Pro Bono or Pro Bo-NO

On April 7, 2010, Sarah Evans put up a post on her Facebook Wall. The post simply said, “You can’t give it all away for free.:)”

The post, in turn, created a large thread of comments. I sat this one out and looked on a “listener.” Here were some things people said:

• Jeff Friend, “So true. Question, at which point do you draw the line?”
• Sarah Evans, “In my world, I typically share tips, tricks, tools…all free (and I try to share a lot). As soon as it gets into strategy, how to or application/execution I typically ask if “they’d” like to work together. The “can I just pick your brain for 5 minutes” requests are typically (not all of the time) a trigger to know it’s a consulting-related question. Does that help?”
• Chris Martin, “Consider yourself your favorite charity, that way you will only give away what you can afford to.”
• Kim Gilmore, “I give, selectively, with all of my heart & soul. The karma returns the favor 10 fold.”
• Damien Steiner Smith, “I totally believe in giving away 80% of my knowledge and reaping the rewards in the 20% that I hold onto! It works every time.”
• Sarah Evans, “I don’t know if I’ve reached the 80/20. Something I need to work at. I think I’m more 75/25. Or maybe I’m my toughest critic???”
• Jeff Friend, “Wow, great thread you have going here! This is a hot topic! Social Media/Networking revolves around sharing and contributing, but those of us who have spent all of our time learning by trial and error have developed strategies and tools that would allow our clients to do it all in 1/10 the time (once we tell them how). I agree with Sarah – it’s THAT strategy that we should be charging for. There’s still a lot of gray area though.”

I have been thinking about this topic so much lately. Sarah’s thread came at an optimal time.

Being a Social Media Consultant is a lot like being a Personal Trainer in one fashion. I have friends who are (amazing) Personal Trainers. Every time we go out people (me included) are always asking them for advice. “How many reps should I do? How many sets? How heavy? Cardio? No cardio? Calories? Cheat meals? Etc.” And they could easily answer all those questions. But to answer them specifically for the person and their goals would take awhile. They would need much more information before they could implement the perfect approach. So they give out broad and generalized information. It’s useful and beneficial. I always pick up a thing or two. But what it really does is captivate me. It makes me think, “Wow, they know their stuff. Perhaps I should hire them to create my workouts for me.” And that’s where they make their money, where their business is.

Social Media is similar. As Sarah mentioned, “In my world, I typically share tips, tricks, tools…all free (and I try to share a lot).” By doing this, I think we really grab the attention of our audiences. If the information we share is valuable enough or displayed in such a way that someone would gladly “pay” for it and the strategy that comes with it, we have succeeded.

But at what point do we go from “Pro Bono” (through these tips, tricks, tools….all free) to “Pro Bo-NO (strategy, implementation and time)?” As entrepreneurs and business-oriented individuals we need to draw this line somewhere, without jeopardizing the nature of acting purely “social.” As time goes on and individuals, small businesses and large corporations all enter into the Digital, through Social, Landscape, it’s going to be critical to know when and how to draw this fine line.

For me, it has nothing to do with wanting to help. If time were infinite, this would not even be a debate. Unfortunately, though, there are only 24 hours in the day, forcing me to decide what I can and cannot “give out.” Just because this industry is social by nature, doesn’t mean that the value in it comes with no price tag. We would never expect an Advertising Agency to continuously share their strategies, much less give play-by-play details and implementation out for free. And so I feel we cannot expect the same from people who hold the knowledge of accurately and strategically implementing a Digital Strategy.

As a Social Media Consultant, my #1 Priority is to meet and exceed the goals of my Clients. I do this through constantly learning about and engaging with them and their target markets, while expanding my own network and knowledge library each and every day. If, during this process I am able to share and help someone else (which I always intend to do) then I’ve succeeded in my Pro Bono!

My bottom line opinion on the subject: When your clients have success, you have success. And with your success, you are able to share more with others naturally. It’s then, that you will never have to worry another day about a Pro Bo-NO!

(Thank you again, Sarah Evans, for the great thread! Sarah is a “must-meet” Digital Mention for me! You can learn all about Sarah via sevansStrategy, PRSarahEvans, following her on Twitter or one of her many other Social places.)