Who is responsible in an organization for ownership of social media implementation? Is it a cross department endeavour?

Let's remember that the question is about 'ownership of social media implementation', not ownership of social media strategy.

Let's take social out of the equation. But then how do we make a distinction between the unique characteristics that social media brings? I do think that in time the distinction will go, as we pass from one way of doing business to another, which will then become the norm.

Let's also bear in mind that social is one of the catalysts in creating a different set of opportunities for organisations and people to communicate and engage with each other. It is not that business or communication has fundamentally changed - we still buy goods, we still complain - it's just that we have the opporutnity to do it more quickly, more immediately, more publicly than before.

But going back to who implements it? Each organisation will find its own way depending on size, motivation, and a whole host of other variables. That's the beauty about social. The tools are the same for all of us, but how we intepret them for our own needs varies.

I do agree, Kathy. I'll also add that in the most successful social integrations I've been involved in or researched, executive leaders involved key department stakeholders very early in the process.

In fact, I recommend tackling social integration using the same methods we do when implementing an enterprise wide collaboration system. The steps are the same:
1. Kickoff - where the project is introduced by the Leadership to the entire org
2. Requirements Analysis - with the key stakeholders across all departments, (which also surfaces & identifies key 'alpha users' in each business unit who will typically and organically become owners & evangelists via their involvement as the project evolves). How will social fit into the actual core business processes?
3. Define the audience & the goals for each - subset of the analysis - public, prospects, partners, customers, supplies, and internal
4. Roles & Rights - should be defined before policies are written
5. Create Policies & Training Curriculum - guidelines, risk management, how to, branding conventions
5. Build a Pilot - test with key internal & external stakeholder focus group
6. Refine & Revise - tweak based on pilot
7. Train all Staff - even if they aren't involved in 'public' communications on behalf of the organization, they're invaluable assets. Make sure they understand the goals and the mission. They'll help informally - make sure staff are trained on basic social communications. All of them. Period.
8. Go Live!

Obviously, I've left out a lot of the steps on branding, and analytics, but in my experience, if these steps are followed, there will be a higher likelihood for success and a smoother integration of social into the day-to-day business.

I told Kelly I'd chime in, so here it goes.

I like Mitch's answer the best, there are no clear owners (where I was hinting by asking Kathy to expand on her answer). Sorry, saying you need an executive champion is like saying you need air to breathe - it is a given and not an answer. Of course you need an executive champion, no project has ever been successful without it (unless the organization is simply doing POC or pilots). I have data to prove that you need an executive champion from the many research projects i did.

However, to continue Mitch's point - you do need an owner. There is an owner for the phone (either IT or ops), and there is an owner for email (99.99999% IT, to cover myself in case some one does not do it that). There is an owner for the social/collaborative infrastructure - IT.

The projects are going to be more complicated, going to each biz unit and their executive champion. This is where we are seeing some different strategies, some are cross-function, some are single-biz unit, some are by committee, etc. But the owner of the biz initiative that leverages the social/collaborative infrastructure laid out and maintained by IT is going to the biz unit that needs it.

One more thing, you cannot throw away the word social. There are intricacies related to social/collaboration that other projects don't have/share. You definitely need to keep the word social and figure out those idiosyncrasies to make it work and succeed.

Kelly, will reply to your portion later... overall is fine, but i would make minor adjustments since it is me being me.

Hi Kelly,

I'm sooooo glad you asked this question. It's definitely something we want to talk about in coming roundtables.

Social business requires a paradigm shift from being a transactional-based business to a networked one.

That makes social business and social CRM strategies be change management initiatives. And like any change management initiative, that means impacts on people, processes, and technology.

Successful change management requires executive leadership committed and engaged to drive sustainable results.

Just today, I participated in the #socbizchat tweet up where the question of ownership was raised. A number of people talked about social business being "owned" by everyone.

That's a great goal, to make social business be so much a part of a company's DNA that everyone is its champion. However, to get to that point, someone has to take point and drive the social business initiative.

And for it to have a holistic corporate impact, there has to be executive championship and leadership. From there, lower levels can be empowered to share ownership.

As someone with vast experience implementing and supporting enterprise-wide collaborative web-based solution, do you agree or disagree with my comments with regards to social?

As a consultant I have encouraged my clients who have start-ups to those who have multi-department business to allow all of its Team members to participate in creating a social media presence for the company. I suggest that a set of ground rules be discussed and that the employer encourages creativity and in larger businesses even a little friendly competition.

The key to social media being a tool to promote the business is in the "organic" and "natural" initiatives that leave out the software aspect. The human experience is where the results are found. I advised one of my clients to allow each of his employee's to create a custom FB Fan Page for the business and then to seek to build up the fan base one person at a time then do the same thing on Twitter. He gave a day off with pay to the monthly winner and the winner was determined by quality interaction and the number of real connections made each month with the stipulation that only an hour a day can be spent at work while no limitations when they are at home.

This works and if you want more ideas e-mail me.

Johnny

There are two issues to consider here. One is strategic and the other is tactical.

I took Kelly's question to be strategic -- and answered it along those lines. And in Kelly's own added own comment, she framed her answer as such.

And Kelly, your answer is great because it hits the important points for a successful corporate implementation.

Implementing a social business model across an enterprise is a change management initiative. Contrast this with an ad hoc social media campaign which is not.

Because change management impacts people, process, and technology, these initiatives are most successful when driven at the top.

Thus, Esteban, to answer your question successful social business initiatives, like any change management initiative, require an executive champion.

Mitch - You're right social media is only a channel. And I agree with many of your sentinents but not all.

Take a step back. The bigger question is, as a company, how do we provide a consistent customer experience regardless of the customer's entry point into the company? In other words, no matter what department or individual a customer talks to, how does the company provide consistency of experience and satsifaction?

To achieve that, especially across an enterprise, requires agreement on the what the customer experience should be. And that cycles back to corporate culture. And corporate culture is strengthened through combinations of internal communication, training, and related activities.

Yes - it's a cross-departmental endeavor. Marketing is key and executive management must sign off on the project charter to ensure development and implementation is in line with strategic goals and operational expectations.

Hi, Guy.
In my organization, marketing would actually lead the effort, especially where social media is concerned. Essentially, marketing, IT and executive management would work in tandem on such an effort.

Staying in synch with social media market challenges can be very challenging; things change so quickly. This often involves analyzing BI data gathered from social networking tools. In other words, how do you know your approach is effective if you don't have the information to review?