Who should manage a company’s social media efforts – marketing, public relations, customer service or a C-level executive — remains an unresolved and sometimes controversial question. However, the tide appears to be turning in favor of PR. More marketing and advertising executives believe PR is best suited to manage social media.
In a survey by The Creative Group 51% of marketing and advertising executives said they believe public relations/communications is best suited to manage social media. That’s a significant increase from the staffing firms 2013 survey when 39% said PR should manage social media.
Meanwhile, executives who believe marketing should manage social media declined from 35% to 28%. Executives who prefer customer service fell from 15% to 9%.
The survey results suggest that PR may be gaining ground in the competition to oversee corporate social media endeavors. PR agencies may be well-positioned to compete for business against digital marketing agencies and SEO firms.
Directing social media is a natural evolution of PR’s traditional media relations work. PR pros possess vital skills for managing social media efforts, including writing and interpersonal communication skills. They can handle difficult social media commenters just as they deal with clients or aggressive reporters. They also are skilled at serving as intermediaries between the company owners, sales staff, customers and the company’s technology and SEO agency.
PR’s Social Skills
“Social media can affect a company’s reputation, so it stands to reason that this channel is tied closely to public relations,” said Diane Domeyer, executive director of The Creative Group, in a news release. However, it is often beneficial for different departments to cooperate closely because social media encompasses many activities that require different skills.
“PR is best suited for social media because social media is essentially a conversation. While marketing or ad firms own the message of a brand, the PR function owns the conversation about the brand,” Jim Lin, vice president of Digital Strategy for Ketchum, commented in The Creative Group’s blog.
In the past, PR managed conversations about the brand strictly through traditional media. Now, supervising conversations about the brand with influencers and consumers on social media is a natural progression for PR. Ideally, marketing should create content, and PR should deploy it and communicate with influencers and consumers, Lin added. It’s important to also involve customer service in strategy and execution.
“They [PR pros] have an inherent understanding of the customer that no one else has,” he said. “To leave them out of the social media equation is a mistake.”
Social Media is a Team Effort
Although asserting that social media is principally a marketing function, Ted Rubin, a leading social marketing strategist, emphasized the importance of different departments working together. Sadly, customer service and PR/communications often operate in separate silos.
“This is a big mistake in the new marketing/social world since the message needs to emanate from one source,” Rubin stated. “True marketers understand that they must be the lead stewards for brand, reputation, communication and customer relationships.”
Bottom Line: More executives are selecting PR as the department best suited to oversee corporate social media. Marketing and advertising executives are realizing that managing social media is a natural extension of PR professionals’ traditional media relations role.
Who do you think should manage social media? Why? Please comment below.
William J. Comcowich founded and served as CEO of CyberAlert LLC, the predecessor of Glean.info. He is currently serving as Interim CEO and member of the Board of Directors. Glean.info provides customized media monitoring, media measurement and analytics solutions across all types of traditional and social media.
