How many people does it take to support a social networking program? It depends. It depends on the size of your company, your industry and how committed your company is to ensuring it’s connected in the important areas that are impacting the company’s future.
Certainly more people join the online discussion each day. And social networking is the approach used to insert you or your company into the discussion in a way that brings value to the conversation. In return for your participation, your company has an opportunity to strengthen its brand affinity and offers more ways to stay connected to customers’ points of view.
Your company’s participation varies by online community. Facebook, MySpace and Twitter might have many of the same members carrying on a conversation, but the origin, nature, tone and direction of that conversation are likely different. It takes a team of people with different skills working together to know how, when and where to insert your company into the discussion, and ensuring that you remain a part of the discussion.
Below I’ve outlined the main areas and provide a potential staffing arrangement to show the various elements that support a social networking program for a large company. Smaller companies can obviously cut down on the number of people.
Community (1 – 2) – the community specialist(s) are responsible for watching the conversations on an ongoing basis. They know that the discussions across social platforms change and help account for the interests and perspectives present in the community and help refine the company’s message based on the day-to-day interactions.
Digital Media (1 – 2) – in order to carry on the conversation, you need something to talk about. Online, pictures and videos are as important as the dialogue when engaging a community. Having someone who can produce Web-ready visual content is an essential part of the program.
Blogger & Online Customer Relations (2 – 3) – the conversations online don’t happen in a vacuum. A discussion thread on Twitter can bleed over to Facebook where it’s noticed by a prominent blogger who writes about it. Having specialists dedicated to interacting with bloggers as well as on customer service issues is a good way to ensure that you are on top of the conversations.
Research & Reporting (2 – 3) – in order to get where you’re going, you have to know where you’ve been. Nowhere is that more apparent than in social media. Being able to capture themes and sentiments online and then using them to feed back into the social program is a valuable tool when you are moving to keep up with the online world.
Based on these assumptions, I’d say that a solid social program requires 6 – 10 people to sustain the online discussion. I recently saw numbers for Dells program that put the numbers around 20, and if you look at all they are doing online, that number seems a little low. How many people work in social networking and the online medium in your company? Have I missed anyone?
Post-apocalyptic 
Wow…20 people are dedicated at Dell? Do you they only focus on online or is 20 people total that handle both on and offline comms at Dell simultaneously?
Personally, I believe the first three categories could be handled by 3-4 total people and they should be in-house. Research and reporting is something I think could/should be farmed out to an agency.
If you are taking feedback…I definitely like the new site look.
You forgot to take competency into account for each silo. If it’s Brad Mays, you can reduce headcount dramatically and still know that it. will. all. get. done.
Thanks for the ribbing, Seth.
Dominic, I think you’re right that there could be some consolidation among the categories. I was taking a look at it from the standpoint of the work that Seth and I do each day, and I know that we’re pretty busy with a couple of the categories. So, I guess you could see the headcount as a best-case.
And, thanks for the feedback on the site. Will take more time to post on my time off. Trying to get into a routine.
Love the site, man.
I love how there are folks that can focus so much on content, but don’t really care about having an online conversation. (Cough, Seth Godin.)
Monitoring and participating in communities are so important. Dominic says the first three can be done by 3-4 people. I think many companies are lucky if they have that many people doing it.
Thanks, Daniel. Your point is spot on – you must participate in communities. A dialogue is more compelling than a monologue. Each of us has a limited view of the world no matter the breadth of our experiences. It’s important to have a collective view of things.
And, I think you’re making Dominic’s point – most companies don’t have the resources to staff the complete scope of a social program as I’ve outlined it. But, I think in the future, many of those charged with traditional duties will be shifted to social and online.