A journey in translation

In many companies, the major transformation linked with the emergence of social media is the transformation of the top line (marketing, communication and sales) approach. The best illustration is the revolution that happened with the “digital marketing” with the community management or the “new consumer connection” in the point of sales. If I am sure that communication, marketing and sales have to be revised with a new paradigm centered on the consumer and not on the company/brand/product, I am also convinced that the main lever of transformation is in the field of HR.  Obviously, the role of HR is much more strategic and important that some of the actors think. The role of HR is key for many reasons:

First, while marketing look at the evolution of the market and of the consumers behaviors, HR, through social prospective, are able to perceive the mains trends of the society in a broader way and to help the business to understand the evolution around social networks. This sociological approach provides with qualitative understanding on the usages of social network of the population. Social prospective is also the lever for HR to strengthen their understanding on the expectations of the next generation, their aspirations or their motivations.

Second, HR are leaders to develop the organization; and the transformation of the top line is a topic of organization, in terms of (a) structure & coordination, of (b) competencies, of (c) profiles, of (d) development and of (e) careers.

(a) Structures and coordination: the emergence of new activities in the field of marketing and communication entails changes in the organization with the creation of new positions (new medias, digital marketing,…) and with new close relations between these 2 departments and the need to develop new coordination modes for communicating as the corporate level as well as to the KOL, Blogs, ….HR have to create the conditions for making this change happen,

(b) Competencies: the way to connect to the consumers with digital marketing or to PR / blogs for communication requires defining new competencies. If a part of the job is the same, the core evolves. It is driven by the consumer centric approach. HR has the ability and the credibility to lead this definition of new competencies not only for marketing but also for sales. Indeed, the emergence of digital marketing change the way companies sale their products and create connections in the point of sales: consumers increasingly desire to find the information and interact with the brands in the point of sale. That requires new competencies which have to be define by the operational and the HR

(c) Profiles: with the exquisite “job desk”, HR define not only what are the needs but also the profiles of the candidates. It is a great opportunities to introduce diversity in terms of socio-educational background with people having new attitudes and leadership style (ability to network). That means people coming from literature, sociology …and not only business schools. The purpose of the job is to create a specific relation based on a “discussion” in order to engage the consumers in the product experience.

(d) Development: one of the mission of HR is to create on the content and on the form as well, new learning programs or new initiatives to develop the people in place or new entrants around these jobs and activities. It’s also important to educate the rest of the management team to this wave of change in the way of doing business. HR has to create the conditions to facilitate cross business teams and to break the silos between the brands and the business. Consumers are networked, it is difficult to answer by business organizations in silos.

(e)Career: when people enter in new position with new profiles or when the company create new position, it is interesting to think about career management of these new atypical entrants.

As you can see, the role of HR is crucial in the digital/social media transformation in many areas. this explains why HR have to co-lead this transformation with the communication, marketing and sales.