Comments on: Who Should Be Responsible for a Brand’s Social Media Outreach?

By: Seth

Seth — Fri, 23 May 2008 05:26:03 +0000

Would it be best to let PR departments or upper management set the standards and objectives and have others execute them like sales or customer service?

If the goal is to engage the user/customer it seems that this model would be a better way to interact with them without coming off as a corporate hard sell.

It is easy to micromanage social media and make it come off looking like plain old advertising. The brands credibility is ultimately at stake.

By: ben

ben — Thu, 22 May 2008 23:11:05 +0000

The PR department should probably be “responsible”, but anyone and everyone should be able to take part.

By: Jason

Jason — Thu, 22 May 2008 20:40:56 +0000

Thanks for your comments. I would say that most people in traditional company PR departments aren’t up to speed with social media, in my experience. For an advertising or media agency, I would hope that the PR department would have some knowledge of social media, but I’m not sure if they’re equipped to handle this stuff the same way someone who only focuses on social media can. Social media outreach and monitoring is a full-time job (if done correctly), in my opinion.

That said, I don’t think PR organizations are nearly as far behind as other companies and brands.

By: Dave

Dave — Thu, 22 May 2008 19:19:14 +0000

Jason:
In response to the first comment on the external poll site, 2012 before PR can handle social media? We have two execs in our PR department who I would dare to say border on being social media “experts.” Are a majority of PR organizations that far behind the curve?

By: Johnster

Johnster — Thu, 22 May 2008 18:43:58 +0000

Everyone in an organization has a shared responsibility for a brand.