Companies are hiring for a social media consultant again. It’s not like it was, but it’s definitely happening. The number of calls I’ve had in the last week exceeds the number of calls I had between August and December last year. It feels strange, but maybe it’s a good sign? But do they really know what skills they’re hiring for?

The biggest lesson I’ve learned during this is that a lot of people don’t know exactly what they’re hiring for. I’m not scared of that since I love working with people in that position who want to learn. So I’m doing a lot of listening to find that nugget during these calls. And I’m also trying to stay away from people who don’t know what they’re hiring for but definitely feel like they do. All they will do is increase my therapy bill.

But if you’re looking to hire and you don’t know what skills to look for, let’s talk.

Writing

I don’t care how good they are at video, graphic design or photography. If a person can’t write, they can’t be an effective social media consultant.

I easily write over a thousand words a day. That includes content, responding to comments and messages and emails. This is a writing-heavy profession. If you can’t gather your thoughts in a sensible way and deliver them in readable way, then it’s going to be very tough to persuade people to click on links or take any kind of action.

You can say that there are specialists in video, graphic design or photography who aren’t as dependent on their writing skills. However there are instances where they still need to be able to write. There are words they may need to put on their work. There are messages they need to send to convince someone to help them with the content, whether it be an interview or something else.

Writing is really the backbone of everything that happens on social media. So if you are hiring, make sure this is one of the skills your candidates possess.

Empathy

Unlike writing, empathy is not a skill you can teach. Either someone has it or they don’t.

I remember when I was at a conference and a bunch of us hung out at the bar for way too late talking about our respective businesses. One of my friends said he was filling in for the social media person at his company and that they needed to find someone new immediately. Why? Because of the number of times he wanted to tell customers to go to hell because he simply couldn’t see their side of the complaint. As much as this whole conversation scared me, I was so glad that he saw what a big deal it was that he simply couldn’t do that.

What happens when you don’t have an empathetic social media manager? The wrong feelings get put into the reply to an irate fan, and a small problem can snowball into a very big problem.

This is a big part of the reason why I walk away when I read a comment that upsets me. I have to get back to neutral and figure out where that person might be coming from when I reply. Or else I could provide a curt response and offend the fan. An offended fan can be the most dangerous thing on social media for your brand.

Research

The ability to research and put that research into action is the difference between a great social media consultant and one who just posts for a company.

What are you looking for here? I would simply ask them how they would determine what to post on your social media accounts. Every social media consultant has their preferred research methods so the answers may vary from person-to-person. So I would advise listening for their being some kind of thought process that includes research. The kinds of research you may want to see include your audience, your website, your social media channels, search and more. All of these should provide some level of knowledge that will make posting less of a guess. And then they can be more focused on what you and your audience wants.

If there is no ability to research, what happens is that you have to spend extra time guessing. That means more time figuring out how to fulfill the organization’s and the fans’ needs. And you may end up way off track with no real way to get back to what will work. That is a lot of wasted resources and nobody can absorb wasted resources right now.

What you actually need

This is something I’ve come across way too much. Someone goes into the hiring process with the idea that they want to hire a person who is complementary to them. What they end up hiring is someone with a very similar skill set. That means there is no way for the department to move forward.

You really need to sit down and assess the skills your department has at this moment. Then decide what is missing that can actually make your company better. It sounds like a no-brainer, but I’ve seen too many companies make bad hires to know that it isn’t.

And keep in mind that a social media consultant tends to touch many different departments, not just marketing. So they may need fundraising or event skills or something else entirely. Figuring out exactly what is missing and where you need to plug them into will help you decide those hard skills they may need.

What skills are you trying to find in a social media consultant?