Who Should Run Social?

+ First, let me start this post by saying I'm no "expert" or "guru" on Social.

Second, let me hit on the fact that the majority of what is being spewed out there in regards to social is a bunch of mindless fluff.

The other day, Three Minds posted an article about who should run your social. And this week's Brand Camp cartoon hits on the same question.

Who should be in charge of a brand's social campaign? Well, it all depends. How are you using social? What's the function? If it's customer service, well, then you shouldn't have your PR or digital team doing it.

Everyone seems to be looking for the silver bullet in Social, and it's just not there yet. Because each brand is unique and (theoretically, at least) has its own voice and its own personality, what Social means for you is not going to be something that's cookie-cutter.

The other side of the coin in figuring out who will run a brand's Social is time and money. If you want your internal brand team to do it, you need to realize that this will take up a majority their time. Tasking them with their other "usual" jobs in addition to this new role typically only guarantees failure. And at the same time, if you are paying your digital or PR agency to manage Social, it costs money (because, again, it takes quite a bit of time).