How to separate the social media studs from the duds

Be careful when you say experience is limited to the last 5 years! As a seasoned professional I was on techie Bulletin Boards 20 years ago and that is the true birth of social media. So I CAN SAY I have 20 years experience. You could not survive in that environment without understanding the rules of engagement and the purpose was to share and assist. That is what built followings and fans back then and it still works today. Common sense and common courtesy are skills my generation excels in and the new tools are just that – tools that can be learned as long as you have the aptitude but without maturity and creativity you won't be successful.

You say, "be wary of anyone claiming to have '10-plus years of expertise' in this space."

And I say, Utter nonsense. Just because YOU weren't around and participating in online forums over the past 20 years doesn't mean no one else was.

Chris Brogan did not invent Trust in the online space, nor is he the first to catalog its components and how to earn it. Just because somebody has a Twitter account and speaks corporatese at all levels doesn't mean they know how to navigate this landscape.

Word to the wise, especially recruiters: Don't be so quick discount experience. Just because you think it doesn't exist doesn't make it so. There are thousands of people with good and long experience that would make great managers of social media efforts. Any they weren't running around in diapers in 1980.They really do have experience.

For example, did you know that Seth Godin ran a very popular section on the Prodigy online service 10 years before he even thought about writing Permission Marketing? If you didn't play Guts, you don't know Seth Godin.

Find someone who served as a moderator of a Compuserve, AOL, Delphi or Prodigy forum or even someone who was an active participant in forums on those services and you will have a knowledgeable guide who has seen it all before and you won't have to cross off experience as one of your hiring criteria. And you won't have to train them, either.

Better yet, find someone who successfully marketed and sold within those forums by earning trust (even though it was against the "rules") and you will put your company light years ahead of your competition.

Wow...you actually managed to say nothing of value in this entire article.

So basically:
- Needs have lived in modern society and have friends and use the internet
- "Passion for social media". Huh? What does that mean? Likes to write on people's walls?
- Can communicate/has a brain

Check. 100 million Americans just became experts.

All very good advice, Donna. The one thing that isn't mentioned, although it's sort of implicit in your advice to look for depth of experience rather than longevity: Don't assume that only younger employees understand social media. There are many people who are seasoned corporate veterans who take the time and trouble to educate themselves and become proficient in these tools. I'm one of them and there are many others.

I wrote a blog post focusing on this aspect of the social media issue a while ago. Please visit http://blog.lubetkin.net/2009/10/dont-assume-that-social-media-is-age.html and let me know what you think!

Steve "@PodcastSteve" Lubetkin
Managing Partner, Professional Podcasts LLC
steve@professionalpodcasts.com
@PodcastSteve on Twitter
www.professionalpodcasts.com