Do corporate social media efforts need someone to take the reign? Does it need its own department?
Recently I attended a social media conference in Boston. Someone (I really wish I was better at remembering names) stated that social media was not a department but a competency. Although I believe this to be true for the most part I am really leaning toward the thought there needs to be more than that.
Credit: Jezza MK from flickr.com
Currently, I get the feeling that companies are using their web departments, a marketing rep, communications staff or a combination as a social media stop gap. This person or persons ends up swimming in the murky waters of social media at the same time as being tethered to the shoreline of their daily responsibilities. There isn’t anything necessarily wrong with this approach and it might ultimately evolve into a social media only position. And that goes back to my opening questions, should there be someone holding the reigns and a department dedicated to social media.
I think it is beneficial to have a core group of social media liaisons spread through out various organizational departments. I also think there needs to be a person assigned to guide these liaisons and act as a mentor, chief tweeter, facebook expert, etc. I also think this position needs to be the guiding force behind the direction the company follows in regards to social media. Essentially a department of one with representatives in each department. I don’t think this position needs to be filled by someone from generation social but should be filled with someone that understands the value of customer relations, knows the message the company wants to send out and gets brand management should include the customer’s voice. Customer’s experience with your company shapes their perception of your company as much if not more than a shiny brand campaign, at least until someone creates a thought control machine.
So the quick and dirty summary is this: Yes you need someone to head-up social media and wrangle all the disparate pieces, no you don’t need a full-blown department per se.
I would love to hear some feedback. 1.) Because it would let me know that people actually read this stuff. 2.) Because I really like hearing about what others are doing in the social media space and how they are working it out in their own companies. Even if you disagree with me at least it is the start of a conversation.
