Social Brands

Speaking at Maketing's Social Brands conference in February, Silberbauer explained that the 'nervousness around the room when they see they need to communicate with customers' is palpable. 'But when they get 500 likes, that's when they realise what social media is all about.'

No department should lay claim to 'owning' social media, explains Danny Whatmough, director of digital strategies at technology PR agency EML, in our other social-media management feature this week.
Completely decentralising responsibility is not the answer because it could lead to inconsistencies, he warns. Instead, an approach whereby the social-media team sets the strategy, with implementation then left to the needs of different departments, is a model worth considering.

Last week, corporate reputation firm Portland launched a social-media crisis simulator to allow brands to 'stress test' their response strategy in case they ever found themselves at the centre of a social storm.
Corporate communications sits at the heart of Portland's simulator. However, the firm envisages situations involving the chief executive, business continuity teams, the legal department, operations and HR as core players in the social-media strategy.