A friend of mine needed to put together a social media strategy for a client and doesn’t know where to start. She reached out to a handful of people and can you believe it, every person she contacted turned out to be a Social Media Guru. <ironic wink goes here>

To her untrained ear, they all talked a good game. But not one of them had hands-on experience putting together a basic social media strategy, much less implementing it over time.

So, how can you hire someone who can help you find your way through the jungle of social media platforms and purposes vs someone who wants to learn on your dime?

Turn up your bullshit meter and listen closely to their sales pitch. These geniuses told my friend things like “it's all about controlling the data." “I can guarantee you an increase in sales.” “Measureable ROI? No problem.” Yet, not one of these so-called social media kingpins would share their methods or plan of attack beyond high-level generalizations.

Here’s the thing: getting started in social is not rocket science, as you know if you’ve read any of my posts. The trick is to do it right from the start and to continue to fine tune what's working.

So before you hire a "Social Media Guru", turn your bullshit detector way up. Then look for someone who 1) has actual experience 2) doesn't promise you the moon 3) shares what they know in plain English 4) and asks questions like: what do you hope to accomplish? how can I help you make a business case for social media? do you have the resources to maintain an active social presence?