When you think of social media roles, chances are you think of a community manager or the oh-so-generic “social media manager”, which is usually some function of the marketing department managing strictly social media programs. But there are loads of other potential roles that can integrate or represent social media alongside other business areas.

Considering these is one of the primary ways to really integrate and entrench social media and its implications throughout the business, not just isolated in the communications department. Let’s take a look at what I mean.

Social Phone Operator

At Radian6, we have folks that help us man the front lines of what we call our Listening Grid. They’re responsible for manning the dashboard, picking up the alerts, and routing posts that require engagement or attention to the right people on the community, support, or account teams. In the case of mature organizations, this can easily be a full-time role, but for companies just getting started in social media, it can probably be part of someone (or several people’s) jobs.

Existing Roles that might incorporate this: customer support specialists, tech-savvy receptionists, department assistants or coordinators

Lead Generation

Yes, there are leads making themselves known in social media. By listening carefully to the discussions around your brand, competition, or specific market or industry, you can spot when people are seeking out the kind of products or services you provide. We call this Listening at the Point Of Need. There’s also plenty of opportunity to just track down where your prospects are present in social media, and start contributing and participating in the discussions they’re having to get acquainted in a non-threatening, friendly way.

These can even be more junior roles (if overseen by someone who understands the social space), wrapped into other kinds of lead generation activity like research or direct response programs.

Existing roles that might incorporate this: sales coordinators, sales assistants, community coordinators, marketing coordinators, development assistants

Social Business Development

Hush with you that social media can’t be good for B2B (I’ve been doing social media in B2B for two years and it’s working just fine, thank you). Yesterday, we just took people to the golf course or dinner to get to know them more intimately. Now, geography isn’t an issue, and we can have a meaningful conversation with a prospect via Twitter, or make an initial connection in the comments on our blog. (Remember, the tools are what you make of them).

If your prospects are out there using forums, blogs, social networks, or anywhere you can have a discussion, you can supplement your offline business development with some great online touchpoints.

Existing roles that might incorporate this: community managers, sales/business development professionals, account managers, development or fundraising pros, client service teams

Social Customer Service & CRM

Perhaps the most obvious role is that of dedicated customer service for social media channels. Whether that’s a Twitter fleet or a blog or forum posse, you can dedicate resources to handling customer service issues in online environment and either solving them directly, or getting them to more efficient and thorough existing channels.

You also have the opportunity to add social media channels to the arsenal of client and account management. And yes, this can be one part of a community role, but folks in your account, support or service departments with an interest in social media can also be outstanding resources.

Existing roles that might incorporate this: customer service or support roles of any kind, client services, account management

Internal Community Manager

It might be obvious to segment your community managers’ responsibilities into specific markets or verticals you serve, depending on the complexity of your company or organization. But what might be less obvious is that you have an internal community that needs support, too, namely your employees and team members. Having someone dedicated to listening to them, creating content, and providing a bridge to management and other areas of the organization can be a valuable consideration.

Existing roles that might incorporate this: human resources or training/professional development roles, internal communications

Social Logistics/Operations Managers

The social media work doesn’t always have to be on the front lines. For companies deploying more robust social media programs, there are information technology needs/requirements, guidelines and policies to be written and maintained, teams to manage and coordinate in varying disciplines, and budgets to manage. Perhaps you have staff that uses social media personally but not professionally, or they have an interest but on the more strategic side, rather than being out there engaging on their own. You might consider how to give some of the operational responsibilities to folks with those skills.

Existing roles that might incorporate this: operations managers, IT professionals, managers of departments engaged in social media

Analysts

You may or may not already have a research or analyst department, but there’s a whole slew of insights that come through the social media sphere. Looking closely at the data and extracting some key indicators and ensuing recommendations is what can really take your social media efforts from surface-scraping to wired into the business.

Existing roles that might incorporate this: data analysts, project/department managers with analytical skills

There are undoubtedly more, and I’m sure I’ve missed some potential matches in the existing roles.

But does this get you thinking? Are you experimenting with integrating social stuff into roles inside your company, or do you have ideas? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

image by David Spender

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