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Short skirts and cleavage have long been used to sell us products from beer to motorcycles to fashion magazines. I am so immune to it that I often do not even notice. So, why should I be surprised to see social media campaigns geared the same way?

Using some hot girl or guy as the face of your social media campaigns may work to build your friend list and followers, but does it build your brand and engage users online?

There are a number of challenges to finding the right voice to listen to and interact with your audience online. Andrew Ballenthin, president of Sol Solutions put this to the test last December when he staged Blog-Off II, a judged event to test participants’ effectiveness in social media marketing.  He shared his findings with MarketingVOX and we thought we’d share ‘em with you.

According to Ballenthin, the person you should be looking for will have:

1. Strong business and communications background; ideally 3-5 years in marketing, journalism or media.
2. Proven successes in a communications field. This is no different than hiring anyone else in your organization. Have they delivered in the past and can they provide meaningful value to your business.
3. Social media accomplishments that can be measured uniquely.
4. They understand your customer’s relationship with social media and build a campaign on the appropriate platforms. If your clients don’t use facebook, but they do use LinkedIn that would probably be a great place to engage them.
5. Transparently creates and measures goals. Just like any marketing campaign, you need to see the ROI.
6. Again, a focus on getting a return on investment
7. Proven methodologies backed by experience, research and case studies. Consistency is key to getting replicable results.
8. An understand that great social media campaigns works in conjunction other marketing efforts.

Young, hot and a thousand friends on facebook does not necessarily equal a social media strategy. Add value to each interaction and let the natural viral nature of these communities evolve. You can not force it.