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Look, this is THE easiest way to tell if you’re dealing with a social media expert. Therefore, a custom Twitter background is the most important thing a SM expert needs.
Why?
Well, you’re all communications people, so you know that the first impression is a lasting one.
Imagine this: You’re browsing Twitter for SM experts like yourself or maybe some TweetChat you’re not yet part of, and you come across a new Twitter feed. Yes, the feed is filled with valuable, new information – some of which is even original (not even a re-worded version of a Mashable article), but the text is set on one of the default Twitter backgrounds.
Run, run away as fast as you can. That’s no expert. That’s hypocrisy, my friend. It doesn’t matter if they’re sharing decent information, because if you don’t have a box to the left of your twitter feed with a little picture in it above a statement declaring your SM expert status, you’re a FRAUD.
Scenario 2: You come across a new Twitter feed. They’re information is variations of a few things:
- Retweets of Mashable articles
- Retweets of other SM experts’ tweets
- Tweets about they’re blog full of regurgitated information
- Retweets of people’s retweets of their tweets about their blog
It’s information that’s about 100 other places, but that’s not important. What’s important is that to the left of all those retweets is a square. A creative, so-unique-that-we-all-have-one square. And inside this square, is a slightly bigger version of the person’s Twitter picture and a declarative statement: “I’m a social media expert.” It’s even more legit if it’s followed by the agency the person works for as well as an “I’m available to speak at conferences.”
Sure, the box is a bit blurry and poorly designed. And sure, the person didn’t account for your screen resolution so the words are a bit blurry or maybe hidden. And yes, they could have written the same information in their bio, where everybody could see it always, but no. They made this box, so creatively might I add.
THAT is a SM expert my friends. This is not about original content. This is about stating that you’re a SM expert publicly, then believing it…because believing it is 75% of the battle.
So legit.
As I use Twitter more and more from my iPhone or from desktop apps, I understand custom backgrounds less and less. Sure, they look nice, but I’m more likely to see your bio and whatever site you link to rather than that background image. Great post!
Pretty sure I meet all requirements for SM expertness on this entire page. Time to raise my hourly rate from WTF-am-I-doing to trust-me-with-your-life-and-your-mom. Legit.
Wow Michael, Congrats!
I don’t know any of your qualifications, but you said you’ve reached SM-expert status, and that’s all it takes, really!
Raise those rates, my friend. You’re legit.