I have had the opportunity recently to examine the corporate structure of a few different large organizations and as far as social media goes, their structures suck.
These companies are all "new" to social media and they don't quite understand how social media works or how it fits in the existing corporate structure. Perhaps most importantly, they don't understand the access to resources and information that the "social media guy" needs. The reality is that social media is more than just another marketing tactic, it is a philosophy that can and is changing the face of economics around the world.
Almost all organizations base their marketing departments around the concept of unidirectional communication and periodic review that leads to course correction. In a social media world however, it is essentially for corporations to understand that every customer or potential customer that they reach with an advertisement, a story in the paper, or an experience in a store has the ability to share their thoughts with ANYONE willing to listen, at ANY TIME.
The core problem with corporate marketing departments stems from the fact that social media as a discipline is dependent on being aware of all of the marketing activities involving a brand. They aren't used to this need - after all, an advertisement or direct mail piece can be created almost in a vacume simply by looking at statistics and historical trends. When a focus group or a survey is used it is a sample of the potential market and a snapshot of just that one moment.
With social media marketing however, it is essential that findings and observations from "the street" are transmitted rapidly back to a decision maker so that actions can be made and a continual series of adjustments in the messages being communicated are made.
For this to happen, you can't just stick the "social media guy" under Creative Services or under Internet Marketing and hope it works out. Just like when I was at Washington Post and they developed the concept of the 24-hour newsroom, corporate marketing departments need to adapt also to changing demands and a 24-hour cycle of customer engagement.
1. Institue an open communication channel to encourage all employees to understand what social media programs the corporation is engaged in. This will help encourage individual employees to better understand the goals of the corporation as they tweet and share news via Facebook. It will also help those involved in product development, marketing, and business development be able to contribute ideas, suggestions, and point out feedback (positive as well as negative) so that the social media team can react to it ASAP.
2. Develop a team specifically for social media marketing that reports directly to both the Director of Marketing / Senior VP of Marketing, but has access to other teams including analytics, programming, creative services, public relations, and other marketing disciplines.
3. Create an organization wide agenda and goals as to how the customer will be engaged, including when, where and how. This will help direct social media activities, as wel as help related marketing disciplines better understand how they fit in the paradigm shift that is happening. Marketing is no longer a one way street - everyone needs to get onboard!