It's pretty much a universally accepted truth that social media can be an incredibly powerful tool to both generate traffic and retain customers. But when you're trying to research the best way to use different social media tools to reach your own business goals, the task  can be daunting. It seems that everyone is a social media expert these days!

Well, when you're focused on growing your affiliate business, time is money, and the more time you spend exploring the potential of different social media tools, the less time you spend actually running your business and making money. So how do you figure out who is actually a social media expert, and who is just trying to pass their Twitter and Facebook addiction off ass expertise?

Well, OpenPressWire recently posted a really comprehensive post on 5 kinds of actual social media experts. By profiling these 5 types of social media savants, the post really helps you separate the actual gurus from real geeks. Here's a quick overview of these 5 types:

1. Authoritative Expert: These guys are already experts in some other field (e.g. CEOs, venture capitalists, etc.) and have been able to carry that experience over to their social media presence.
2. The Power User Expert: These are people who managed to become incredibly successful with one social media tool, and then carry that success across to other tools as they emerge.
3. Content Creation Social Media Expert: Here we're not talking about strong personal brands (such as the "power users" above), but rather people who have found a way to consistently create effective content with mass appeal.
4. Natural Social Media Experts: These people are like that little Tony Robbins sitting on your shoulder; they're not really focused on finding specific content and directing people towards, but on being nice, supportive and helpful, and have risen to the top because they have great personalities and are excellent people persons.
5. Social Media Salesmen: These guys are pretty much just straight Internet Marketers, and their type of social media expertness is in building products and then using social media to sell them.

Of course, the original post goes into much more detail, and you should probably check it out because each of these actual experts are relevant in different ways. Essentially, if you're serisouly going to incorporate social media into your affiliate marketing strategy, you should have an idea of how these different types are relevant so that you go looking in the right places when you're planning or launching your next social media campaign.

For instance, while an authoritative expert is worth following if you want to learn about their specific niche or industry, it is unlikely you'll be able to build a personal relationship with them. Alternatively, a natural social media expert will be someone you can build a personal relationship with, and can help you figure out new mediums and find other useful information.

Alternatievely, identifying a content creation expert will help you find the conetent you can draw upon to create your own, while a power user can provide an example or case-study of how to leverage your influence in one social network and carry it over to another medium.