While no social media ownership model at a giant company can be perfect, a model that’s becoming increasingly popular for many of the more savvy brands out there is the “center of excellence” or “hub and spoke” model.
With this structure, one central team guides the overall strategy, training and policy-making in social media and works to empower everyone else to use these tools. In her recent BlogWell presentation, Hewlett-Packard’s Mia Dand offered a fantastic behind-the-scenes look at how the company built and operate theirs.
A few of her big thoughts:
- Define what your Center of Excellence owns: At HP, their central team focuses on governance, training and education, innovation and best practices.
- Avoid the organizational minefields. Getting buy-in for social media in any department can be tough — so start with the low hanging fruit to get things started, such as marketing or public relations.
- Empowering employees to interact with customers can make an immediate impact. Through encouraging and training employees, HP has seen a tenfold increase in blogging and social media activity by employees, and referrals from social-networking sites have doubled.
Watch Mia’s live case study: