What role should comms play in other business functions' use of social networking tools?
The battle royale over who ‘owned’ social media used to be a cage match
between marketing, communications, PR agencies and their advertising
counterparts. But now things have shifted. Internal functions such as HR,
sales, R&D, customer support are all realizing that social media has
changed the way their communities want to interact with them.
A recent GlobalWebIndex report found that B2B decision makers were
highly socially engaged and rated conversations with brands on social networks
as more influential than webinars, sales presentations, conferences or
corporate entertainment. The more complex the decision, the greater the need to
ask questions of experts in online communities.
While this is great news, in many cases, they’re jumping straight in,
frequently without a safety net.
But a responsible communications function shouldn’t let them speak just
because they can. It is easy to create an online profile. And even easier to
damage your own – and your brand’s – reputation through careless or thoughtless
online behavior. Caution should be part of the decision to engage. While
statistics are telling us that our customers want to engage with us in social
media channels, the decision to open the social media floodgates should be a
considered one.
Knowing how to interact is critical. We should speak as human beings
and not in the language of hyperbole, press release or brochure. Just because
you can publish, doesn’t mean you should – and folks who understand how people
communicate should play a guiding role in helping their business units engage
online.
In some cases, the comms department acts as social media spokespeople
but this really is missing the point. The marcom function should not be the
sole driver of social media – but it should play a critical support role. We
should act as facilitators and ensure our subject matter experts take center
stage.
Our new mission in communications is to create a seamless experience
across a range of historically disparate social media, digital and offline
properties. We do this by arming the right people with the skills to manage
online discussions. Wishful thinking? For many, perhaps. But in the social
consumer’s mind, the change has happened. Better interaction across business
functions isn’t just management dreaming, it’s social consumer demand.
We’ll ultimately help people from all business functions play expanded
roles in support of their own objectives. This is a logical next step for those
companies that have developed owned media properties across Facebook, Twitter,
YouTube and LinkedIn. Based on our experience, it’s best to start with one
business function, division or product and build a program around someone with
a greater aptitude for social media.
Getting business functions engaged is great in theory, but someone has
to get them in the car and make sure the oil’s changed, tires are roadworthy
and the destination is mapped out. PR folks have always built one-to-one
relationships; we’ve done this with journalists for more than a century. We’ve
built community relations programs, managed employee communications and driven
discussions with industry analysts.
Our knowledge of strategy is critical - and those most familiar with the tools of the
trade must help ensure the job is done well.
A version of this article originally appeared on the PR
Week Global Thinktank, as part of my employer Text 100’s partnership with the site.