Ask yourself these questions... would you expect the CFO to manage the website? Would you ask the content team to produce a sales forecast? You wouldn't because it's clear how different the roles are. But with "social" in the name of both roles, businesses otherwise quite good at distinguishing between different skills sometimes still make the mistake of assuming that the roles are similar.
The PPC Team roles align perfectly to the skills needed for success of social advertising. Generating leads managing CTR and CPA, are part of the PPC Teams responsibility, whereas these skills are less typically associated with Social Media Teams. PPC Teams in retail specifically, will have a focus and understanding of how to manage and work with with many products. Keeping on top of these different ad sets and offers are just part of the role.
Social Media Teams won’t typically know how to do direct response advertising and they won’t necessarily have the terminology set (e.g., RoAS: Return on Ad Spend). When it comes to striking up dialogue and engaging within industry sectors, Social Media Teams develop strategies and map out branding to deliver the promise of the company. Their expertise lies in capturing prospects at the awareness stage and being the voice of the brand. They most certainly won’t appreciate the need for conversion tracking, to the same extent as the PPC Team.
IBM found that 41% of Cyber Monday online retail traffic in the US came from smartphones and tablets, compared with 30.1% in 2013. Mobile purchasing is a huge market, which is making advertising on mobile more powerful. This year Facebook is projected to claim 22% of all mobile ad bookings. Over the coming holiday period, billions of people are going to see ads on Facebook. If you are a retailer running Facebook Ads and your PPC Team aren't handling them, you should be concerned. With increasing advertiser competition, the need for a PPC mindset has never been more important.
With this in mind paid social should not be classed under the umbrella of social media management. Although in the same platform, it is very different and geared for different results. The PPC Team should be handling this as it comes directly under their remit.
What do you think? We would love your input in the comment box below.
