Different departments and agencies are competing to manage social media.

Perhaps partly due to the newness of social media, the question of who should be in charge of an organization’s social media remains a somewhat controversial issue. Should it be handled in-house or farmed out? If done in-house, should it fall under PR, marketing or a separate social media department? 

If outsourced, should the company’s PR agency, a dedicated social media agency, or a full-service agency handle it? Or should the function be split between different departments and agencies in a hybrid set-up?

A Natural Fit for Social Media

Many communications experts believe PR pros have the backgrounds and natural inclinations to best manage social media.

PR pros have several skills that are needed to succeed in social media, argues Red Jeweled Media. They have superb writing and interpersonal communication skills and are good with people. They can promote a company on social media just as they win media placements in print publications. They can handle difficult social media commenters just as they deal with clients or reporters.

They are experts at engagement. Just as PR people help companies and non-profits engage with reporters, they can help them engage with their fans. They also are skilled at serving as go-betweens for the company owners, sales staff, customers and the company’s technology and SEO agency.

Advertising and marketing executives surveyed by The Creative Group gave PR the edge, though only barely: 39 percent said PR/communications is best suited to manage social media; 35 percent said marketing, only 15 percent said customer service, and 5 percent said the CEO/owner.

Disadvantages of PR Agencies

Many PR firms are eager to expand into social media and offer dedicated social media staff. However obtaining earned media coverage, not creating content for earned media, are their core strengths, says Aaron Dodez, vice president, associate director, digital marketing at RPA.

PR agencies may tend to pursue strategies like news jacking to gain free earned impressions at the expense of creating engaging content that fulfills more important business goals, he writes in an article for iMediaConnection. In addition, they often lack strong backgrounds in paid media, a key social media segment.

Other options also offer pros and cons. The best option depends on the organization and its goals.

Keeping Social Media In-House

Experts agree that keeping social media in-house is the least expensive on the surface but not always the most effective. Social media is not as simple as it seems on the surface.

Managing social media accounts across different platforms, learning the intricacies of the various networks, and staying abreast of networks’ constant changes is time consuming. Employees must also monitor and measure social media efforts to determine the best marketing strategies. Busy with other duties, employees frequently place social media on the back burner.

Outside Agencies

Besides offering expertise and dedicated staff, outside agencies can typically provide services on a sliding scale. Businesses with smaller budgets can contract for fewer services. Hiring an agency can let a small business consider if social media is right for them without hiring an employee.

Experts warn companies to select an agency that understands its industry as well as social media. Agencies likely work with a range of clients in different industries, and may lack expertise in some sectors. Contracting with an agency risks losing authenticity. Customers believe tweets and Facebook posts are coming from people at the company and may be disillusioned if they learn otherwise.

Social media agencies boast a full complement of employees with the proper skills, including paid media. Their disadvantage is their costs, according to Dodez. Plus, they may lack a full perspective of the brand, particularly if there is a more creative-focused agency as the agency of record. They must execute on the full-service agency idea, which may not have been developed with a social media in mind.

Full-service agencies enjoy a full view of the creative. They understand content and have strong in-house resources, including paid media staff, according to Dodez, who discloses that his firm is a full-service agency. The disadvantage is that some may not bring their best teams to a particular campaign.

The best strategy, he asserts, is a dedicated in-house team combined with a lead agency that focuses on creating and corralling digital content. Many larger brands combine creative agencies, PR firms, and in-house teams in a hybrid strategy.

The Creative Group recommends – and we agree — a team effort because of the many aspects of social media, including corporate PR postings, content marketing, resolving complaints and measurement. The hybrid approach would create cross-departmental working groups to take advantage of strengths of different teams. It would include specially trained individuals to handle customer service on social media, possibly individuals from the call center.

A high-level PR decision-maker with close relationships to the c-suite, we believe, can best coordinate the cross-departmental working groups. For most organizations, the department with the greatest clout should be responsible for managing and coordinating the multiple elements social media.

Bottom Line: What department is best suited for managing social media and whether the function should be kept in-house or outsourced remain controversial questions. The right answer depends on the company and its needs and goals. PR typically already poses the talents and relationships needed to manage most all aspects of social media.

What do you think? Who is best suited to manage social media? Please comment below. 

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William Comcowich

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.