following, hiring, or raving about you, please don’t call yourself a “guru.” It just makes you look silly at best and dishonest at worst. Even worse, you could be hurting those hopeful few paying $199 for your two hour class.
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