I recently decided it was time to hire a new strategist. I knew I wanted someone who was already getting their hands dirty and understood the social media landscape. I began by reaching out to people I know personally for recommendations as I trust WOM first and foremost. The particular position I’m looking to fill isn’t an easy one, not tons of people out there with that skill set. No one I knew could recommend anyone who wasn’t already doing their own thing or working for someone else. My next step was to post the job. But I wanted to weed out anyone who wasn’t qualified. Posting on a site like Monster or Craig’s List or just about anywhere would have left me with a stack of resumes to go through for people who definitely wouldn’t have been qualified. I’m into niche, so I went niche. The only place I posted the job was on socialmediajobs.com and not only that but the only way I gave anyone to apply was via Twitter, figuring that if the candidate wasn’t on Twitter they most likely weren’t right for the job.

This is what happened: I got a handful of inquiries from qualified people who were on Twitter and got it. But I also got a bunch of inquiries from people who had signed up for Twitter solely to apply for the job. Not only that but they didn’t even bother taking the time to explore Twitter, they didn’t follow anyone, didn’t Tweet anything, didn’t do their research. Obviously Twitter was important to me or why would I have done the application process that way. If one or two of these applicants had bothered using Twitter for a while, following some people, Twittering something that might have caught my attention, even if they hadn’t been on for long, I probably would have at least opened a channel of communication. This is a perfect example of how many brands screw up social media campaigns, they simply don’t bother doing their research, listening to their audience, or acknowledging the importance of their audience’s affinities. They just jump in, broadcast, try to make a big splash and end up annoying people.