Marketing and sales were always told “you have to work together”. But there’s a new name in town – known by various titles such as Social Media Manager. Smart companies these days are making sure they integrate all three critical roles into their sales process.

Think about it for a moment. Because of social media, data and analytics flows into a company’s computers everyday, bringing truckloads of information about prospects and customers, their complaints, preferences, what they’re looking for and why. It means that the first point of contact for prospects and customers is with the social media manager. For generations of sales, this role was reserved only for a front line sales person. But nowadays, that “young kid” monitoring your Twitter account is the one getting closest to understanding your customers’ true sentiments.

If you haven’t done so, it’s time to make your social media person or team a core member of sales and marketing. Figure out how you plan to support and work social media managers in order to continue to turn who they “touch” into leads and sales!

• Keep social media personnel involved with the people on your company’s traditional sales and marketing teams.
• Help them understand the strategy behind the sales efforts, in fact, involve them in helping to build the strategy.
• Ask for their input, just like you’d ask your front line sales people.
• Make sure that their responses and actions are in sync with sales, not contradictory!
• Make sure they understand and are committed to your business goals and the organization’s brand. After all, they’re likely one of the first ones, albeit online, to represent your brand.

And finally, make sure you put the right person into the role of social media manager. This is best explained in a now infamous blog, A Response to: ‘Why Every Social Media Manager Should Be Under 25’. The response concludes:

“Finding someone with the ability to tweet is easy; finding the right agency or employee to furnish insight, judgment, and experience in Social Media is not. Securing the maturity and experience your enterprise needs might be the difference between a Social Media presence that builds your brand’s influence or destroys it.”