The rapid growth of social networking sites has led to an explosion in two things that are increasingly frustrating (particularly as they continue their rise in prominence):

• Consultants who call themselves social media experts
• (Ab)use of the term branding

The former can be explained by the lack of understanding the latter. That is, the more we allow branding to be the panacea for differentiating oneself, the more we see a rush to those hawking this fancy solution–social media experts.

These solutions are tantamount to hollywood diet fads. They each have an ounce of truth, but both offer an ineffective shortcut around the hard work that must be done. To lose weight, that means eating better and increasing exercise. To differentiate, nothing is as effective as excellence. If you have already accomplished that, by all means, hire a social media expert to work on your branding. Otherwise, I think resources and energy are better spent becoming something worthy of an incredible brand.