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There are many reasons I got into the industry I choose. One of the reasons, simply, is my passion for business. I love watching businesses flourish and the passion in the eyes of business owners who are excited about their product or service.

That said, it saddens me to see myths of the industry perpetuated by self-proclaimed “experts” or “gurus” looking to make a quick buck. They regurgitate information they stole from someone else, market it as the golden ticket, make a buck, and move on to squat in another field.

Knowing about an industry does not make one an expert. For example, I know the basic ideas and mechanics behind an automobile engine – yet I would never volunteer or offer advice on how to fix a broken engine. I would hire an expert – one who has studied mechanics (before mechanics was “the” industry) and has more than a working knowledge on the complex, intricate parts that make an engine function properly.

My clients come to me with information – misinformation – that they are fed. Content they heard or paid for, given by someone who knows about the industry of social media.

Recently, a client asked, “I have 100 fans. Now what?”

I knew immediately what he was referring to. A conference he had attended sold the idea that 100 fans on Facebook was the breaking point for over-night success in the world of social media. “One hundred fans and you get a Vanity URL” the ‘expert’ proclaimed.

Fantastic!

But my client was right. Now what?

There was no magic switch. There were no fireworks. The floodgates did not open sending a slew of new business their way. In fact, nothing happened.

They had 100 fans, mainly made up of family, friends, a few business owners they knew personally. But those people already knew about them, they haven’t expanded their market reach. Instead, they are saddled with the daunting obligation of keeping up with a concept they don’t fully understand because they weren’t taught how to use the tool effectively. They were not taught the concepts and philosophies behind social media.

The barrier of entry to social media is low; so low, in fact, that a huge population of “experts” are teaching the bare essentials, passing Go!, collecting $200, and moving on to another confused business owner. Furthering the promise that social media is easy to use (which it is) and because you can use a tool (as in, you have the ability), that, as a business owner, you are now commissioned to use that tool.

Just because you know how to use a hammer doesn’t mean you know how to build a house. Likewise, because you know how to use Facebook, that does not mean you know how to use it to build a successful online enterprise.

Don’t trust your most public image – your brand – to a half-baked, self-professed expert.

Get back in the driver’s seat of your business, pursue your passion, and let people who understand the industry help you.

To those so called “experts” and “gurus”, I say, get off the bandwagon.

Shaun Nestor is a social media consultant and founder of Never Mind Marketing. He is passionate about helping small- and locally-owned businesses use the power of social networking to build their brand.