There are so many experts (perceived and real) out there, that some might feel the need to distinguish themselves from the crowd. Suddenly they’re no longer the consultants or practitioners they once were; they’ve invented self-aggrandising titles like guru, ninja and samurai instead.

If someone thinks you’re pretty damn hot at something and they afford you the mystique and compliment of calling you a guru, then great. Kudos to you. But when would you ever feel it’s safe to call yourself one?

Beguile and seduction are all well and good when canvassing outsiders. But this level of narcissism is another ballgame.

Imagine you need a dental check up. As you sit in the dentist’s chair would you be happy if the qualified doctor in the white coat introduced herself as a dentistry ninja? Nope, me neither.

How about a gynecological guru? You’d run a mile, right?

Social media bottom line, folks:
What’s so often misunderstood by so many is that social media isn’t new, despite all the new media bumf. It’s marketing communication – period. It’s what marketing was ten or twenty years ago: talking to your [potential] consumers about you and your offering and how it can solve problems. Social media may be different but it’s not really new.

Watch a football or rugby match from twenty years ago. Sure, the game’s moved on, and yes it’s different as professionalism and money has moved, pushed and blurred previous boundaries, but they’re not NEW sports. They’ve simply evolved. Ditto marketing.

Doubt a social media guru or ninja will tell you that though.