Social media specialists charging for Google+ webinars? I’m fine with that
There are people like you and me. We eat, sleep and breathe new media. We want to be among the first to get invites to the latest offerings (Quora, Empire Avenue, Google+) because if we’re not there early, we’ll miss something important, we’ll be left behind. We read what our peers and mentors write about these new channels, soaking up all we can get, curating the best for future reference.
When we see someone with the chutzpah to charge for insights into one of these new channels, we bristle. “How dare they?” we ask. “The channel is too new for anyone to proclaim themselves an expert. And besides, if someone wanted to learn about this channel, there are tons of free resources, all those blog posts and articles and reviews that new-media specialists have produced and generously given away.”
But we forget too easily that, in addition to you and me, there’s a much larger group of people who have neither the time nor the inclination to make exploration of every new, potentially important channel a focus of long-term study. There are, in my line of work, communicators who spend 10 hours a day at the office. They sit in mandatory yet interminable meetings. They take work home. They produce the outputs for which they are held accountable. And, more than likely, they’re doing it with a smaller staff and budget than they used to have.
A Google+ comes along and generates a lot of buzz. No, time had not yet told whether it will be factor in a year the way Facebook or Twitter were. Yes, it’s still in “field test,” is being tweaked routinely by Google, and only contains its preliminary set of features. No, nobody knows for sure just how it will fit into the social media landscape once it matures, or even what segment of the online population will use it.
But that nose-to-the-grindstone communicator has a boss who wants to know how Google+ might affect the company’s plans. They have budgets to set for 2012 and need to know if an investment will be required. They’re not looking to make Google+ a field of study. They just want to know what they need to know.
So Chris Brogan (for example) spends a ton of time in Google+, then offers an online session for $49 during which he’ll share what he’s learned. He never labeled himself a Google+ expert. He never claimed to unveil the secrets of Google+ or tell you how to use it to sell product. All he ever said was that he’d share what he’d learned.
When I was a general assignment newspaper reporter, I was not an expert in any of the topics I covered. However, I spent the required time with the subject, and then shared in easy-to-understand language what I learned. People paid 50 cents for the newspaper that contained reporting by me and the rest of the staff.
For some of us, charging for a Google+ webinar seems outrageous (and a number of critics have said so in blog posts and other channels). For that communications manager putting in 65 hours a week on the job (and trying to live a personal life in the momemts between), it’s a bargain. Two hours to learn the most important aspects of Google+, all in one place? Where does he sign up?
I’m not singling out Brogan. Bulldog Reporter is planning a teleconference on Google+. So is Ragan Communications. (Ragan has asked me to conduct the webinar, which will take place in late October.) PR News is charging $329 for its webinar, while Practical Social Media (of which I’ve never heard) is charging about one-tenth of that.
The list goes on. Among the webinars you’ll find in a search, many are free. So why pay? A number of possible reasons come to mind. First, there’s the old saw that you get what you pay for. Second, you have to consider the source. A free webinar from someone you’ve never heard of vs. a low-cost webinar from a trusted source that has always provided top-rate information in the past may tip the scales to whipping out that credit card. There are people who subscribe to resources like PR News, Ragan and Bulldog specifically bcause these organizations have earned their trust with great, useful content in the past.
It’s simple. If the best, easiest way for someone to get the information they need is to fork over a few bucks and spend an hour or two in a webinar or a workshop, that’s great. As long as the information provided is accurate and useful, and participants feel like they got their money’s worth, all the critics should save their ire for those who do claim to be experts or charge exorbidant amounts to deliver unsupportable information.
08/02/11 | 16 Comments | Social media specialists charging for Google+ webinars? I’m fine with that