David Reich asks, “Who Owns Social Media?” Indeed, a fantastic exploration into a topic that often suffers from unnecessary political and strategic bickering among stakeholders.

My take?

No one owns social media, with the exception of the customer. Just like you don’t own your website either, Google and your customer owns it. So, instead of bickering among us stakeholders, we must learn how to empower, embrace and extend social media into the fabric of our organization’s processes. We each use it differently, so coordination requires only a conductor. That conductor can be marketing. I’ve helped my clients establish their marketing teams as the conductor, and then build out orientation and training programs for the rest of the company. They become the hub or the support center, empowering the rest of the organization to succeed.