Social media models: In-house, outsourced or distributed
Posted by dna 13 on Fri, Dec 18, 2009
Last year, every public relations and corporate communications conference wanted to address one hurdle: how to prove the value of social media to a C-suite that was technology averse or hopeful all this friending and tweeting was just a fad.
Too many CEOs were too hesitant to give social media any kind of meaningful budget, particularly in a recession.
As our last post suggested, however, the C-suite is finally starting to catch up. Chances are, your CEO is already on LinkedIn and sees the potential for corporate growth accelerating with the right social media strategy.
The PR department is faced with a new question: should we hire a full-time social media specialist, or should we reach out to a PR agency with proven social media experience?
Listed below are the merits of each option, followed by suggestions of how to leverage the relationship you do have with IT, Marketing, Customer Service, Internal Communications and other corporate functions that may lay claim to social media turf.
See these articles (Hubspot's argument for PR firms, Rise's questions to ask social media consultants, and Jennifer Van Grove's qualities to pursue in social media candidates) for in-depth discussion of what kind of professional can make or break a social media initiative.
HIRING IN-HOUSE
-Their attention to your business's goals will be undivided; there are no other clients to distract them from your company's goals.
-In the short run, an in-house social media specialist can cost less. They usually bring a mix of PR and technology experience to the position -- enough for some content creation and enough for some basic coding.
-In a world that values authenticity, a customer will want the person they correspond with on Facebook to be a full-time employee and may even feel cheated if they find out their online conversation is with a PR firm and not the company they thought.
HIRING A PR FIRM/SOCIAL MEDIA CONSULTANT
-A PR firm will have more experiences to draw from and may bring a broader understanding of your company's industry to the table.
-A PR firm may cost more, on average, but will bring in a greater number of deliverable results -- sales leads, business partnerships and other "measurables that matter" (not just how to measure social media, but how to link its success back to the company)
-It's possible for a PR firm to address the "authenticity" concern by being upfront with customers. Many will appreciate the broader experience of an agency representative rather than someone with a narrow focus.
Of course, there is a third option that we haven't addressed: spreading the duties of social media across the company. Zappos and Best Buy are two retailers that have embraced this approach.
I'd argue that, while it's feasible (even encouraged!), to make every employee of a company a brand ambassador, it's best to have one entity in charge of the messaging strategy. Otherwise, it's too easy to lose sight of the company's goals.
Of course, the greatest danger of any public relations initiative is to jump in blindly without setting measurable benchmarks or delegating responsibilities at all.