Some people fantasize that being an independent social media consultant would be the perfect dream gig; but in reality, I think it can be one of the most demanding, stressful jobs in the world. For all the time people spend starry-eyed & cheering about “social media revolution” – very few rake in big bucks by advising others how to participate. What most social media consultants get paid – in return for all the hours and effort they put into their online game – is pretty meager compared to many other professions.

Many people think social media consulting is easy money. It’s not.

1. The pace can be overwhelming. Your social media knowledge, your connections, and your published content all quickly become obsolete – and constantly need upgrading. If you get slightly unplugged for even a month or two, by accident or by choice, you’ll have missed out on some fairly major developments… and you’ll have to scramble to keep up.
2. Social media friendships can be demanding. The larger you grow your network and the more online presence you have, the more well-meaning people will randomly request and demand things of you. You’re hit with more e-mails, more interview requests, more offers to get together pick your brain for the price of a coffee, more stories to vote on, more mindless chit chat to respond to – or else people will feel snubbed.
3. Success is ephemeral. You can be rocking the socks off of the social media world and cranking out the content and new connections like an Uzi – but the second you take your finger off the mouse trigger, people will forget about you pretty quickly. They’re all after the new guy, the new site and the new trend.
4. It’s very competitive and there’s no barrier to entry. Every man, woman, and child with a Facebook account is now a social media consultant. No matter how much time and effort you put into researching your technique, content and presentations – you will still be competing for gigs against the hot girl with 6 months experience or the “Senior Social Media Manager” at some big company with 39 friends. Even if you’re honest and straightforward about the extent of your knowledge (or lack thereof), you’ll still have to compete with sales hustlers and shameless self-promoters who might not be.
5. It requires lots of unpaid overtime. Social media is really fun and glamorous when it’s just for kicks, but it can to feel a lot different when you’re “working it” on the other side of the bar. In addition to spending 30 to 40 hours a week on profit-producing business development and client contract tasks – I usually spend an additional 30 to 40 hours writing content, managing my blog and responding to comments, reading RSS feeds and commenting, building accounts, helping with my friends / connections, following links on Twitter. When you’re feeling it, it’s still fun, but when you’re not – it can feel like a grueling overtime burden that eats into your nights, weekends and your business workday.
6. Some people expect you to know everything. No matter how intensely you study and practice your social media skills, clients will need help or guidance in areas that you just don’t know anything about. If you are honest about what you don’t know – some clients will think less of you, and will look for an full-service “agency” who claims to know about “everything.”
7. Egotism is rampant. Independent social media consulting requires that you build up a strong “personal brand” – or professional superego. The emphasis on status, self-promotion and cult-of-personality brings out the ‘worst’ and most self-serving parts of some people. I’ve met some snobs, hob nobs, and megalomaniacs who would probably feel more at home at coke parties, socialite society balls, or on American Idol – had they not discovered social media.
8. Social media is unpredictable. No matter how good of advice you give, or how much time you put into content or a campaign – sometimes it just doesn’t catch on. This can leave you biting your nails and leave the client doubting your skills. A designer can guarantee they will deliver 3 design proofs within 30 days – but a social media consultant CANNOT guarantee even the best content or ideas will be well received by the community. The volatile nature and fickleness of the community cause a lot of stress and pressure to work overtime when something doesn’t “catch on.”
9. The pressure to “sell out” is intense. At the low end, there’s tons of cool companies and people who need help – with $500 budgets. But the ones willing to pay good money to consultants are usually huge corporations. Sometimes, but not always, they have uncool products and services that aren’t a natural fit for social media – but they’re hungry for a way to ‘leverage the new media trends for profit.’ Consultants need to get paid – and it can cause both parties to ‘fall in love’ based on incompatible needs – and end up in awkward, uncomfortable professional relationships.
10. The pressure to “have no life” is relentless. Working non-stop through evenings, weekends, holidays and the wee twilight hours are all fair game – if you want to even try to keep up with the rockstars on Twitter and the digerati on Digg. If you are determined to keep your work contained within a normal workday or workweek – you may find yourself at a huge competitive disadvantage because many of your peers are willing work much, much more.
11. Clients want results, not strategy. In theory, you can just offer people “consulting” or advice. But to keep clients paying each month, they usually have to see successful results. This often can’t be outsourced or whipped up – it often requires the client’s full, active participation and willingness to change their business culture. Many of them aren’t willing to actually follow the only strategy (involvement and active participation) that will likely provide them with the results they want. Catch-22.
12. You can never stop hustling. No matter what level you make it too, you can never kick back and coast along – earning passive income as a consultant. If you’re not hustling and making enough noise that people don’t forget about you – you’re not getting paid and you’re sinking. If you’re a natural-born power networker this can be exciting – but it can quickly get fatiguing for some personality types.

Social Media Consulting is Hard, Hard Work

There are some incredibly hardworking, almost superhuman people who have made a good name for themselves and provide excellent value as social media consultants. Who have set things up so they make good money without being on a hamster wheel 24/7.

But for every one of them – there are dozens of people who will try, fail and get ground into dust by the intense pressures and unique challenges that new media presents. I think there are a lot of ways to make a living with your passion for social media – but the consulting model is one of the most demanding, least stable and least lucrative ways. It can be a lot less glamorous than it may seem from the outside. So just make sure you really, really love the extra hustle that that social media adds to the networking and self-promotion demands that all types consultants face.
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What’s been your experience with social media consulting? What do you love or hate about it?

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Social media has given us some amazing new channels for self expression. Common people are getting empowered and gaining an international audience by creating and sharing good stuff.

But just like digital cocaine, social media can also inflate people’s ego in a nasty way.

Rockstar? Or vapid starlet in love with your own digital reflection? image: jhuffman

It tempts us with a hypnotic, digital “mirror” that we can gaze into anytime – or all day long if we choose to. And it offers us hundreds of new ways to spread the latest gossip… which causes some people to get completely absorbed in the “me” part of social media.

The whole scene reminds me a lot of the dot com bubble of 1999… when a giddy, reckless sense of excitement over the new technology and culture heavily blurred the line between fantasy and reality.

One current phenomena that I find odd: just making a lot of chatter and noise is enough for some people to become “famous.”

What is a Social Media “Rockstar”?

Digg.com founder Kevin Rose. image: Garrette

Here’s my own personal definition:

A social media rockstar is a charismatic & highly-skilled person who gains a large audience because of their successful online projects and/or selfless community contributions.

A musical rockstar creates songs that inspires thousands of fans to fill stadiums, scream along and hold lighters in the air. A social media rockstar creates content and builds communities that inspire tens of thousands of people to link and leave blog comments.

While some rockstars can develop big egos, they’ve got recognized accomplishments to back them up:

• Popular bloggers who create valuable information resources.
• Community-minded organizers and top contributors on social sites.
• Founders, designers and architects of successful social technologies.
• Creators of “smash hit” viral content that spreads around the world like wildfire.
• Researchers and teachers who selflessly help lots of other people “get it.”

To me, people like Kevin Rose (co-founder of the top social news site ), Maki (#3 Digger and Technorati Top 20 blogger on social media culture), creatives like the Cracked.com publishers or Matt Inman (who consistently produce viral hit, after hit, after hit), or bloggers like Chris Brogan or Marshall Kirkpatrick (who spend a substantial amount of their time online creating guides and resources designed to help people) are the genuine social media rockstars.

What is a “Social Media Narcissist”?

There are plenty of people online who have managed to create a sizable audience without much in the way of skills or selfless community contributions. These social media narcissists participate heavily in the online conversation, but if you look closely you will see that most of it is just chatter about themselves, their opinions and their friends.

Some common traits of social media narcissists:

• Self-absorbed. They blog and tweet almost exclusively about themselves, their thoughts, their pictures.
• Rarely mention others except for personal buddies or admirers.
• Spend most of the day on Twitter.
• Perform little to no “real” work – don’t code, design, publish or promote much (except for themselves).
• Some live outside of the economic “real world”: independently wealthy, supported by their parents or spouse, live on venture capital $ or have a cushy job.
• Have a high noise-to-signal ratio.
• Complain a lot, yet create little of substance. Some use troll tactics to get attention.
• Attend lots of technology conferences just to party and hang out.
• Start their own conferences in order to feature themselves and friends as speakers.

Some examples of social media narcissists would be most mommybloggers, “Senior” social media strategists at big companies or PR firms (the ‘theoretical’ ones who talk big but have no social media presence or real life experience), and full-time Twitter “celebutantes” who hang out in cafes all day… chatting up several thousand mutual friends and spambots.

Some self-absorbed people may be very influential or get a large following but I still don’t consider them to be “rockstars.” I think of ‘em more like social media “talk show hosts” or “rappers.”

What Do You Think?

Am I a social media rockstar? Not even close. Am I a narcissistic new media douchebag? Man… I really hope not. But I admit that I am driven to learn how to use social media more effectively and to reach a wider audience.

Not for the warm fuzzies I’ll get from peeking in the digital mirror, but because I love connecting, sharing and helping people. I honestly believe that social media has potential to spark a powerful, positive force in human evolution if we filter the noise and learn how to use it uber-consciously. (And also because I’m totally hooked on it… so why not go all the way ?)

So, what’s your real social media agenda? Who do you think is a real social media “rockstar”? And what’s your take on the noise and the narcissism that comes served alongside the good stuff?

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Social Media Rockstar Runs on Thesis Theme for Wordpress

Thesis is an easy-to-customize, premium Wordpress theme that comes with full technical support. The beautiful style and pixel-perfect typography makes your writing look more polished and professional. If you’re serious about blogging and you want to focus more on your writing and do less hassling with PHP code… then check out the Thesis theme for Wordpress now! – Brett