During my workshop today at the Association of Colleges communications conference (slides here) one of the delegates asked:

“How do you fit all this social media stuff in alongside the day job?”

It’s a fair question, but it reveals much about how some communicators see social media – as an add-on, a supplementary extra to the business of communicating through traditional media and marketing channels.
My response was that social media is part of the day job.
As professional communicators it’s our responsibility to use social media tools where appropriate alongside the more established tools of our profession to communicate with our intended audiences.
And that means learning about the social media environment as diligently as we keep up-to-date with the mainstream media environments we work in.
I’d go so far to say a professional communicator’s not really doing his or her job properly if they don’t have a handle on how social media can be used as part of an integrated communications mix.
So yes, it’s definitely part of the day job.