• by Erik Sass , Staff Writer @eriksass1, October 1, 2013

Sure, social media is important for business, but who should be responsible for it? That’s the question many advertising and marketing executives are asking themselves, and there’s no clear consensus on the answer, judging by the results of a new survey by The Creative Group.

Overall 39% of advertising and marketing executives said they think social media belongs in the public relations/communications wheelhouse, compared to 35% who said it should be the responsibility of the marketing department. Meanwhile 15% said it should be delegated to customer service, and 5% said it should be the direct responsibility of the company’s CEO (6% said they don’t know).

Silly survey respondents, it was a trick question! The correct answer, of course, is that social media responsibilities should be shared among all the above-mentioned constituents. Of course, that’s just another way of saying that the boundaries between PR, marketing, and customer service are getting kind of blurry. But there’s no denying that’s what’s happening if you take a “consumer-centric” point of view, since all the customer ever really sees is the brand logo on the screen.

I realize that saying “all the above” doesn’t really make it any easier for people trying to draw org charts, but corporate structures have to become more flexible if they are going to use social media to interact with customers across all these different disciplines. On that note, The Creative Group offered up some advice, including creating cross-departmental working groups for social media, to coordinate activities across the disciplines; identifying best practices and communicating them to all employees, so anyone can take up the social media baton in a pinch; and being ready to bring in reinforcements, in case one department gets overwhelmed.