A few months ago when I was exploring the idea of starting ME Consulting, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to describe myself.

At first, I was a “social media expert” but that seemed over the top and, well, un-Canadian. Then, I was a “social media strategist”, which felt more comfortable until realizing that scores of people armed with a blog, a Facebook profile and a Twitter account were calling themselves “social media strategists” or “social media consultants”. So, I settled on “digital marketing and communications and social media consultant”, which, while not exactly snappy, seems like a good fit.

In the scheme of things, the job description process is just nomenclature and the title on a business card. But to be honest, the major reason I backed away from describing myself as a social media expert, strategist or consultant is I believe social media is going to disappear.

I know what you’re probably saying “Social media is going to disappear? What’s in his morning coffee?”

By “disappear”, I mean that sooner rather than later, social media as a hyperbole-driven, standalone, new-kid-on-the-block entity is going to evolve into a communications, marketing and sales strategy and distribution vehicle that happens to rely on a variety of valuable and useful online services.

For now, however, social media is being sold as something revolutionary. And there’s no lack of people positioning themselves as strategists and consultants when, in fact, they’re really “enthusiasts” who love using the tools but have little or no experience actually applying them to achieve business objectives.

At some point, there’s going to be a realization that social media is a far more than the tools; far more than being able to set up a blog, write snappy updates in less than 140 characters, or upload videos to YouTube.

In time, people will realize that social media success is built on three elements:

1. A strong platform of communications, marketing and sales expertise and strategic focus

2. The ability to effectively deploy a wide variety of social media tools and services to deliver information, campaigns, etc.

3. A willingness and commitment to engage with your constituents – customers, employees, suppliers, investors, partners, etc.

In time, I think “social media” will lose its sexiness because it will become a widely accepted way to do business – whether you’re communicating, marketing or selling. In a good way, social media will fade into the background.

Addendum: Some inspiration for this post came from a post on MarketingProfs Daily Fix called “How Long Does It Take to Become a Social Media Expert?” that explores whether Malcolm Gladwell’s 10,000 Hours theory can be applied to social media.

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