Seven Social Media Consultants That Deliver Tangible Value
Is social media nothing but snake oil? Sometimes it can seem that way. As economies shift and trends emerge, would-be experts start popping up like weeds. Really good social media experts are a treasure - and they're not always easy to find.
In this post we highlight seven social media consultants that consistently bring tangible value to the table. These folks aren't full of hot air - they use their blogs to offer clear examples, links, tutorials and other resources you can put to use. If the goods you can see for free are so solid, that's all the more reason to investigate paying for these peoples' services. We hope this list will help you get smarter and maybe save a whole lot of money and anguish.
Unfortunately, most of these people have been so successful already that only a few of them are easy to hire for small consulting engagements. Whether that happens or not, we believe that just reading their blogs is a great way to learn from these experts.
Note that ReadWriteWeb does not have a financial relationship with any of these individuals or the companies that some of them work for. While some other leading tech blogs have preferred consultancies they recommend, we offer this post in the same spirit all our posts are written in - simply as content we hope you'll find useful and interesting.
All of the people below can help you or your organization learn how the mechanics and strategies of social media work. Smart people can learn these things by themselves, but it's pretty smart too to learn from those early adopters who made mistakes first, can communicate well about their lessons learned and who specialize in learning and teaching about these technologies.
We'll tell you about the down side of each of these experts as well, because we have no interest in being anything but honest about it. (And we think that mixed reviews, even of great people, are more fun to read.)
Who are some of your favorite social media consultants? Please feel free to share your recommendations in comments. Here are ours.
Chris Brogan
Building your personal brand, celebrating your community.
Chris Brogan is on the top of almost everyone's list when asked about high-value social media consulting. He's smart, he knows his stuff, his blog posts are like levers you can pull to advance your own career and he's incredibly likable. His blog is a great place to get introduced to new and social media strategies though clear, tangible examples. Brogan is a walking example of smart social media strategy.
These days Chris is employed by CrossTech Media, an events company that offers some training of its own. On his personal blog Chris writes a lot about "personal branding," blogging and website usability.
If Chris's blog has a shortcoming it would be that it sometimes ends up looking like an eye-roll-worthy list of lists - but who are we to criticize a man for that in a post like this? People love lists.
Jeremiah Owyang
Explaining new tech to the business world.
Jeremiah Owyang is an analyst at Forrester and a prolific blogger. His site Web-Strategist offers a truckload of resources for businesspeople wanting to start using social media in an informed way. He's a great connector and aggregates news and resources from around the web.
Jeremiah's services are available for hire through Forrester and that means his time's not cheap. He also focuses more on large businesses than on tactics for startups, for example. His series explaining complex technical announcements in language accessible by executives is vintage Jeremiah. This can leave more technical people or people who don't work in marketing, PR or a C-level suite a little frustrated.
We love him for things like his continually updated list of companies and services that provide live web video streaming. He forecasts trends well and compiles lists of resources that fill the needs arising from those trends.
Charlene Li
Telling it like it is, in new territory.
Charlene Li recently left Forrester after co-authoring the book Groundswell with analyst Josh Bernoff. Li offers things like an empirical study of the effectiveness of Facebook flier ads and frank tips on personal networking at tech events. She's not afraid to say out loud what others are thinking - like that actor Ashton Kutcher's new startup Blah Girls is crap. Li is very connected, points out great resources around the web and is definitely worth subscribing to.
The down side here is that Li's experience is focused on big companies so that's who her advice is best suited for, she's only doing limited consulting these days and there's something about her tone that can be a bit off-putting some times. A Twitter bio that reads simply "thought leader," when combined with a blog with no commenting allowed, seems downright arrogant. She's got the chops to back it all up, but detailed two-way conversation is one of the best things about the blogs by other people on this list. (Update: Li responded within minutes of this post going live to let us know that it was a technical error that kept her comments from appearing on her blog. We apologize for being presumptuous - you know what they say about the faults you see in others!)
We look forward to learning from Charlene in her new capacity as an independent consultant and blogger.
Dawn Foster
Community and tech hacks.
Dawn Foster is a relatively new entrant into the consulting world but her blog Fast Wonder is already pumping out the usable information and tools.
She's built an enthusiastic community of supporters by delivering things like Brand Dashboards, Yahoo! Pipes and RSS Hacks and a review of a recent Community Manager compensation study.
While Foster's work with research and tools is exciting, we feel less inspired by the parts of her discourse that are short on detailed examples. Her years of experience at Jive Software, Compiere and Intel are clearly helpful in consulting but we hope that with more consulting experience she'll be able to offer a wider variety of examples to back up the advice she gives.
For a new consultancy, though, Fast Wonder is quickly gathering value through work with bleeding edge projects like the pseudo-stealth location-based social network Shizzow.
Dosh Dosh
Generating content and revenue online.
Dosh Dosh is a blog about online marketing written by a Canadian Philosophy student who goes by one name, Maki. The blog is a marvel to behold. It's the best looking site on our list (we're not into anime, either) and one of the most useful.
Popular posts on the site include How to Become An Authority in Your Niche: Eight Content Development Tips and 17 Ways You Can Use Twitter: A Guide for Beginners, Marketers and Business Owners.
Dosh Dosh is not nearly as high-minded as many of the other blogs here, in fact it gets downright slimy if you take a look in the corners. Maki's ambiance on Digg is comparable to top user MrBabyman's (see our write-up on the scene), but with Maki the reason for the hangers-on is just as clear. MrBabyman is the champ at Digg, Maki is successful there as well and writes a compelling blog with the sub-title "Making Money Online."
Hopefully this philosophy major will grow up to be something other than a nihilist, but for now he sure writes a good blog full of useful tips.
Gary Vaynerchuck
"Work your face off!"Gary Vaynerchuck is the man behind, or rather in front of, the wildly successful WineLibrary.tv. The daily show is lots of fun to watch, even if you don't care that much about wine.
On his personal blog, though, Vaynerchuck produces video blog posts explaining his rise to glory and sharing tips with fans. He takes the same advice into limited corporate consulting engagements. His perspective on the internet industry is fascinating and backed up by experience.
Gary recaps a lot of his best advice in the video below. It starts out slow, but his first talking point is patience!
In this video Vaynerchuck rightly emphasizes that his success online is substantially attributable to the fact that he's an experienced businessperson offline as well. Many viewers will also immediately recognize that his super-high-energy approach to communication isn't universally accessible. Likewise, Vaynerchuck sometimes gives terrible advice like "stop reading books" (you should just be producing content all the time, he says). He is, to some extent, the foil against the otherwise ubiquitous advice: listen, listen, listen.
Want good advice on working the internet, though? Gary V. is a must-see.
Nancy White
Full Circle Associates
Nancy White is an experienced consultant to nonprofits in online communication. Her most well-known project was working with Lee LeFever of CommonCraft on the March of Dimes social network ShareYourStory.
Her blog posts are a great mix of communication tips and social media advice. She specializes in online community, training educators and working with Communities of Practice. Her blog is very readable and has a sense of humor.
If there's any down side to working with Nancy it may be that she specializes in working with nonprofits and thus may be unavailable for many of our readers here.
Who Are Your Favorites?
We love discovering new high-quality consultants online. We looked at a lot of uninspiring consultant blogs in order to finalize this list, though. Rest assured we looked at plenty of others that looked good, too.
Who did we miss? We hope you'll share your favorite social media consultants with the RWW community in comments below. Who consistently delivers information you can put to use? Who leaves you feeling inspired on a regular basis?
Photo credits: Brian Solis took the first three photos, Josh Bancroft the one of Dawn Foster and Beth Kanter the one of Nancy White.
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Marshall: Thanks so much for the call out. And thanks especially for pointing out that comments were off on my blog -- I had absolutely no idea that was the case! (And that explains why there haven't been any comments lately, doh on my part for not checking). I'm definitely looking forward to conversations, online and off, and invite feedback, critiques, and dialog.
I wonder if 'social media' isn't the new 'SEO' as far as snake oil goes. There are lots of 'experts' popping up all over, and from what I know of these people.. it seems like a pretty solid list.
Posted by: Daniel J. Pritchett
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September 16, 2008 5:44 PM
I wouldn't paint Charlene the way Marshall has. I remember well her meeting up with a group of the Irregulars and peppering us with questions. On the other hand, the uncritical view of Jeremiah Owyang could do with some correction.
But the biggest omission is to assume that the US is the only place where there are solid socmed peeps. Europe has plenty of rock stars like Euan Semple and Suw Charman. Not only do they know their stuff, they have armloads of case material to back up their thinking.
Thanks for the quick note Charlene, I've updated the post and look forward to continued conversation!
Thanks for the comment, Dennis, and we'd love to highlight more Europeans here. I did look at Euan Semple's blog and Suw Charman I've heard of but didn't come across today. I am also a big fan of Nicole Simon in Germany, totally could have put her on this list as well.
Keep 'em coming!
Some good names that take over my feeds and some new ones. Excited to read about Dawn Foster and Charlene Li! Thanks Marshall. Gary V. is a marketing machine and can be debated that he is actually a Social Media Consulting power house. If Please Dress Me blows up, he may be earning his chops outside his niche.
Allen Stern from Center Networks is awesome! Highly knowledgeable on all aspects from marketing to development to social media , and an overall great guy to work with!
Wow. Talk about some really great company to keep. I'm really excited to be listed here, and with my stylish yellow stripe shirt. : )
Thanks so much for the kind words, and I hope to remain useful to folks.
With the exception of Chris (#1) and Jeremiah (#2), it was nice to see some *new faces in the mix. And it's not that I'm not a fan of these two, I do subscribe to their blogs. It's just sometimes they can be a bit more *eye-roll than innovative. For example, Chris's late night vlogs on his toilet knowing more about him than his computer. And with Jeremiah, well, sometimes I can just smell the tea and crumpets. So thanks for the newbies. Great post!
I think I still have a picture somewhere of my pal Chris from the very first PodCamp. This was when he was clean shaven and wore a red rubber ball on his nose. I miss that look.
@Mich - is it wrong that I'm reading your comment about toilets from my toilet? : )
Hey, it's the only office in the house? I live in a loft with two kids.
I'm really surprised Muhammad Saleem isn't on the list. He's probably the top writer on these topics and is a top user in a number of social media sites, not the least of which is Digg.
Marshall, thanks for highlighting us, it's appreciated. Although not a consultant, I'm a fan of Louis Gray, your work, and KDPaine.
Mich, sorry you feel that way, if you wanted to send me an email with some suggestions, I'm listening.
Great post. I live in Africa where there are number of 'social media experts' and big web startup founders who also have tangible assets: Erik Hersman (whiteafrican.com, ushahidi.com), Jason Elk (zoopy.com), Jon Gosier (appfrica.com), Solomon King (nodesix.com), Justin Hartman (justinhartman.com). Perhaps an international list is in order?
Marshall,
Thanks. I'm honored to have made this list along with a bunch of other people I admire. I have a couple of new consulting gigs just kicking off now, so I hope to start having a better variety of examples to back up my suggestions soon.
Marshall, you hit the nail on the head. The operative statement being "as economies shift and trends emerge". Social media is a major long term trend. Your users might find the Social Media Strategies Conference of value www.searchnomics.net.
Daya Baran
WebGuild
looked credible till you mentioned dosh-dosh
famous for being famous
Aspiring to be on such a list.
I'd recommend Michael Sampson of Working with People You Can't Be With, especially for enterprise social media proejcts.
I'm totally diggin' Mitch Joel (Twist Image) Six Pixels of Separation: http://www.twistimage.com/blog/
@Marshall: You should put Nicole Simon on the list. She knows her stuff - and knows it well. Please just don't do a European list and then have it all Germany, the UK and France. There are people working with small budgets, a lot less open clients and big challenges in central and eastern Europe as well. Poland, the Ukraine, Croatia, Serbia, Slovakia, etc. All our countries where my colleagues work from day to day to promote social media.
Also, you should consider Skellie of Skelliewag. She might not have a big "social media expert" tag on her blog, but she has works on a lot of big blogs, works with people to get them started in social media and gives out tons of valuable content. While Owyang gives great overviews of particular issues, Skellie gives practical advice you can implement fast and see (tangible) results.
Good idea for an article in any case. N1 Marshall! :)
Thanks for the list. I love finding new people to follow and learn from.
No offense or disrespect but I don't particularly care about these people; everyone already knows them - we hear their names mentioned all the dam time again....... Where's the "real" social media bloggers that deserve recognition?? The ones that no one ever talks about but SHOULD talk about!?
Thanks for sharing this information, I will certainly add these to my blogroll. An interesting point I noticed on Dosh Dosh - 17 Ways to Use Twitter: His point#9 addresses Twitter as a business solution in an eerily prophetic foreshadow of Yammer, which was launched only 8 months after his post. Shows his acute insight.
Also, one small request - can anyone succinctly define for me exactly what is included in the term Social Media, from the perspective of: what are the core components and what are the key objectives of social media. A lot of focus is on personal branding and blogging but how far further does the term social media extend?
Marshall, great list and I have a lot of respect for these folks. What also makes them special is how much of an educator role they play for the community.
Something to maybe consider for another article - agencies that are doing a lot of consulting in social media. At the agency I work for (2,000 people) we're doing an incredible amount in this space with employees from different disciplines collaborating together in new and exciting ways. Given our size, a lot of our debates invariably happen internally and with our clients so they're outside of the public domain.
After following a couple of these people over the last couple of months I feel your descriptions of them are great. Chris is definitely deserves the top spot!
Thanks for creating this list.
Marshall,
Thanks for this list! I've met some of these people through events, podcamps, twitter, ooVoo, etc.
I often refer to their blogs when building social media strategies for my clients. It's awesome to add a few new perspectives to the mix.
Kevin's question above made me think that a virtual round table with all or some the above consultants broadcast via Stickam or other service would be awesome.
Thanks again,
Melissa
Some of the best results are achieved by consultants/agencies largely invisible to the echochamber. Perhaps that's how it should be - I know we're all preaching transparancy, but at the end of the day it's about the client not the consultant.
How about a list of "up and coming". I think for the most part, that entire list is familiar to me. I know the philosophies of each person on it. Gary V with his be the face of your brand. Li with the groundswell and social ladder. Brogan and Owyang with their frequently repeated ideas.
I want something NEW!! There seems to be a stagnation, where are we going next? How do we measure? How do we engage more? Or do we just sit back and wait until one by one every brand joins the conversation?
I want to see some new faces on that list that might not be bringing "results", but are bringing some new spark to the social media fire, taking it in a new and scary direction, whether right or wrong.
Where's that list?
Marta Strickland
http://threeminds.organic.com
Marta - that sounds like a great idea for another post!
Yikes, Peter West pinged me about this and my jaw dropped. Thanks. I'm ... really surprised! But thank you because being able to DELIVER is something I value.
Now I'll be a bit of a contrarian...
My perspective is that to be in this for the long haul, we really aren't social media consultants. We are partners to our clients to help discern the way to take advantage of an opportunity or fix a problem using -- among other things - these tools we call social media. For me, the strategy and process are deeply important. So I keep wondering about this term 'social media consultant.' If I just consulted on the social media, I'm not sure I'd add value or really deliver. Maybe there is a guidefinding skill to cut through the volume of social media.
I keep struggling for another term. Any creatives out there have a better idea?
In terms of other great people (beyond those great folks already mentioned in Europe and Africa), here are a few that come to mind:
Bev Trayner in Portugal http://www.eudaimonia.pt/btsite/ (developing Shirikisha http://www.shirikisha.com, among other things and is so busy in Europe she has barely time to blog)
Ton Zylstra in Holland http://www.zylstra.org/blog/
Cliff Figallo and Nancy Rhine in California http://socialchemy.com/
The emerging GuildSmiths (who haven't fully come out of the closet yet, http://guildsmiths.com/ is the playground) led by Jerry Michalski (http://www.sociate.com) - disclosure, I'm on the periphery of this gang, but I point to them as a lot of smart, action oriented folk
Peter and Trudy Johnson-Lenz (the people who coined the term groupware! ) http://johnson-lenz.com/
I can dig up more names if it is fresh faces you want. Many of these people are heads-down working, so they don't get visibility, but they are really terrific.
Thanks again, Marshall!
(P.S. the preview button is throwing an error)
Brogan is well deserving of the "above the fold" billing!
Posted by: Jason Kintzler
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September 17, 2008 8:02 AM
Always try to look in on this lady
http://www.mediainfluencer.net/
Adriana Lukas understands that markets are conversations and that open communication is the name of the game
If you're looking for something new, check out our perspective on social influence and how its at the heart of social media.
http://www.goingsocialnow.com/2008/06/the-marketing-funnel-aint-dead.html and http://www.goingsocialnow.com/2008/05/social-influence-marketing-und.html
Why are you asserting that a good blog is evidence of a good social media consultant? Surely a good social media consultant is one who actually produces useful results for the organisations that use them?
While a blog is usually a decent indicator of the intellectual capacity and ideas of the author, it doesn't necessarily indicate that the author can communicate outside a textual platform. Perhaps it would be better to identify these people as valuable social media commentators who also work as consultants?
Beth Kanter delivers huge value to nonprofits every day.
http://beth.typepad.com/
Thanks for a good list. Glad to see my friend and Intel former colleague Dawn Foster is getting some well deserved recognition.
One thing I think this list lacks though are examples of corporate social media practioners who sport the scars of implementing social media programs in a corporate environment. The (we) are often the ones who stick around to implement many of the consultant's recommendations and follow through on metrics and activities to determine the success or failure of each.
I will be speaking with some of these exact leaders at Blogworld this coming weekend. Be sure to check out this motly crew of social media practioners who live it daily: Tac Anderson of HP, Michael Brito of Intel, Anne Plese of Cisco, Rohit Bhargava of Ogivly PR and myself...a social media strategist at Intel.
Oh and you should add Chris Heuer because he too gets it and he's fun as hell to work with!
Marshall: Excellent post. All seven are indeed thought leaders and worthy of the recognition.
I was surprised not to see @ShivSingh's name on the list. More practitioner than blogger, he consistently provides deep thinking on social media - what's working, what's not, and why. I recommend following him, (www.goingsocialnow.com).
I'm also perpetually inspired by Danah Boyd (www.danah.org), who has probably forgotten more about social media than any of us will ever know.
Great article! Really puts a lot into perspective.
Thanks!
-Elizabeth Hannan
Marshall, I think you need to add Umair Haque on here, considering mind-blowing analysis like this piece from 2006:
http://www.bubblegeneration.com/2006/01/edge-competencies-what-do-googles-use.cfm
And any mention of Umair is remiss without also citing John Hagel (McKinsey/Deloitte).
Danah Boyd is a fantastic academic in this area - blogging at zephoria.org
Top USA vs Top Rest of the world? :)
http://buzzcanuck.typepad.com/agentwildfire/2008/09/the-ryder-cup-of-word-of-mouth-buzz-and-viral.html