“Must catch fly with chopsticks.” That’s what Mr. Miyagi told the Karate Kid he had to do in order to be good at karate. Sometimes that’s what it feels like when you’re trying to understand all this social media stuff, huh? The fly is always moving, darting left to right, up, down, in, out. That’s the technology and tools – always changing. And all you’ve got is a pair of chopsticks. That’s not your brain. It’s your time. It’s limited, and you didn’t plan on using it to catch flies.

Every day we hear business owners say, “I know I have to do this Social Media stuff. I know it’s a great way to do business. But I don’t know where to start. I don’t know how. And where am I going to find the time?” No kidding.

Can someone else do it for you? Yes, most likely. Do you have to be extremely cautious handing it off? You bet. Unfortunately there are a lot of snake oil gurus out there today taking advantage of what you don’t know. Here’s our advice: If you find someone, or some company, that touts their social media expertise and they have a website that lets you “just sign up” and takes your credit card, or tells you they can help you without ever meeting you, without ever spending time with your company, without truly proving they understand your industry, leave skid marks on their home page.

No matter how much expertise a person or business may have in the technology of social media, it is pointless unless they strategize, customize and personalize it for you. They also need to work with you to draw a line in the sand and say, “These are the things we can do for you, on your behalf – and these are the areas we will need to turn over to you because they absolutely must come from inside your organization.”

Most businesses are determining that a lot of this new world of social media can effectively be outsourced. It’s faster, cheaper and better. How the heck can you even hire someone for a position that you don’t know how to train for, monitor, or judge? How do you know they’re keeping up on the daily changes and technological advances available to make this whole thing work even better if you’re not on top of it yourself? That’s the challenge many companies are realizing.

The real experts will become more and more obvious. And yes, in full disclosure, we believe our Online Brand Managers are true experts. But that’s because they spent a lot of time becoming experts. And they continuously spend a lot of time getting to know our clients businesses as if they were employed by them.

If you want to try your chances at catching flies with chopsticks, by all means, give it your best shot. But when you get tired of wasting time, look for Mr. Miyagi.

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