How Are You Organizing Your Social Media Team?

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In the marketing minds of companies looking to dash into the social media marathon of consumer engagement, there seems to be one burning question: how do I craft a social media department that can sustain company values while tip-toeing the social tightrope of ingenuity and innovation (without falling over the cliff of digital obscurity)?

Hmmm…a challenging question, to be sure, and one that is not easily answered.

In order to ease the troubled minds of businesses, Alltop.com published an infographic that statistically explains how companies go about structuring social media teams. The full infographic can be found HERE or by clicking the photo below.

Here are 4 key takeaways from the infographic:

#1 Social Media = Multi-tasking

According to Alltop, 42% of social media jobs are given to one person and 65% of social media tasks are assigned on top of current job responsibilities. Maybe you can relate to this, and have juggled coffee drinking with content posting, blogging and trying to remain sane under the ever-expanding to-do lists that you have created for yourself. But really, it goes to show that in order to remain in the social game, you have to be an octopus of a worker, and will probably think more than once that octopuses should have been given 16 arms instead of 8 (or 6 depending on what scientist you talk to and whether they classify the last two limbs as legs or not).

#2 Interns = Support Beams Blowing in the Wind

As the infographic says, only 25% of companies have interns monitoring and handling social media. Sure, this is a cost-efficient strategy, but is this a good thing? With the high turnaround rates of internships and questions concerning company/client confidentiality, it seems quite absurd that companies who understand the immense value of social media are willing to place their social stock in the hands of interns who can be under-qualified and inexperienced. And what happens when an intern is offered a job at another company? You can pretty much throw social consistency out the window, as bringing on a new intern can jeopardize the company voice the previous intern had been working diligently (or non-diligently) to create.

#3 Social Media Jobs = Surfboards for the Millennial Wave

Social media is a young person’s game. With 47% of jobs going to those with 1-3 years of experience, and 44% going to those with 3-5 years, it’s clear that social media is taking the trend of professional athletics where 30+ years-old is linked to retirement time. This means that today’s youth have the task of carrying social media into the future, while more experience marketers are being left in the dust of Youtube videos and tweets that derive their inspiration from the fountain of youth.

#4 Perceived Social Success = Likes over Quality Engagement…Sadly

With 86% of social success based on a company’s # of likes/followers, it’s no wonder why businesses are continually failing in social media. It’s like television networks that cancel quality shows because ratings are not high enough, or when small businesses are lost in the mega shadows of corporate America because they do not have the following of Starbucks, or the capacity to serve a million people at once. The numbers game is great for finances, or baseball stats, but engagement is the key factor when it comes to social media.

Now, after sifting through the infographic, do you think your social media team is structured properly? If not, shoot me some questions and let’s discuss the ways you can create a more well-rounded social space for your company and its employees.