There is a tug of war going on for ownership of social media within organizations. Does it belong in marketing? In PR? In digital? In publishing/content creation?
Part of the problem with getting social off the ground in associations was figuring out where to put it, i.e., what budget to draw from. In the early days (all of 3 years ago), no one wanted to give up part of their budget for things that were proven in favor of something that might be a flash in the pan. Now that the medium is here to stay, the necessity of coming up with funds for it is obvious. The dust is still settling on who owns it, however.
According to a new study from Booz & Company, the likeliest home for social media is in marketing. Companies are finding the greatest results from advertising, PR and customer service. Social media currently only takes 10% of the overall marketing budget but respondents to the study expect that to climb to 20% as their activities shift from “brand management” to “brand curation.”
Untapped Association Potential
The study holds an especially interesting nugget for associations. It says that companies (the study was based on responses from for-profit companies) are exploring the value of social media beyond marketing but “this is still early in development.” When you look at the charts (#6), it shows that community is the least used feature of social media at only 13%, and that is lumped in with recruiting and content generation in that catchall category of “other.” But the number one hire being made is for community managers (#63) and, in fact, community is the main reason that people participate in social media.
No one signs up for Facebook in order to get the latest ads. People do follow brands on social media but mostly to get the perks. Unless you are in a position to give lots of discounts, coupons and the like—and I don’t know any association that is—this has little utility. No one signs up for anything so that they can be inundated with more promotional messages. For many people, email has become a giant spam filter for that very reason: it is so full of unwanted promos that they rely on social media to communicate only with the people they choose. The reason for active traffic on social platforms is that feeling of community.
To me, this has always been the greatest uptapped potential of social media, especially for associations. Social media marketing tells a very wide audience when your next conference is (reach is the number 1 metric for social media at organizations, slide #8). Social media networking is an entirely different story. It can and should be the association functioning in real time online. It is why so many associations are succeeding with closed, members-only networks when they failed with or never even attempted public platforms like LinkedIn.
Social media may belong in marketing in associations since that department often oversees publications and other content-rich, community-oriented member benefits. But it may belong in programming, it may belong in membership. Where it belongs should be determined by what you intend to do with it. If you just want to push your promotional and PR messages and maybe eliminate some direct mail, marketing is the place. If you want to catapult your association into the 21st century in a tangible way, find a truly strategic home for it and use it for all its worth.
