The vast majority of freelancers and contractors successfully utilising social media have largely mastered the medium through a process of self-tutoring and casually picking up hints and tips from fellow professionals. Very few have been formally trained.

But as social media has become increasingly valued as an integral part of the marketing mix, it should come as no surprise that many small (and large) companies are now employing social media experts to train staff to take full advantage of the opportunities the medium offers.

However, [Andrew Rayner](http://uk.linkedin.com/in/andrewrayner), co-founder of internet marketing agency [E-mphasis](http://www.e-mphasis.com/), has expressed his concern over the plethora of self-appointed social media experts, trainers and consultants thathave entered the marketplace who claim to help businesses master the maze of social media.

He believes that many of these “so-called experts” could be more of a hinderance than a help. In Rayner’s view, most organisations don’t have a unique ‘social media strategy’ that needs to be taught and argues that many professionals already have the skills to define the style and approach they should take to outbound communications.

**“People have a good level of expertise already thanks to sites like Facebook, and so it many cases it is unnecessary for businesses to invest large sums in training users in social media in order to introduce it into the marketing mix – it is integral and additional to their existing style and approach,”** says Rayner.

Whilst Rayner agrees that employees do need to train their social media skills out more widely, he does not believe that they need hours of training in the specific use of tools. He also believes that as outbound communications become increasingly decentralised, training budgets should be ploughed into helping employees understand exactly how to execute the corporation communications policy and prevent damage to the brand.

**“Businesses will need to get used to their people being able to communicate directly with their customer online. Rather than be fearful of it they need to embrace the opportunity it presents, understand the skills their employees already possess and guide them towards engaging in an appropriate style that matches their business image. Very few Social Media Experts will teach them how to do that in my opinion,”** adds Rayner.

Many of Rayner’s concerns surround small, medium and large companies. But the same thing applies to freelancers and contractors running their own micro-businesses. Possessing a full mastery of social media tools can be highly rewarding in a competitive marketplace, but paying for expert tutelage could result in being taught a lot of stuff you don’t need to know, just to pick-up the bits you do. Ultimately it depends on the individual nature of your business.

In most cases you should probably just ask for help from your friends on Facebook or get advice from fellow professionals on LinkedIn.

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Image by [aye_shamus](http://www.flickr.com/photos/aye_shamus/2883012011/)