Recently, the concept of the silo effect was brought to my attention again. While the conversation was mostly about silos vs. niches, I wanted to branch out and touch on a broader subject–one that I see as an increasingly detrimental issue for agencies, companies and ultimately their clients and customers. Is the social media guy/department in your company working in a silo?

Silos within organizations are basically departments that are unable to communicate information or common goals outside of their department to the rest of the company or to customers. One of the leading factors that has caused this in larger organizations (but smaller still fall under this, as well), is the very granular specialization of departments, e.g. social media, digital media, new media, operational marketing departments, etc. The biggest concentration of this type of problem within organizations is typically where the focus of departments is inward and the majority of communication is on a vertical level (guerrilla marketing, digital marketing, product management, etc). Results–communication suffers, energy is wasted, activities become redundant between departments, unhealthy internal competition arises and interdepartmental goals become unfocused and sometimes completely obstructed. All in all, this equals bad news for organizations already struggling to stay afloat and keep a leg up on the competition.

Sound familiar with your newly formed social media team? How often do you turn around to second guess what those guys in the corner are doing so intently focused on their computers all day? Just because they’re all on Twitter, Facebook and reading blogs all day, doesn’t mean they don’t have anything valuable to contribute to the rest of the company. I promise you that there’s more value to what they do than “poking” and “tweeting” and “digging” all day long.

Here’s 5 simple reasons why you don’t want your social media department to work in a silo in your company…

1. Product research: The people in your social media marketing team are constantly listening to what your customers are saying about your products and services. Customers might be complaining about a switch on your alarm clock that feels cheap, a knob on your lamp that seems to fall off within two months of purchasing, or saying that they wish you made a red watch instead of a blue one. This information is valuable for your product development department and quality control for your manufacturing department.

2. Customer service: Talk about a need for inter-departmental strategies. Your social media guys are following your customers on Twitter and reading their troubles on blogs and forums. Your customer service department should definitely be in the know and should be on board with concept of real-time customer service.Work together to build a strategy, set goals and follow through.

3. Brand/Product Management: Brand managers listen up–this one’s for you. Spreadsheets of research data that spent you thousands of dollars, weekly Neilsen charts and calls with your field team can only give you half of the information you need to do your job correctly. Break down that barrier between you and your social media team and start gather valuable information from them on the words your customers are using to describe your products, services, brands and who they really are–both online and off. Take the time to invite a member of your social media team into marketing meetings to get their insight on your current strategies and campaign ideas. Don’t just give them the final result and tell them to do what they do now, invite them in for every step of the process. In many ways, they’re probably much more connected to your customer than you are.

4. Internal/Corporate Communications: Writing another press release or building another slide deck to present to your investors and wondering if there is a better way to share this information–guess what? There is! Ask your social media team. They’re head down in the dirt all day digging around and constantly exposed to new solutions for improving communications on all levels. Invite a representative from your social media team into your corporate communications meetings to discuss new alternatives–social media releases, corporate blogging, sharing/social bookmarking tools and many more options to increase your communication with investors, retailers, vendors and internal employees.

5. Human Resources: Recruiting can be tough, especially during tough economic times when HR departments are feeling the crunch. Get your social media team involved in helping you to develop new solutions for recruiting recent college grads, seeking out specialized and experienced candidates in their fields and improving company culture.

These are just a few examples of where your social media department can improve various company operations. What are some others that you have had success employing in your own organizations or that you current provide as solutions to your clients?