Socialmediaworx

As companies learn how to find their voice and participate with their customers in conversations, some Fortune 500s are beginning to make organizational changes and allow social media evangelists take the helm in playing an ever larger role in positioning the company. AdWeek has a great piece about Ford’s recent hiring of Scott Monty to head up their social media initiatives.

In addition to recognizing the critical need to improve how they listen to their customers, brands are quickly learning that the value of social media lies not just in their communications, but has wide-reaching influence across the entire organization:

“The biggest challenge is moving away from thinking about it as marketing and PR,” said Peter Kim, a Forrester Research analyst. “It’s about product development, it’s about IT. It’s got to cut across all functions of the company.”

And as social media impacts each department, it’s the folks in those areas of expertise that are trying to adapt to the new communication style.

Intel’s social-media team is “the glue that makes that conversation happen,” said Augustine Fou, svp of digital strategy at MRM Worldwide, the Interpublic Group agency that works with Intel.

These changes are not only impacting the organizational chart, but also the roles and expectations for the communications expert of tomorrow. John Bell outlines some of the knowledge areas and skill sets required to effectively connect with influencers:

As marketing and communications continue to merge and change (and the post-industrial, corporate organizational forces that drove them apart continue to fade), as technology injects innovation and uncertainty into our lives, and the demands of increasingly global clients get more and more complex, today’s PR professionals must evolve.

Ultimately, I think we’re going to see a continued growth of positions dedicated to the communications expert who brings together a blend of PR, social media, marketing and advertising expertise. Perhaps the biggest challenge though, is how that person and team can effectively share those conversations internally. While Fou mentioned how MRM connects the dots internally, are their other examples of the social media team helps facilitate the internal conversations?