Hiring a Social Media "Guru"
First things first... anyone calling themselves a guru, ninja, rockstar, maven, or expert is most likely the LAST person you want working for you.
That being said, hiring the “right” social media professional is a hot button issue these days.
Social Media jobs are popping up all over the place and there are more open positions than there are truly qualified people.
Anyone with a facebook page and/or a twitter account can call themselves an "expert" but that generally carries little weight.
Where to Start
Most companies will take a look at a person’s resume since that’s how you know they are interested in your position.
Look for all the obvious traits – education in traditional business, marketing, or communication.
If they do not have a solid communication background, odds are they will not be able to handle the demands of a social media job, since after all, social is in the title.
If you do not want to read the resumes you are given, it is very easy to go out and find the candidates you are looking for directly on Linked In or twitter.
Use key words like “Community Manager” or “Social Media Manager” and odds are, you’ll see resumes and blogs pop up almost immediately since the best candidates are already alive and active in the medium.
Once you have found a good sampling of candidates that you would like to start interviewing, a more and more common practice is checking Klout.com to find out how influential the candidate may be.
It is important not to use this score to make a decision on hiring, but as a starting point.
If their score is a 20, they clearly do not understand Social Media, and would probably not be a great hire.
Look for someone with 40 or above. That's probably as far as I would take Klout as it is not a perfect measuring stick at the moment.
How to Assess
You will have a job description already prepared, and know exactly where you want this person to fit into your corporation.
The questions you ask must reflect the specific jobs you have in mind. These are just a couple to get you started:
- What programs would they use for website management?
- How will they come up with blog content?
- How will they drive traffic to a website?
- What would their ideal strategy be on Twitter?
Facebook?
- What experience do they have creating a strategy?
- How do they plan to grow a community?
These are all great starting points, and their answers should reflect relationship building, actual names of tools and specific examples of past experiences.
You want someone who is analytical, creative, responsible, entrepreneurial, social, outgoing, and has the ability to see the big corporate picture.
You do not want to hire someone who only understands how to build a personal brand instead of a company brand, someone who isn't on the big 3 networks (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn), or someone who thinks that high activity is the same thing as a marketing plan or strategy.
The thing to remember, that while social media is new, the basic principles are still there.
The candidate must be strong in marketing, communications, & public relations – and understand that sales is the bottom line.