A recent poll reveals that marketing departments are the most likely to own a company’s social media strategy, closely followed by PR or communications departments with HR departments in third place.

It’s no news that many companies use social media for recruiting purposes, but is it surprising to hear that 18% of companies assign the entire responsibility of social media to their HR department? Perhaps not when you consider that, especially for companies who don’t use social media at all, the responsibility isn’t so much about social media strategy as about monitoring employee activity.

The poll, designed by BlueSky PR, surveys companies in the entertainment, media and high end brand sectors. The poll was undertaken on behalf of Handle Recruitment, which specialises in appointments within the media, entertainment, fashion and high end retail sectors.

The findings are as follows: 39% of organisations gave the responsibility for social media to the marketing department, 35% to PR or Communications, 18% to HR and 8% to the IT department. Of course some companies have dedicated social media departments, while others outsource.