-
Website
http://scottdrummond.org/ -
Original page
http://scottdrummond.org/2009/01/13/what-is-community-management-not-a-silver-bullet/ -
Subscribe
All Comments -
Community
-
-
Top Commenters
-
Popular Threads
All Comments
Nice post. Like these words the most...
"Having a community manager is no substitute for not having a compelling reason to exist"
Tyrone
If there is one quality that a community thingybob isn't, it's egocentric (which is an issue for me obviously). It's not about you. It's about all these other people. Which causes problems for organisations, because organisations tend to be collectively selfish - it's all about us. How absolutely ****ing great our brand is and we are and if only those dumb ****s would get this simple fact, our lives and their lives would be so much easier.
Not good in someone with a community thingybob role.
- an excuse for you to cut your customer service staff
- a conduit for spam
- a prison bitch for your salesforce
- the latest ornament to add to your collection alongside that viral campaign that everyone wants to forget and the TV ad that won your agency an award but actually lost you sales
A community manager is an ear.
Here is my loud thinking...aka my inexperienced view on the matter.
Trying to understand what community management is before I decide what it isn't.
I think its part of marketing but differentiates from straight brand mgt. and PR in that it attempts to "farm" the communications between business and its customers.
This is where it deviates from strict brand mgt. and PR. The control (or brand mgt. and PR's attempt to control) the messages are not there, as the community decides where the conversation goes. It merely guides the many-to-many conversations between business to business, business to customers, and customers to customers.
That is why it would be impossible to build a community without offering value (its reason to exist) and the decision to do so without one, is disastrous. Hence the saying, if you build it (business and its compelling reason to exist), they will come.
So...thinking out loud, I know its not brand mgt and not PR in the traditional sense. So I now know a little bit more of what it is, by slowly discovering what it isn't.
Thanks for the great post Scott.
my2c,
Tyrone
Btw Matt, that second comment is golden :-)
Tyrone - cheers for the comment. We're all just thinking out loud, so don't downplay your knowledge and the value of exposing the gelatinous inner workings of your gulliver #brainsaresexy.
Tom - short and oh-so deliciously sweet :-)
Part of the problem is figuring out why you want a community. It's a big, responsible thing to undertake as a company and there are a range of motivations. In my case, the company decided that it wanted to become a better known travel brand; more than just a product. Now that's quite hard when the product is travel insurance (!), rarely more than a grudge purchase.
I'm not sure we've ended up with what we imagined 5 years ago, a community might be or do. But I do think we've been successful in turning 'customers' into 'members'... the beginning of a long and fruitful relationship.
So, let's see... I AM:
+ most certainly an 'ear' for them
+ their champion in internal meetings where their needs might be ignored
+ responsible for providing some Value through our community touchpoints
+ busy
I am NOT :
+ a business conservative - I urge the scaredy cats in the organisation to try social media, or blogging. So far, no nasty scars.
+ a true marketer, PR, or customer service - I talk all day, every day with those people in my organisation and sit somewhere in the middle.
+ yet able to guage the Return on Investment in my role (sorry accountants) ;-) But I sure get a Return on Insight for who our customer/members are, what they want and most importantly where we're going to find them next.
I'm loving the out-loud thinking here. It's a funny ol' job and I'd be surprised if one Community Manager's day resembled another's!
I'm thinking this could make an interesting session here: http://nswkmforum.wordpress.com/
"Online Communities: Who Gives a Flying One?"
Maybe a couple of very brief presentations, maybe a panel, maybe some drinks afterwards. These events normally run @ PwC's offices and they get a fair few people from a range of backgrounds.
Just an idea - there's a couple of other people around who could be likely participants...
I would be keen to be involved in whatever capacity, and it'd be great to be put under the pressure of delivering a useful discussion of this burgeoning area. Happy to discuss this further, either here (probably not that practical), on Friday (great for anyone coming along to coffee morning at Toast, not great for those who aren't) or in a more collaborative space (email?)
Christy, are you in?
I think a few of the points you raise are absolutely critical:
• having a community is a tremendous responsibility;
• nurturing a sense of community is a wonderful way to stop being a commodity and to start being something more important in the lives of the people you care about;
• direct ROI might be a little tricky, but value-add is not in question;
And I couldn't agree more - the role of the community manager is likely to be as varied as the communtiies being managed.
Great comment Christy.
i often wonder what I might have to offer (succinctly), but am dead keen to hear what others are doing, saying and especially, finding challenging.
Come February, you'll find me at Friday morning coffee (when I can get my littlie into Pre-School). Otherwise, happy to stay digital to discuss these plans. Get me here : Christy [at] worldnomads.com
Laters... :-)
Oh, and thanks for calling my blog "splendiferous." Can't say that anyon has ever used that word next to my name before.
-Angela
@communitygirl on twitter
A community manager isn't a wannabe rockstar or celebrity. The focus in a community should be on the members, not the manager. If your community revolves around you, you have a problem.
People are different. Communities are different. Therefore the role of community manager will be different for everyone. There is no 'standard' role of a community manager. We are there to help develop and encourage the forming of relationships. How we do that can vary enormously.
- Martin