It takes a great deal of effort and co-ordination to make a business of significant size truly "social." Social media is now associated with communications and marketing, with many major brands now having dedicated social media teams sitting within their marketing department.
Despite this, there are a number of areas of a business that should be (at least partially) involved in social media activity. Here are a few below, along with the different reasons why they need to be integrated and kept up to speed:
Marketing - As mentioned above, this is the most obvious area where social media should be practiced. PR departments should have an element of control over the content and messaging that is published on social networks, whilst it is the role of the social media team (or any commissioned social media agencies) to ensure that any content that is published is engaging and of value to the community. Equally, the SEO team should be aiming to study and contribute to the effects of social search and planning ways to leverage business social media to benefit web traffic through the likes of Google and Bing. Any in-house web teams need to be kept up to speed too - Facebook's open graph can be a hugely beneficial source of acquisition for Facebook pages, whilst the same can be said of follow buttons for Twitter - it is the responsibility of the web team to ensure that these are implemented and are as effective as possible.
HR - Social media can be a useful tool for recruitment - LinkedIn is a classic example of social media being optimised for the hiring process. Social media is good for scoping out candidates too - whilst LinkedIn will allow you to see their employment history, a poorly guarded Facebook profile may let you in on what they get up to in their spare time too. This obviously isn't always a good thing; unacceptable behavior could easily lose someone a job rather than win one.
Product development - An area that a few of the bigger brands have investigated already, involving R&D teams in social media can facilitate the audience getting involved with product development. Crowdsourcing elements or even an entire product can produce significant levels of engagement for brands, as well as providing ammunition for the other areas of marketing such as PR, who may be able to sell-in the story to the press. It could be as simple as picking a new flavor of ice cream, or as big as creating and marketing a new beverage from start to finish.
Retail - Social media can have a big impact in the retail environment. With the recession and online deals having a significant impact on high street footfall, social media initiatives can have a big effect in store. Using social networks like Foursquare or Facebook to reward customers for checking in can do wonders, whilst having a dedicated page for a local store can be a great way of highlighting deals and special offers to targeted audiences.
Legal - An odd one you may think, but legal teams need to be up to speed on social media activity so that they can react if things go awry. Social media crises are hard enough to deal with, but if it has legal implications then it's always a good idea to keep the legal team up to speed. Equally, legal teams can be instrumental when it comes to reclaiming branded entities from social networks, or indeed switching page names (for those networks that only let you change your name once, like Facebook).
Ecommerce - Social commerce may only be effective at the moment for some brands, but any in-house team should be in the loop when it comes to social media, especially if social commerce should take off in the future. Some brands have attempted social commerce with varying degrees of success - it's down to the team responsible to get involved and see if they can make it work for the company.
As you can see, social media is no longer the responsibility of marketing alone - it should involve the majority of an organisation. Integration is one of many elements that is required to make a brand or business truly effective in social media - there should be ongoing dialogue between all of these departments to ensure that a business is getting the most out of all networks. With the involvement of everyone, social media can go a long way towards growth and long-term success for a brand, so long as they're all pulling in the same direction.
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