What Businesses Should Look For When Hiring Social Media Consultants

Every site has top 100 or top 1000 Users but as social media continues to explode in popularity I don't think you have to be one of "THE TOP USERS" on all the major sites to be considered an expert or guru. I think what matters most to people who are looking for experts or help with social media is that you have profiles on all the major sites that reflect social media best practices. We surveyed 100 business people who have hired social media consultants in the last 6 months and the top 5 things they looked for when selecting a person is listed below.

Complete professional profiles on major sites such as Facebook, Linkedin, Digg, Stumbleupon, Mixx and Reddit.

Active accounts on the major social sites. By active, we mean recent activity, quality submissions of multiple sites and not just your own sites and proof of success in using the sites which is easily seen in the profiles.

Good reviews and comments from multiple other people and clients.

Examples of quality submitted content on a variety of sites.

A pattern or history of successful social media campaigns which shows they understand the power of social media and how it should be used.