Social Media: Marketing’s Need to Lead

I can’t think of a time when marketing has been in a better position to lead the company than today.

Social media is providing the urgency—and necessity—for marketing to do it.

Time to Stop Merely Doing

When you think about it, marketing has traditionally been the epitome of the loyal corporate function: a doer, a server of others (mostly sales).

In this sense, marketing has a lot in common with the IT department. But IT can’t get away with merely being a function anymore. IT’s greatest headache—that big mess of systems that reach into every nook and cranny of the company—is also a CIO’s greatest call to leadership. No one else has such visibility across the entire company or such a good excuse for figuring out how the company really works. These days, CIOs are expected to use that visibility to help make the business run better—not just the PCs.

The Pressure to Lead

Social media is now putting the same kind of leadership pressure on marketing. Consider this: In our recent ITSMA social media survey, we asked if marketing is the catalyst for social media being used by others in the company (product development, HR, etc.). Sixty-eight percent of our respondents said yes.

But don’t confuse catalyst with cheerleader. It’s not enough for marketing to send everyone a link to Twitter and skip off the field. Marketers must lead and support those who will take on the communications duties that marketers used to do on their own.

Leading and supporting social media calls for some changes in marketing and in the rest of the company. In our May 11 online briefing, Why Marketing Must Be the Catalyst for Social Media—and How to Do It, (free for ITSMA members), we will examine the new roles and governance that marketers must take on in social media using selected findings from the ITSMA social media survey and case studies from companies like IBM, Intel, and Telstra.

Here are some of the most important ways that marketers must lead in social media:

• Train and support the new communicators. Marketers are expert communicators; they must share that expertise with the rest of the organization. This is not a one-time deal, however. Subject matter experts (SMEs) and other employees will need continuing support.
• Develop a content engine. Marketers must help facilitate idea development and dissemination so that SMEs have a constant flow of interesting things to talk about with customers.
• Create governance. Marketers can’t vet the content and conversations in social media. Therefore, they need governance in place so that employees know what is expected of them. Social media guidelines are a start. So is a social media council.

To learn more about the ways that marketers need to lead in social media, join us on May 11 or 12 for our online briefing Why Marketing Must Be the Catalyst for Social Media—and How to Do It.

2 Responses to “Social Media: Marketing’s Need to Lead”

1. Karthik Nagendra Says:
   May 4th, 2010 at 5:09 PM

   Companies are realizing that people talk about them whether they like it or not and the sooner they accept the fact, the sooner they put a social media presence in place. The sheer accessibility of social media has allowed organizations to increase their brand awareness and open dialogues with their customers & marketing team would be the right channel to take it forward. Social media can serve as an inexpensive marketing platform with costs limited to time and high benefits. While buying links and increasing visibility would take money, social media can do that for free. Additionally, once a company has mastered their social media strategy, it can increase web traffic by strategically using social media to target specific communities. Another reason why companies should use social media marketing is that it complements other marketing efforts and provides an additional channel for communicating to the customer and gaining insights into the target audience. To support other marketing activities, a company’s social media should be built on a strong foundation – centralized information, regular updates and profiles in most popular social media.

2. Chris Koch Says:
   May 12th, 2010 at 3:01 PM

   Hi Karthik,

   Great points. You’re absolutely right that we have to understand that social media is an inevitability rather than an option. The companies that spent years debating the value of the web or e-mail (or having a telephone on people’s desks!) before diving in are the companies that fall behind their competitors. As you say, though, strategy is important. You need to know your target audience and how they like to interact and receive content. Social media may play a leading role or a supporting role depending on your audience. But it is here!

ITSMA specializes in helping companies market and sell services and solutions more effectively. We work with the world's leading technology, communications, and professional services providers to generate increased demand, strengthen customer relationships, and improve brand differentiation. ITSMA annual program clients include business leaders such as AT&T, Cisco, Deloitte, EMC, Fujitsu, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Microsoft, SAP, and Tata Consultancy Services, among others. Our comprehensive research, consulting, and training on topics including ITSMA Account-Based Marketing℠, Brand Positioning, and Solutions Development provide the insight and experience companies need to improve business results. ITSMA is based near Boston, and has offices in London and Tokyo. Learn more at www.itsma.com.