There's nothing wrong per se with hiring a social media person but it's a long tail play, meaning that sales won't materialize overnight and you'll need to give it 6-12 months before you understand if you're getting a return on investment.
Word of mouth is amazing and will yield better prospects than people who are not familiar with you. The downside is that you need people to talk you up on their own accord. Consider incenting them - offer them a discount on your next consulting project (or retainer, not sure about your business model) if they can connect you with people you know.
Do also consider partnerships with other companies (consulting, software, hardware, etc) that are relevant to your customer base. Again, it's not necessarily an immediate sales generator but investing the time here will pay dividends later.
I'm happy to provide some more concrete things you can do if you can share more details about your consulting work and customer base.
