While social media is becoming a priority for a growing number of companies, it’s still surprising to see many companies make mistakes when hiring people to run their social media programs.

1. Hiring people based on enthusiasm rather than experience. Many senior executives don’t understand or, for that matter, use social media so anyone who just has a modest amount of insight about social media comes across as knowledgable. The problem is enthusiasm doesn’t mean someone can use them effectively to meet a company’s strategic goals.

2. Hiring someone with a limited skill-set. People doing social media are “corporate soldiers” fighting on the front lines every day. As a result, they see a variety of inquiries from customers, potential customers, partners, investors and suppliers. This means they need to handle multiple roles – customer service, marketing, business development, sales, etc. If someone doesn’t have the experience or knowledge, they will have a difficult time doing the job without a lot of supervision.

3. Hiring cheap. Given social media is a new corporate activity with uncertainty about ROI, many companies are hedging their bets by hiring cheap. It works because there are lots of people excited about having a social media job. The reality, however, is you usually get what you pay for. Instead, companies need to look at offering more money to attract better candidates with deeper skill-sets and experience.

4. Under-staffing. Another cost-saving measure when it comes to social media is taking a conservative approach to hiring. Most companies start with an individual as opposed to a small team, even if their strategic plan is ambitious and multi-pronged. This is despite the fact the tactics and content creation to support social media programs can be labour-intensive. It explains why many companies’ social media efforts fail due to a lack of execution.

5. The lack of investments in tools to make social media activities more efficient and productive. Even though many social media services are free, the tools to support their use can cost money. Whether it’s monitoring services, publishing tools or ways to automate content distribution, an investment in a solid social media toolbox can make the difference between success and failure.

Do you agree? Are there other hiring mistakes that should be avoided?

Tags: hiring, mistakes, Social Media

This entry was posted on Friday, July 2nd, 2010 at 7:30 am and is filed under Social Media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.