Does your company use social media? And if so, who's in charge? Chances are high your answer'll be: the marketing team. True, someone has to give social media integration a little push, but the marketing department shouldn't be the only ones involved in this venture.
The entire company should be involved in social media
Social media, and the internet as a whole, are becoming a "second reality" and that's why all company departments should be consulted when setting up the social media strategy. In the ideal situation companies work with a cross-functional social media team. Representatives from several departments working together, is the best way to use social media to its full potential.
What business units can use social media?
Sales
You can often find new sales leads online. People who are looking for a service or product like the one your company offers, people who are displeased with your competitors' service or products... By setting up a smart keyword search in a monitoring tool, you can easily discover these new leads.
Customer Service
In a B2C environment your customers sometimes need to get in touch with your company. In the past this communication was restricted to letters, emails or telephone. Now there's also Twitter and Facebook and let there be no doubt: people will try to get in touch. It's best to be prepared, develop a clear strategy, set up guidelines and make sure you have a good social media management tool to deal with this challenge.
Marketing and Communication
Marketing campaigns are no longer restricted to traditional media. Sometimes there's a combination, sometimes campaigns are purely focused on social media. The big advantage with social media is that you can easily track people's opinions about the campaign, as well as the results it has on your sales and reputation. All you have to do: monitor the campaign!
Apart from following up on campaigns, marketers can also do their preparatory work on social media. Use a monitoring tool for market research. Through keyword searches you can define exactly those topics you want to examine.
PR
Follow up on your online reputation. What are people saying about you on social media, on blogs and forums, in comments on news articles about your company?
Purchasing
Many larger companies have a Purchasing Department in charge of buying products or services from other companies. Since this often concerns large sums, some researchcan be advisable. Use the world wide web to check on the companies you plan on buying from.
As you can see, there are so many different departments that benefit from the use of social media. No doubt there are many more business goals you can fulfill, besides the ones already listed. So join forces with your colleagues from other departments and think about social media as an enrichment for your company. Using social media is just something you have to get used to. Don't think of it as extra work. Think of it as another way of working.