As more companies create official social media policies, draft up strategies, and even hire dedicated staff to manage social media, at some point, people stop along the way and ask, “who should own this?”

I strongly believe social media is simply an extension of everything we do nowadays. What I mean is that social media is simply another channel for doing what we already do.

• If we are marketers, now we can use social media to market.
• If we are PR professions, now we use social media to communicate.
• If we are customer service reps, now we use social media to provide support.
• and so on…

So, there are three important things to remember here:

1. There should be a clearly defined group that provides leadership in social media. For most companies, this can be marketing.  Marketing tends to be an early adopter of technology and services and may have the bandwidth and skill set to be thought leaders in the are.
2. Social media is collaborative. It should involve all departments. So, if marketing is taking the lead, marketing must make an effort to collaborate.
3. Training. Everyone in the company must be trained on how to use social media effectively for their role in the organization and must be aware of the policies.

For more on this topic, you can check out this great background piece by HubSpot.