CIOIN

Whether the medium for marketing is print, electronic or new media, it should be left to the experts: CMOs. The involvement of a CIO in an organization’s social media is largely around providing the marketing team technical support. I doubt CIOs would be able to completely comprehend customer behavior or pick out purchasing patterns. But do CIOs even want to venture into the social media territory, given that their own job profiles are so humongous that they hardly get time for innovation within their own teams? In most organizations, driving social media content, and managing information flow and interaction is the marketing team’s responsibility. Based on the information that marketing teams desire, CIOs can only build systems. And that isn’t the same as leading social media initiatives. A person who leads a project is also accountable for the failure or success of that project. What if a marketing campaign whose content is not driven by the CIO, goes sour? Would it be fair to hold the CIO accountable? And if it is an IT driven project then who apart from the CIO will be held responsible? The volatile and viral nature of the medium is itself a cause of concern. Organizations need solid reliability and performance scores. Considering CIOs are on their toes 24/7 to just keep the lights on, isn’t that too much to ask for? Every business function in an organization is a niche function and has an expert designated to it. The CEOs, CFOs, CMOs, and the CIOs are all expected to work in tandem, bringing to the table their expertise in their respective fields. Infringing into a business colleague’s profile may also raise unwanted confrontations which are best avoided for the health of an organization. Of course, the CIO can collaborate with the CMO to derive out the best from a social media initiative but leading the project should be left to the CMO.