What do employers look for when hiring for social-media jobs?

Many companies are hoping to capitalize on the hottest advertising trend by hiring people with expertise in social media.

But since many companies are hiring in this area because they don't know much about it, what qualities are important, especially when these days everyone labels himself or herself an expert?

With that in mind, I spoke with two local employers: AutoNation and the Knight Foundation. Despite the organizational differences of a large, public company versus a nonprofit, three main themes emerged: Personalities matter. So do results. But having a evangelist spirit about social media is just as important.

AutoNation's social media strategy is simple, said spokesman Marc Cannon: ``We want people to be informed customers.''

The Fort Lauderdale company has just hired a social media coordinator, one of five such positions that have been created over the past year. Cannon said the company looked mostly at personality.

``There's a sense of energy you need with these folks,'' said Cannon. ``They have to be good conversationalists, and hone things down into short message points.''

But results matter, too.

``Everybody blogs and everybody tweets,'' said the Knight Foundation's Marc Fest, who is looking to fill an online community coordinator position. ``Let's say you have a blog and you routinely get people to comment, and you have 5,000 followers on Twitter. That shows you know how to engage people.''

Both want to infuse a sense of social media not just in that hire but throughout the organization, so having an evangelist nature about spreading social media to other employees is just as important.

Companies shouldn't be intimidated by hiring for social media, said Jackie Stone, a New York-based vice president with Digitas, an interactive marketing agency, who suggested businesses remember their long histories of hiring in communications.

Whether it's a big brand, a nonprofit or a small business, the most important thing is to have a sound strategy, a constant voice and to be authentic, she said.

``It's really important to have somebody who can listen and respond properly -- not just respond,'' she said.