How to Determine Your Social Media Team’s Structure

Building a social media team is no easy task. This team is usually a subset under the digital or communications department at a company. According to an infographic by Go-Gulf, the majority of social teams are fewer than four people. The size of social teams varies across the board; however, there are 3 important factors that need to be evaluated when structuring a team. Those factors include: social media goals, skill sets and budget.

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Social Media Goals & Team Structure

Your social media goals and team structure go hand and hand. Depending on what you set out to achieve and how your brand defines success will determine how you need to structure your social team. Do you want to build an engaged community? Do you want to provide superior customer service? Do you want to be seen as a thought-leader who is always testing and trying new things? These goals will help you decide on the rolls and skill sets you need to execute in the best possible way.

Social Media Skill Sets

Now that you have defined your goals, you have to align the manpower to carry it out. One of the first steps is to survey which skill sets you already have in-house. Imperative social media skill sets include: strategy, community management, content creation, analytics, and media buying. After you get a sense of what skills you have and what you need, you can then determine how to fill in those gaps. Those gaps can be filled in three ways: training existing employees, hiring new employees and/or outsourcing the work to an agency.

Social Media Budget

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Budget is also an obvious factor in determining your team structure and how to fill the skill sets you need to run a social media team. According to eMarketer, the percent of digital marketing budget that social receives has been growing steadily since 2013. In 2016, 36% of those surveyed say social receives 21-40% of their digital marketing budget. Honestly, each brand has a different scenario so it is hard to say which one of the three methods will likely be the more cost effective solution. A question that can help you narrow your option would be: “Is it easier to train an agency on my company or is it easier to train my people on social media?” There are pros and cons to each approach on the way you structure your social team.

We would love to hear how your social team is structured. If you feel stuck, we would be happy to help!



Ignite Social Media