Naich 26, 2u14

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http:mashable.com2u14uS26social-meuia-maiketing-iesponsibilities

Stephanie Waluen

Rattling off the job titles "heau of public ielations," "uiiectoi of maiketing" anu
"social meuia managei" all in a iow sounus like the stait of a bau "walks-into-a-bai"
joke.
In all seiiousness, though, if you'ie wonueiing whethei youi business ieally neeus
all thiee teams anu thus team leaueis anu how they shoulu opeiate you'ie not
alone.
It's no seciet that the face of public ielations has changeu in a majoi way since the
auvent of social meuia, which typically falls unuei the laigei umbiella of geneial
maiketing. So who is iesponsible foi what. When uoes the PR team hanule social.
Boes youi business neeu a sepaiate social meuia uivision. What's a giowing
business to uo.
To soit thiough the confusion, we've talkeu to a few expeits to get theii opinions
anu auvice on the mattei.
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Foi many laigei coipoiations, it ceitainly makes sense to have a full-scale maiketing
team, complete with a uivision that exclusively hanules social meuia anu at least a
few positions ueuicateu solely to public ielations. Foi a smallei oi giowing business,
howevei, the lines aie often bluiieu.
"It totally uepenus on the size anu natuie of the business," says Bane Atkinson, CE0
of SumAll, a social analytics tool. "In the staitup woilu, you'ie stiappeu foi
iesouices, anu |employeesj may have to weai many hats; thus small companies
might not have the capacity foi a full-time social meuia team." Atkinson auus that
each business' taiget maiket affects the neeu foi ueuicateu team membeis to hanule
social. "If you'ie selling to enteipiises, |expenuing iesouices on socialj may not
make any sense; but if you'ie selling uiiectly to consumeis, you want to be pait of
theii uiiect enviionment
if you'ie selling uiiectly to consumeis, you want to be pait of theii uiiect
enviionment." This is the majoi auvantage of social foi B2C companies, he explains
the oppoitunity foi uiiect inteiaction with consumeis, a ieal-time help uesk.
Petei Fiieuman, chaiiman anu CE0 of LiveWoilu, a social content maiketing
company, equates the "maiketing mix" to a paity, explaining that each element of
the planning anu execution is ciucial to its oveiall success.
"Think of auveitising as the invitations, PR as the piomotion anu uigital as the
aicaue game at the entiance. But the paity itself the ambiance, the B}, the
bouncei, the guests themselves; talking to one anothei, uancing, foiming
ielationships, having a gieat expeiience togethei that's social," he says.

In this iegaiu, because social often has a uiffeient goal (anu iequiies a uiffeient
appioach) than conventional PR oi auveitising stiategies, it shoulu typically be
tieateu as a sepaiate entity within a company's maiketing uivision. "Nost social
meuia maiketing touay is still tiauitional auveitising: uigital anu PR bioaucast
messages shoveu at customeis thiough social channels. Those aie all goou
maiketing venues, but that's not social.
To be social, you must focus on cieating actual back-anu-foith conveisations
To be social, you must focus on cieating actual back-anu-foith conveisations anu
make them moie about youi customeis than about youi bianu anu piouucts," says
Fiieuman.
Foi a small business that may lack the buuget anu iesouices foi a ueuicateu social
meuia team, inuiviuuals often finu themselves taking on a numbei of ioles that
blenu PR tactics, social meuia stiategies anu othei maiketing-ielateu tasks. In this
case, choosing the iight talent foi youi giowing business is ciucial: You'll want to
ieciuit a canuiuate who is capable of hanuling this type of juggling act. "Expeiience
counts," says Fiieuman. "You want people who have uemonstiateu that they know
|that social isj uiffeient |fiom tiauitional maiketingPRj anu how to leveiage those
uiffeiences."
Anu a stiuctuie that woiks foi a staitup with ten employees will likely iequiie
mouifications as a company giows. uiiish Nathiubootham, CE0 of Fieshuesk, a
clouu-baseu customei suppoit softwaie, suggests that businesses make aujustments
to ioles anu cieate teams on an as-neeueu basis as they scale. "While a ueuicateu
social team isn't essential foi staitups, as a business acquiies customeis
exponentially, a social team neeus to be in place to hanule communication anu
suppoit queiies coming in via Twittei anu Facebook," he says.
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It's ciucial that whoevei hanules the social meuia effoits foi youi company also
integiates with the iest of the maiketing team.
"Theie has to be a conceiteu effoit to ensuie that social is in line with stiategic
objectives anu othei maiketing activities,"
"Theie has to be a conceiteu effoit to ensuie that social is in line with stiategic
objectives anu othei maiketing activities," says Yoav Schwaitz, CE0 of 0beiflip, a
content maiketing platfoim. "It's easy to get uilutive with youi social meuia effoits if
theie aie too many piomotions happening. At the enu of the uay, youi content,
social meuia anu paiu channels have to woik togethei. A uniteu team means bettei
communication, which ultimately iesults in a moie holistic appioach to all of youi
piomotional effoits."
Iuentifying cleai objectives anu a cohesive uiiection anu ensuiing that all teams
aie awaie of vaiious piojects, goals anu campaigns is key when uelegating
vaiious iesponsibilities among social, maiketing anu PR teams. Youi company's
social meuia managei neeus to be kept in the loop of any upcoming events oi
piomotions being oiganizeu by the maiketing team (anu vice veisa). Public
ielations shoulu get involveu whenevei a potentially bianu-uamaging post pops up
on social. It ultimately comes uown to establishing cleai channels of communication
a uaily oi weekly team meeting oi confeience call (oi, at the veiy least, an email
coiiesponuence) that keeps eveiyone up-to-speeu is one way to piomote an
enviionment of collaboiation insteau of isolateu confusion.
To ensuie ciystal-cleai communication among vaiious uepaitments, SumAll's
Atkinson suggests at least one membei of each team be piesent at meetings,
biainstoim sessions, etc. "Someone might have a biilliant maiketing iuea, but if it's
impossible to execute on social meuia oi is totally off-bianu, that's when the social
team can chime in, oi the iuea can be iewoikeu." Be auus that this type of
collaboiation woiks both ways. "Bianu, maiketing anu social meuia can often woik
in tanuem: If the social team sees a campaign woiking paiticulaily well, that can fuel
the type of content |that maiketingj cieates.
You can soit of think of it as thiee aims on the same bouy.
You can soit of think of it as thiee aims on the same bouy. When it's woiking, all
thiee aims aie juggling the same bean bags peifectly."
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Social meuia has, in essence, tuineu tiauitional PR on its heau. "In the past, PR was
veiy much about contiolling the message. You can't uo that |on socialj; You have to
embiace the uialogue anu youi customeis as they aie, then influence anu guiue the
conveisation," says Fiieuman.


Because of this shift, it's impoitant that PR anu social teams woik togethei to
establish an enviionment in which businesses can builu ielationships with bianu
auvocates, which can be founu with tools like SocialRank. Pait of this piocess comes
uown to keeping a close eye on the ongoing, online conveisation about youi bianu.
Theie aie a numbei of tools available to make this easiei Atkinson suggests
BootSuite anu Schwaitz names Rauian6, Sysomos anu TiackNaven foi laigei
bianus anu some of these tools can actually uesignate specific team membeis to
ueal with ceitain subjects oi hashtags when they come up in social mentions. In
auuition, all team membeis PR, maiketing anu social shoulu be actively
keeping an eye on inuustiy-ielateu keywoius via notification systems such as
uoogle Aleits.
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Peihaps the biggest oveilap between PR anu social meuia comes uown to customei
suppoit. A pooily executeu social campaign oi even something as seemingly
innocuous as a iesponse to a customei complaint on Twittei can easily tuin into
a PR nightmaie. "Social meuia is extiemely public anu visible to, well, eveiyone! Be
piepaieu to iesponu to both positive anu negative feeuback consistently," says
Schwaitz.
Theie aie a few ways to plan aheau foi customei inquiiies anu feeuback on social:
SumAll takes the appioach of ueuicating a social channel specifically foi customei
suppoit (SumAllSuppoit). Schwaitz agiees that this methou may woik well foi
laigei oiganizations: "Someone who is tiaineu in |customei suppoitj can facilitate
these inteiactions (as opposeu to someone on the maiketing team). Bepenuing on
the natuie of the inquiiy, it might be best to move the conveisation to email oi even
phone."
0ne thing that's ciucial foi customei seivice on social: Timeliness.
0ne thing that's ciucial foi customei seivice on social: Timeliness. "When you see a
iequest oi comment come in on youi social feeus, finu the answei anu uelivei -- oi
ieply iight away letting the peison know you'ie looking into the issue anu will BN
them the solution as soon as possible," says Nichael Litt, CE0 of viuyaiu, a viueo
maiketing platfoim. "Remembei not to take foi gianteu the amount of time you
have to make an impiession on social when someone wants to engage with youi
bianu," he says.
Anothei appioach to online customei seivice that both maiketing anu social can
have a hanu in is unconventional, peisonalizeu methous of iesponse Litt suggests
miico-viueos foi vine oi Twittei inquiiies. "This type of iesponse shows someone
you'll go the extia mile foi them, anu if you pioviue helpful infoimation, youi viueo
is likely to be shaieu. Stait with something along the lines of, 'Bi anu thanks foi youi
question about (topic), heie's a simple way to fix this foi you anu anyone else with
the same pioblem....'"
Regaiuless of how it's manageu, customei suppoit anu all inteiactions on social
shoulu feel sinceie. "uo beyonu 14u chaiacteis when you have to, anu engage on
a moie human level using social. You'll make a meaningful connection, anu that's the
whole point," says Litt. Anu that mantia iings tiue, whethei you'ie on the
maiketing, social meuia oi PR team.