On the Sysomos blog, I recently did a post looking at the biggest social media mistakes made by companies, and the things companies should focus on to make the right hiring decisions.

The Mistakes:

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.

The Right Approach

To start, companies need a strategic plan or roadmap about where they want to go with social media – even if their initial foray is relatively modest. This will provide insight into the person who should be hired first, as well as those who could be hired later.

For the first hire, the focus should be on someone who has a variety of skills, including, of course, experience with social media.

This person needs to have strong communication and writing skills, as well as a good grasp on marketing and business development. Having someone who can also provide strategic insight would be valuable.

This is important because a company’s initial efforts will play a major role in whether social media will succeed or fail. As a result, it makes no sense to hire someone who lacks enough experience or the right skills.

In other words, don’t hire a junior employee simply because they are inexpensive and enthusiastic about social media.

With a solid person in place to establish a social media program, companies can then look for social media evangelists and tacticians to help support day-to-day operations.

These are people who are going to be on the front lines, talking to people online or in person at conferences, meet-ups and other events.

Again, you want people with strong communication skill, and enough confidence and experience to know what they can handle, and when they need to circle back for support.

These positions can be high-pressure given the flow of information come at them so it is important to have people who can stay cool when things get hot.

If there is enough social media activity to justify the investment, it makes sense to hire people to monitor social media activity. While this is a tactical position, it requires people with enough knowledge and experience to recognize situations that require attention and action.

At the same time, these people also need to quickly determine whether specific social media activity should be routed to particular departments so they can take the appropriate action.

The hiring process depends on how a company wants to approach and embrace social media. Regardless of whether it’s a small operation or a significant part of the business, it is crucial to hire people with the right skills and experience.

This is particularly important for the first person hired because they can make or break your social media efforts.