Social media changes the responsibilities of traditional corporate roles and requires the creation of entirely new jobs. Below are the most obvious changes to traditional jobs and some of the key new positions created. An infographic summarizing these details can also be found below.

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Old Roles, New Responsibilities

These traditional jobs require new responsibilities in the social media world.

Marketing

From push to pull.

Before social media, traditional marketing roles emphasized push responsibilities. Most marketers focused on advertising, promotions and creating awareness through disruption of unrelated content. With the emergence of social media technologies, this responsibility shifts from mostly push to mostly pull (inbound) marketing.

Public Relations

From faux to frank.

In the old world, Public Relations served to present the best image of the organization to the public. With social media, there is greater transparency. Corporate walls guarding culture are now windows. As a result, Public Relations now focuses more on a frank dialogue about the reality of a given situation. Instead of presenting a veneer identity, Public Relations ensures a candid and balanced story is presented to the public.

Quality Assurance

From par to peak.

Most companies considered Quality Assurance’s role to be achievement of “acceptable” quality levels. Organizations sought to minimize failures rather than excel in quality. Through social media channels, consumers easily identify the product and services with highest overall quality. Therefore, Quality Assurance now seeks less to achieve par performance and seeks more to achieve peak performance over competition.

Customer Service

From fact to feel.

Customer service was positioned by many to control post-sale costs rather than to serve the customer. Now that bad customer experiences are quickly shared and escalated to massive scales, it is more important than ever to empathize with unhappy consumers. The best customer service departments act more like a consumer advocate and less like a corporate drone.

Human Resources

From policy to people.

Human Resources may have existed to protect the company, but it now finds itself advocating for the engagement, support and advancement of all employees. When Human Resources is not trusted, there’s often nowhere for disgruntled employees to turn. The result? Unhappy employees turn to venting online, damaging the corporate reputation and making it more difficult to attract great talent. It’s no longer about human resources but about people support.

New Roles

These roles did not exist before social media but are increasingly important in the social media generation.

Community Manager

Community manager responsibilities vary from company to company and platform to platform. However, one thing is clear: organizations with a large social media presence need community managers. Overall, the objectives is to ensure the quality, value and often growth of a social community remains on track. These roles usually report into a marketing customer service area.

Personas

Businesses don’t buy from businesses. People buy from people. As a result, the opportunity for consumers to now have a direct, ongoing discussion with an individual who personifies your brand is outstanding. Whether you do it humorously, like Isaiah Mustafah with Old Spice, or transparently, like Dana White of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, consumers love connecting with the personification of their favorite brand.

Help Wanted, Mostly Managers

The current distribution of open social media roles, follows (source: indeed.com, n= 29,721):

• Social Media Internships – 8%
• Social Media Analysts – 6%
• Social Media Managers – 40%
• Social Media Directors – 22%
• Social Media Vice Presidents – 3%
• Social Media Consultants – 7%
• Social Media (other) – 13%

Question: What other changes to jobs, roles & responsibilities do you see from social media? Leave a comment here.

Special thanks to Hubspot for the infographic formatting & all-silhouettes.com for the silhouettes.[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]