Many people view social media as a standalone marketing function. But today, it is not uncommon for one organization or brand to have multiple social media. Moreover, these different accounts aren’t necessarily managed by one central team; in fact, they are usually being looked after by several individuals from within the department they are connected to.
The fact is social media, and the marketing side of it in particular, has become an indispensable and relevant tool for a wide range of different business functions.
Here are five different business departments that can benefit from adopting their own individual social media marketing activities and identity.
1. Marketing
Marketing, obviously, has a strong link to social media. This is particularly true now that inbound marketing has gained a lot of momentum and more companies are using social media to promote pieces of content they’ve produced. When presenting content the right way via social media, marketing can even become its own profit center.
Whether it’s demand generation, lead generation, lead nurturing or search engine optimization, social media is one of the few mediums that can complement all of your marketing department’s activities.
2. Customer Care & Support
Especially in the B2B sector, customers often face technical challenges with new products, implementations, integrations, etc. Such issues are not the job of the sales or the marketing department, which is why a dedicated customer support social media channel can be hugely beneficial.
It’s crucial for businesses today to acknowledge and handle every customer query professionally and efficiently. Social media facilitates this with potentially real-time responsiveness and enables customers to communicate with businesses on platforms they are already familiar with.
Customer support centric social accounts are a fantastic way to refer customers to guides, how-to-videos, and other articles that might answer their queries. This frees up your technical support team to focus on the real pain points affecting the people who matter to your business.
3. Human Resources
Did you know that 59% of candidates use social media to research companies they are interested in? That’s why your HR department needs to have its own social presence too.
59% of candidates use social media to research companies they are interested in.Click To TweetHow else are you going to promote your organization’s values, culture, and philosophy?
Candidates don’t just want to learn about potential roles. They also increasingly want to find out what makes people want to work for your company and why people who get hired stay with the business in the long-term.
Even posts that simply showcase internal events and introduce people to the various departments can drive a lot of engagement on social media.
4. Sales
Social media is a great place for your sales team to build and nurture relationships with potential customers. What better way to open a potential sales call than with a question asking about a recent event or initiative the customer’s company has held.
Already, the tone of the call has changed to be more friendly and approachable, rather than all about pushing the product/service. In fact, according to research, 72% of salespeople using social media as part of their overall sales process outperformed their peers and exceeded their sales quota 23% more often [source: A Sales Guy Consulting].
72% of salespeople using social media as part of their overall sales process outperformed their peers and exceeded their sales quota 23% more often.Click To Tweet5. The C-suite
If Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos has time to tweet to his 400K+ followers, chances are your execs do too. The biggest problem with the C-suite when it comes to social media is getting them to realize the value of it.
Company leaders that are active on social media help give a company a face, build stronger trust and improve brand loyalty. Furthermore, it also helps strengthen engagement with employees, potential investors, and candidates.
No wonder the number of CEOs on social media is expected to grow by 50% over the next five years.
I’m a full-time freelance writer and Managing Editor at Creative Mindscape who is lucky enough to call the tropical paradise that is the Philippines my adopted home. In my spare time, I love to dabble in cryptocurrencies and play with my three young children. One’s a stressful, non-stop rollercoaster ride; the other is cryptocurrencies.