I’ve noticed a growing trend for a while now, and after friend asked me a question related to the issue last night I felt like a blog post was needed.
The Issue
Many organizations that are utilizing social media don’t have a clear plan of attack. They know they want to use it and have created all the “right” accounts, but they don’t have anyone running the show. And when someone is running the show, let’s assume that’s Marketing, they don’t talk to other departments to create a common message and to achieve goals.
That is a broken system and it flat out doesn’t work.
The Solution
My friend from last night informed me that his organization recently hired a new head of Marketing position, and that this individual is trying to run the digital show, which is my friend’ territory.
He wanted to know if I felt this person should have a say so when it comes to digital and I knew the answer he was fishing for, but that’s not the direction I went.
Allow me to elaborate by using my friend’s organization (very large and has high revenues) as an example. They are known for making fly-by-night decisions and never seem to have anyone giving a clear direction, at least that’s my view from the outside.
I told him that the individual in this new position shouldn’t necessarily be the person calling the shots on execution (because they aren’t the “expert”), but they should be able to make sure messaging is on point and that all divisions are working together to achieve a common goal.
If an organization has a Marketing Director and PR Director, the two individuals have to make sure their teams are communicating and not having one go left while the other goes right.
That may seem like common sense to you, but I’ve seen examples where Division A says “Division B handles that and it’s not something I’m worried about.” It’s tragic to witness such a breakdown in an organization, but that’s what happens when you don’t have someone bringing “the team” together.
In the End
It has to be realized that digital isn’t Division X’s “problem” and that it isn’t “owned” by Division Y – it’s something everyone should have some sort of ownership in and understand the importance of this exploding communications channel.
