Like everything else associated with social media, the issue of consultant certification is complex. So far, 67 people have voted (including the poll on LinkedIn) and the results are definitely trending towards a qualified dismissal of social media certification as a key criteria in awarding consulting projects. The general consensus seems to be that certification is OK, but that experience, references, and professional background are more important for consultants hired to help a client to achieve their business objectives. No surprise there.
However, several important issues about social media certification emerged in the discussion and I have attempted to summarize them below. (There were 24 excellent posts in the various spaces where this question was asked).
- “Social Media” is complex and changing. It would be impossible for any certification to be up-to-date on the latest hot site or technology.
- The characterization of a certification is not always clear.? Does it mean you have mastered Twitter and Blogger? Or that you can name the top analytic tools? Or that you can set up a good Facebook page for a client?
- Some certifications are more rigorous (and valuable) than others. Certification is more meaningful if students are tested on their skills and go on to apply the lessons learned in real-life business situations.
- The real value of a social media consultant is their ability to apply their understanding of how social media works to the bigger question of how to use social media to meet the strategic communication and marketing goals of clients.
- Certification is mostly for professionals that will be leaders of the “social media” discipline, not consultants using a tool casually or tactically. In other words, training is essentially worthless without application and no one needs to be certified to set up a Twitter account.
While few professionals describe social media as an art form, most would agree that there is a fluidity and lack of predictably that relegates social media education to a tactical realm. (Like learning how to use HTML to create a web site but not how to use the web site to attract customers.) It’s another way of saying that the industry is still a long way from having the social media methodologies, measurements, and established best practices that make certification meaningful for a large and disparate group of practitioners.
So get your certifications if you must. Use them in your marketing if you can. It won’t hurt. Just don’t expect that your next major project will happen if you are certified, but not experienced.
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