Simms Jenkins | June 16, 2011 | Comments
Let's skip the obvious buzzwords and generalities. We know social media needs to be engaging and authentic, list quality is more important than list size and content, offers and relevancy trump all.
Of course, your customers own social, but who is the rightful channel owner within your organization? The likely suspects are generally public relations or the digital team and, more specifically, your email group. While agencies, consultants, "ninjas," and the like are playing an important role in this nascent channel's management and strategic evolution, someone within your company needs to own it, right?
While the public relations side of the house was slow to figure out their place at the table during the first digital boom (although press releases did have an infamous role in the dot com boom), in recent years they have moved quickly to say, social is all about content and public relations is about content, so hey, sounds like a good fit. And good for them.
Digital teams, whether generalists or specialized forces of search, mobile, email, and web, have been much more in the spotlight during the past decade or so. Their budgets and internal importance have likely grown in a significant manner.
While there is no absolute rule for every organization, who do you think should "own" social media within a typical marketing department?
Well, the early evidence and smart money seems to certainly be on digital, with the email program folks the likeliest and most appropriate owners. So why?
Some organizations have cutting-edge outreach, advocacy, and PR departments that do more than generate press releases, so they should certainly make their case for playing a key role in their social media program. However, for the day-to-day ownership and management, I think email's gatekeepers have proven to be the rightful heirs to the social thrones. Of course, this all changes when you mismanage it or go to market without a strong strategic plan with real business goals. That is the challenge for anyone remotely leveraging social media.
Let's go back to my opening paragraph and see how these social media essentials match up to email marketing essentials:
What's your take on who should own this dynamic marketing wonder child? Does it matter?
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Simms Jenkins is CEO of BrightWave Marketing, North America's leading email marketing focused digital agency. The award-winning firm specializes in partnering with its clients to strategically develop, manage, and optimize all digital messaging programs that drive revenue, cut costs, and build relationships. Jenkins has led BrightWave Marketing in establishing a top tier client list including AGCO, Affiliated Computer Services (A Xerox Company), Chick-fil-A, Cox Business, Phillips 66, and ServiceMaster.
Jenkins was awarded the prestigious AMY 2010 Marketer of the Year from the American Marketing Association for being the top agency marketer and the Email Marketer of the Year at the Technology Association of Georgia's Tech Marketing Awards. Jenkins is regarded as one of the leading experts in the email marketing industry and is regularly cited by the media as such and called upon by the financial community to provide market insight and consulting.
Jenkins is the author of "The Truth About Email Marketing," which was published by Pearson's Financial Times Press and is currently the Email Marketing Best Practices Columnist for ClickZ, the largest resource of interactive marketing news and commentary in the world, online or off. His industry articles have been called one of the top 21 information sources for email marketers. He has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg TV, Wired Magazine, and scores of other leading publications and media outlets.
Additionally, Jenkins is the creator of EmailStatCenter.com and SocialStatCenter.com, the leading authorities on email and social media metrics. Prior to founding BrightWave Marketing, Jenkins headed the CRM group at Cox Interactive Media.
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