Shel Israel recently wrote an elephant-identifying post titled Why SM Consultants are Coming in From the Cold.
I call it an elephant-ID post because it focuses on industry mechanics that are all around us, but no one is talking about directly. To summarize what stood out to me in Shel’s post – social media is no longer highly disruptive and consultants who made themselves famous during the normalization now need to align with larger companies to help the early ideas scale in practice.
Jevon called this a period of “social media arbitrage” where the consultants that Peter Shankman hates and Shel calls know-nothings were the Sylvester McMonkey McBeans or carpetbaggers making money in this market shift. Thankfully it’s over and we’re moving on to the era of social business.
This normalization is hard to miss. Look no further than the Taco Bell crisis earlier this year and the adept use of social media to stop the crisis dead: it’s social business as usual.
Professionals have been departing for greener pastures all around. Looking at the career path of the social business professional, stability is key with volatility increasing in the market as a good reputation and high visibility are hard to build. People seem to be in constant motion. Chuck Hemann leaves WCG while Aaron Strout and Brad Mays join. Shwen Gwee and Zena Weist join Edelman Digital, Michael Wiley and Blagica Bottigliero leave. Kira Wampler and Shauna Causey depart Ants Eye View. Jeremiah is tracking these moves on a regular basis. In case you haven’t noticed, we’re in the middle of a war for talent.
And it’s not just individuals. The economic downturn led to an inflection point roughly last fall, where you could see the capitalist tendencies everywhere signaling social media’s “Summer of Love” era was over. It must be the money.
I was employee #1 at Dachis Group and it’s energizing to see how we’ve been leading the shift to social business. Today we’re the world’s largest social business consultancy. Profitable. Have delivered over 500 social engagement experiences. And that’s tiny compared to what we’re working on now.
But we need help – as Shel identifies, individuals can’t meet the demands of today’s market and even small companies are overutilized. Dachis Group needs to run with some “new dogs” – professionals who have fresh legs, energy, and a knack for social business, who know “old tricks” – that is, have been consulting strategically, managing accounts, and designing experiences since back in the day.
If that’s you, then consider joining us.
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I have visited the Dachis openings page countless time since it has existed — alas, opportunities in this space here in the bluegrass are few and far between.
Even from afar I am enamored with your team’s ability to validate both the emergent need and requisite skills for transitioning enterprises from the outmoded mindset of B2C to C2B and P2P. Keep up the great work!