image courtesy of CatherineKaputa.com

I prefer “new media strategist” or “social media strategist.” Those both sound reasonable, and that’s what I’ve been telling people lately. What are the best and worst social media job titles? Are there any reasonable choices down in the list below? (I believe there are a few good ones). Which ridiculous ones am I missing? Please let me know in the comments section below. I’ll add good (and bad) ones to the list.

(Note: the Twitter handles you see next to some of the names are not necessarily the job title that person holds. I’m just giving credit to the individuals that offered me that particular name idea)

Social media strategist
New media strategist (my preferred self-descriptor)
Social media expert (many provided this one)
Social media specialist
Online media specialist (the great Court Sloger’s job title)
Social media consultant (how could I have forgotten that one @suebmoe?)
Social media director (Thanks Ken Earley)
Social media maven
Social media ninja (@Nick314 wants credit for this and cried about it on Twitter a bit, so here you go)
Social media sensei
Social media samurai
Social media genie
Social media guru (many offered this one, including @PrincessGraceUS and @courtsloger)
Social media community manager
Social media planner
Social media editor (thanks @ericasmith)
Social media coordinator
Social media missionary (so sorry, forgot who gave this one to me)
Social media vixen
Social media rockstar
Social media magician
Social media alchemist
Social media jedi
Social media sniper
Social media guerrilla
Social media commander
Social media Vulcan (I suppose this could also be “Social Media Klingon” or “Social Media Cardassian”)
Social media evangelist (thanks @JennaPet)
Social media geek (thanks @Gerrytonic)
Social media influencer (thanks @RobustWineBar)
Social media wizard (thanks @KimGlickert)
Social media whiz (or wiz)
Social media sorcerer (thank you @alglatz!)
Social media honey badger (@alglatz again)
Social media concierge
Social media black belt (makes Six Sigma people throw up in their mouth)
Social media honcho (courtesy of @RickyShambles)
Social media hotshot (thank you @reverendfitty. I consider you to be one lol)
Social media scientists or Socialsphere scientists (thanks @MoRandazzoMB)
Social media curator (thanks @megtalla)
Social media genius (thank you @AuthorsEmporium)
Social media analyst
Social media proselytizer (thanks @JennaPet)
Social media zealot (thanks to @DrDeadline)
Social media czar (yes! @theharryadams)
Social media worker bee (thanks @TheLunaLounge)
Social media aficionado (thank you @kirstiehamel)
Social media maverick (thank you @jacqsays)
Social media chump (I came up with that one, obviously as a joke)
Social media maniac (I had this in my Twitter bio for a brief time. I’m better now)
Social media champion (thank you @mizzoudavis)
Social media drone (a lame one I came up with)
Social media monster
Social media stud
Social media dictator
Social media engineers (thanks @ricardosstl)
Social media unicorn (not sure about this one @jeremywaite, but you win anyway)
Social media wrangler (thank you @itsjuststarla)
Social media overlord (thanks again to @itsjuststarla)
New media dude (@joshuaarnao loves this one)
Social media coach (Thanks @Daman)
Social media monkey (courtesy of @citylifematt)
Social media Lord or digital lord(thanks @kenrearley)
People herder or social media people herder (thanks to @jaceanderson)
Social media nerd (good one @gbussmann)
Social media phenom (good one @ow_a_hand!)
Digital interactionist (@suebmoe)
Social media borg (you will be assimilated)
Social media socialite (@MitchInThomWest)
140 character jockey (no way. yikes. Thanks @Igloo_Ad)
Social media dragon slayer (found it here)
Social media mastermind (thanks to @FreeRangeCookie)
Social media butterfly (courtesy of @DACARSTAR)
Social media mercenary (@notjustanotherj is certainly one)

(I got the idea for this post from this article, which also seems to be located here.)

Hmmmmmm, maybe I should have just used this website to come up with ideas – The Social Media Job Title Generator

I have never tried Storify. People seem to both love it and use it to great effect. The service best describes itself by saying that it’s used “To make stories using social media.”

I have lived through two recent social media “controversies,” if you can call them that, and both have been “Storified.” The first was a few months ago when I wrote a blog post about an unfortunate tweet made by an Internet marketer. The second was just yesterday when a friend tweeted some dissatisfaction at a restaurant and got an earful back.

As is always the case, in both instances I’m sure there’s more than meets the eye. Each time I tried to offer sound, objective advice, without resorting to name calling or ad hominem attacks (I did use the word “despicable” in that one post.)

Mike and Erica did a great job pulling the unfolding social media sagas together with Storify. I’m thinking I need to give the service a try.

Read this awesome article from Neal Schaffer of Windmill Networking. What he calls an oxymoron I will call “unrealistic expectations.” Small business social media marketing is broken (or nonexistent), and the reason is that small business owners (along with a majority of medium-sized business owners, large business owners, corporations, not-for-profits and NGOs, governmental agencies, etc) think social is the next great marketing platform. No. Take your marketing hat off.

Small businesses have less money to spend on marketing, on their awareness and visibility strategy, but they need those dollars to have an oversized effect on their bottom line. NOW. Small businesses just have less wiggle room than large corporations. Eventually, when the small business owner realizes that it will require their time and heart to make this work, social lands at the bottom of the totem pole, right below doing the books for the month. That is not where it belongs.

I know social media consultants that will promise results in three months, a certain number of followers, and the like. It’s completely foolish, but it gets them the job. Then you’re delivering rubbish on rubbish. I love Neal’s article because it is brutally honest. I try to be equally as honest with clients, possibly to my detriment. Social is not a quick-fix. It’s not a way to move a bunch of old product today. It’s just not like that. Once you have a committed group of followers, it can be used in such a way. But not at first.

Neal also points out that Social Media ROI goes beyond a simple metric or two. Done correctly, it’s going to positively affect your entire organization. Think of it this way: we seek more than money at our jobs. We seek camaraderie and fulfillment. What are the kinds of things companies do to keep employees happy and engaged? Summer softball? An amazing off-site training session? A worthwhile company-wide charitable endeavor? Yes, things like that. Then the company uses social media to share photography and stories from those events and many more, and we all feel just a little more like a family. And I stay instead of quitting. Steven Hawking will start calculating the ROI on my decision right away.