This image has been floating around now for a week or so and is gaining popularity among social marketers as a great representation of what [we] do. This image is a visual representation of the digital marketing landscape these days. There are so many tools, sites, networks, communities, apps, blog platforms, measurement tools, and so on and so forth. How does one even know where to get started? Do you throw a dart at this thing to help you pick the first place you’ll go to get started?

That would be about the same as hiring a college intern (no offense students), to manage your social media marketing – which is often something you hear when talking to companies about how they manage social. They still don’t really get it, so the general sense is to bring in someone entry level to put some resource time to it, and hopefully figure it out. If that’s the case – you might as well take the dart approach. You get 3 darts to choose 3 places to focus your efforts – so aim carefully.

I would hope that this diagram produced by Buddy Media might shed some light on why it is important to invest properly in both time and talent to ensure your social marketing is on par with your competitors. Either partner with a seasoned agency who has the experience to help you manage the right social channels, or hire a social strategist who has the depth and breadth you need for your organization to help you make the right choices – backed by experience. Hire a strategist who has been in the trenches, and perhaps even failed and learned.

How much infinitely bigger will this landscape get in the coming year, two years, five years? Do you still think that the dartboard approach will work? Once you make that first social impression, it will be difficult to take it back.

As a business, wouldn’t you want someone who could help you navigate this diagram to digital success? Here’s an idea – if you are interviewing for a social strategist – throw this diagram in front of them and ask them what it is, what it means to them, and how they might use it… If your candidate has done their homework about your company, they should have a general sense of where on this diagram they might focus efforts, if hired… Ask the question, I dare you.

Just saying… It’s worth thinking about. But go ahead, hire that intern, give them this diagram, and wish them luck.