– This paper aims to investigate what activities allow the firm to efficiently and effectively integrate social media into its strategic marketing activities.
– As the current research investigates a new area of focus in the literature, an exploratory study consistent with the adoption of new technology in a firm was used to identify salient activities. In-depth interviews with those who oversee their firm’s social media strategies were conducted to discover and assess organizational activities.
– Findings suggest that many firms did not adopt organizational activities important for effective social media execution, leading us to the view social media as the “step-child” of corporate functions, not receiving resources more traditional functions would receive; those responsible for the social media function, an exercise in external communications, may be hampered by poor internal communications; and few firms have defined and measured goals for social media where employees are held accountable for supporting an overall marketing strategy.
– The findings point the way for future confirmatory empirical research of organizational activities, top management team support and effective internal communication in the rapid-response environment of social media. Findings also provide implications for marketing practitioners for the use and measurement of social media to achieve marketing objectives.
– The current research is meaningful and unique in that it approaches social media from the organizational process perspective, which has received little attention in the social media literature.
