Social media shouldn’t be treated as special any longer

If you take a close look at todays corporations you can clearly see, that most big companies have accepted social media as an more or less important part of their corporate communication. But there is one problem: The majority of companies treat social media as something special, sometimes even as an separated part of their communication strategy. This approach has – at least in my view – two mayor problems: First, it is impossible to use the full potential of social media if you limit the team to a few topics and tasks. Second, social media teams can only perform properly if they’re given all necessary information. Both problems can be easily solved by integrating social media teams fully in the overall structure of the company. In fact, social media and its principles should become an integral part of the corporate philosophy.

If you look at the development of the last few years you instantly realize the enormous growth of social networks and their influence. What started as a niche has become one of the biggest communication channels in history. An entire generation already grows up with facebook, twitter and other social networks as normal part of their everyday life and communication patterns. Corporations have to adapt to this change, because this generation of customers expects companies to use social networks as part of their support system.

The result: Social media will become one of or maybe even the most common form of communication an customer support. It is obvious that companies have to integrate social media teams and their mindset in every strategy. It is no longer sufficient to “have a social media team”. Instead every employee have to understand the underlying principles and concepts of social media. In the not so distant future no company could afford employes without communication skills or at least basic knowledge of social media.