Jennifer Leggio takes a critical look at social media consultancy today on ZDNet and offers some constructive feedback to a nascent industry that does a much better job of promoting itself than actually offering real value to its clients:

Social media consultancy, for the most part, has gone the way of the snake oil salesman. While there are many qualified business consultants who can help a company leverage social networking as part of its overall strategy, there are far too many who are selling their services based on the ability to help establish a company’s presence on specific social networks. Many of these consultants have been successful building their own personal brand, however, prowess for personal brand building does not prove an understanding of enterprise business needs.

Companies need to stop believing the hype that social media is an “everything drug.” It’s not. It’s a strategy that needs to be considered and tailored to fit specific business needs.

“Social media consultants can be a worthwhile investment, but not if they are merely telling you how to use social networking tools,” said Jeffrey Mann, vice president of research in Gartner’s collaboration and social software group. “These consultants can be valuable if they have an overall understanding of your market and your business, and can help you connect social media to your strategies.”

Social media must follow and compliment a company’s business plan, not the other way around.

That’s always been a central tenant of our social media programs here at Topaz Partners.

Thanks to Todd Van Hoosear for a heads-up on this story via Twitter.

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