In a very eloquent article, Peter Shankman explains why No business in the world should want a social media expert on their team.

“Not Twitter followers. Not Facebook fans. Not Foursquare check-ins – NO. What’s going to do it is GOOD WRITING, END OF STORY. Good writing is brevity, and brevity is marketing. Want to lose me as a customer, forever, guaranteed? Have a grammar error on any form of outward communication…”, says Shankman.

With all the Facebook/Twitter/Forsquare/Whatever buzz, it’s getting harder and harder to explain to customers that the basics are still the same – you STILL need a good website to represent you and your company; you still need top-quality content; and you still need a good product or a service. Oh, and don’t forget – good old, solid customer service – because most companies (at least here in Israel) still fail at this.

Social media isn’t a magic wand you can wave and get instant customers and  sales. It’s an interesting tool, but it’s mostly a spice and not the main course of the meal. True, amazing campaigns have been created using social media channels, but these are few and far between. Most social media activity is pure junk, mere particles of pollution floating in the net’s atmosphere.

Thanks for a great piece, Mr. Shankman.

Oh, and the next time you think about hiring a social media expert, watch this clip: