2. ARTICLE REVIEW
• Because of the newness of social media, organizations are unsure how to structure
a social media team, and where to palace it within their organization.
• There are several questions to answer when decided to pursue a Social Media
Team.
• There are several options on where to place the social team.
• There is also plenty of flexibility in what positions make up a Social Team.
3. ARTICLE REVIEW CONT.
• It varies from team to team, however most Social teams consist of a Digital Designer,
Social Analyst, Community Manager, Care Manager, Social Media Manager, and finally,
the most important, the Head of the Social Media.
• Each place could be outsourced or in-housed, depending on the organization.
• The author stresses the importance of all members knowing what the others are
working on, making the whole process smooth.
• No matter what, reaching the customer is always the goal. They don’t always
know/care what’s going on behind the scenes.
4. CONCEPT REVIEW
• Systems Concept: the idea that an organization is not a single entity, but a complex
organism that relies on itself, as well as its environment.
• A System has several components including: hierarchical ordering, interdependence, and
permeability.
• The System is responsible for the “input-throughout-output” process of the
organization known as feedback and exchange
• The System Properties include holism, equifinality, negative entropy, and requisite
variety.
5. SYSTEM COMPONENTS IN
SOCIAL MEDIA TEAMS:
HIERARCHICAL ORDERING
• In itself, Social Media Teams have hierarchical ordering. There are different departments
within the team. As I mentioned earlier, those range from The Head of Social Media, in
charge of the whole team, as well as the social media accounts, to the graphic designer,
in charge of how the social accounts presents themselves.
• While each team member has their own function, it is important that each knows a bit
about the function of the others.
6. SYSTEM COMPONENTS IN
SOCIAL MEDIA TEAMS:
HIERARCHICAL ORDERING
• Social Media Teams fall within Hierarchical ordering within the organization as whole
as well.
• The team can fall within multiple departments within the organization, such as PR,
Communications, IT, Customer Relations.
• It can also stand on it’s own as the Social Media Department.
7. SYSTEM COMPONENTS IN
SOCIAL MEDIA TEAMS:
INTERDEPENDENCE
• Each position within the Social Team relies on the others in order to produce
cohesive and polished social media platforms.
• For example, without the Data Analyst, the rest of the team, as well as the
organization as a whole, wouldn’t know how successful the social platforms are.
• This is why it’s important that the different departments remain in constant contact.
All members need to be aware of what’s happening. Even though there are several
different working parts, the social account needs to move as one piece.
8. SYSTEM COMPONENTS IN
SOCIAL MEDIA TEAMS:
PERMEABILITY
• As mentioned before, it is important that all departments remain in contact with
each other. Information must be able to flow to all members of the group,
especially managers, those dealing directly with the public, or those in the
leadership positions.
• The Team must also be able to communicate with the rest of the organization.
• It is vital that the Team remain open to it’s environment: the other online social
users. Without them, there wouldn’t be a need for a Social Team. It must engage
with other users to be successful.
9. SYSTEM PROCESSES IN
SOCIAL MEDIA TEAMS: EXCHANGE
• Exchange has to do with the input and output of
information
• In a Social Team, the exchange would deal with the
mentions and interactions on the social media that the
other users participate in.
• It would also be the end results and how successful the
social outlets are.
10. SYSTEM PROCESSES IN
SOCIAL MEDIA TEAMS: FEEDBACK
• There are two important types of Feedback: deviation-
reducing and deviation-amplifying
• Deviation-reducing feedback corrects simple mistakes to
keep the system running smoothly. For example if the
Social Team gets word that they were giving out wrong
information about their company, they would send out the
right information to their customers.
• Deviation-amplifying feedback looks to change the whole
system. The Social Team could look at the data analysis
and decide that their outlets would work better as
customer service, rather than a product promotion outlet.
11. SYSTEM PROPERTIES IN
SOCIAL MEDIA TEAMS:
HOLISM
• When all of the positions work together, they’re much
more powerful than when each works separately.
• This idea goes back to the fact that each member of the
team needs to know what the others are doing so that the
social media platforms are cohesive.
12. SYSTEM PROPERTIES IN
SOCIAL MEDIA TEAMS:
EQUIFINALITY
• Equifinality is the idea that there are many solutions.
• Again, this has to do with open communication and
collaboration among the group members
• When there is more than one person, ideas and solutions
are often stronger because they are looked at from all
angles.
13. SYSTEM PROPERTIES IN
SOCIAL MEDIA TEAMS:
NEGATIVE ENTROPY
• This is the thought that the group is open to its
environment
• The group needs to take feedback, acknowledge it, and do
something with it
• If the group does not receive feedback, or does nothing
about feedback, will not survive
14. SYSTEM PROPERTIES IN
SOCIAL MEDIA TEAMS:
REQUISITE VARIETY
• This thought is that the social team has to be as
complicated as the environment around it
• The Social Media Platforms are very complicated. Each has
its own set rules and market groups. The Social Team has
to be just as complicated and diverse as the social
platforms in order to be successful and remain relevant
15. QUESTIONS
• How can Social Media Teams do better with
receiving feedback? Is there a way they can
do more with it to get the most out of it?
16. QUESTIONS
• What is the best way to keep
communication open between group
members? Is it through email? Face to Face?
17. QUESTIONS
• I would like to look into how organizations
group their teams, whether under a branch,
or on their own. I think it would be
interesting to look at how successful they
are.
18. QUESTIONS
• I would like to see if having more or less
positions has any effect on the quality of
work produced.
20. WORK CITED
• Donkor, Ben. "How to Structure a Social Media Team."
How to Structure a Social Media Team. LinkHumans, 3 Feb.
2016. Web. 02 Mar. 2016.
<http://linkhumans.com/blog/structure-social-media-team>.
