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Corporate Social Media: Who Can and Should Manage Your Community?
By: Marijean Jaggers | 04/13/2010
The number one struggle our clients and prospects are having with social media is this:
Who will do the work to maintain our social media presence?
It's an extremely important question to answer. We've seen many blog efforts die; Tweets fritter away over time; Facebook pages go dormant. Companies have grand plans about how they're going to engage in social media and then ... no one owns the effort.
One approach that's been discussed is the creation of a position described separately as a community manager or a conversation manager or sometimes even simply a social media manager (a quick Google of this found upwards of 14,000 jobs with this title). The point is, some companies have come far enough in the process to acknowledge that if they are going to be successful in their social media efforts, they need to create a position to handle it.
Whether you're hiring to fill the community manager position (this is my preferred title for the job), or changing the marketing or communications person's title and responsibilities, there are a few important considerations to make.
Companies often think, "We want the young, hip intern who 'gets' social media to do this for us." This is like hiring your 16-year-old nephew to build the Web site for your business. Just. Don't. It's great that the youngest person on your team uses social media on a regular basis, but they're not the voice and face of your company, unless they ARE your primary audience. If your audience needs to engage with someone who represents your company -- truly -- who can answer with authority any question or respond to any inquiry without checking with a battery of people first, then THAT's the person who needs to be your community manager.
Now it's fine if that community manager is not a subject matter expert on all the different products and services your company provides. In fact, what the community manager needs is the young hip intern and a team of others in the company to research and supply a feed of information: blog posts and articles to read, news to react to, ideas, photos, product information, etc. The manager can then use this flow of creative inspiration to develop the content that engages your community. Give the manager the support they need to represent you, but first choose wisely, knowing that that person may find themselves representing you in a crisis, or on a day when business is not going well at all. The community manager is your company spokesperson. Are you ready to have that person represent you online?
The person, in summary, who can and should manage your community should have the authority to do so; they should have the respect earned through longevity with the company, and the skill and personality to enjoy engaging with others on the social Web.
Who manages your community now? If you're not yet engaged in social media, who do you plan to have manage your community?
Posted in Digital Communications, Reputation Management
comments
Danielle says:
Tue, April 13, 2010 at 10:19:am
Oh, one more thing,
I also think it is important to note that the social media voice of your compay should come from within- not from an agency you hire to do it for you. You touch on this here, and I blogged about it recently at the Atomicdust blog (http://www.atomicdust.com/blog/single/be-yourself-with-social-media/). I work at an agency, and yes, I can guide you in your social media efforts, but at the end of the day, you know your company, you know your customers, you should be the one out there in social media.
Marijean says:
Tue, April 13, 2010 at 10:24:am
Danielle, I agree and have recommended to clients that the community manager must be an internal team member—the team of people who feed inspiration to the manager can be part of an agency or external team/consultant, but the creator of content, the person the community has a relationship with needs to be on the inside.
Oh and amen to thinking of ourselves as young and hip—I was trying not to be ageist while trying to get across the idea of it NOT being a teenager/immature team member/person of limited experience.
Netwave Interactive says:
Tue, April 13, 2010 at 3:02:pm
I agree that someone should be put in charge of social networking. Social media is growing at a substantial rate for use in the business atmosphere. It’s not enough to just create the accounts; they must be maintained on a regular basis or risk falling behind your competitors. I manage the social media accounts at our company and it has become a part of my daily routine. This way, the sites are always updated and I’m always interacting with followers.
Marijean says:
Tue, April 13, 2010 at 3:37:pm
Jennifer, we manage and maintain as a collaborative effort, and I agree with you; it must be part of the daily routine. Naturally it’s even more important for those of us in PR/Marketing and Digital Communications but I see this as an ongoing challenge for our clients who aren’t accustomed to thinking and acting on their communications or their communities daily.
Barbara Segal says:
Tue, April 13, 2010 at 5:37:pm
KEY word here is Investment Relations. What is said Matters. There are so many great examples out there: @BettyCrocker, @dkny @marieclaire these Corporations understand Social Media and are having conversations and reaping the benefits. Banding, Public Relations, Customer Service and Social Media it all ties together. Twitter is a 24/7 position. It is a full time seasoned professional in this position who knows the brand and corporate culture. If your a retailer and open Sat. and Sun. then you better be Twittering as well! The new HooteSuite offers administration of one Social Media Account to several people. BravoTv gets it, they have Tweet ups with the Producer, Oprah as well.
You say:
The community manager is your company spokesperson. Are you ready to have that person represent you online?
I say:
Are you ready to have that company spokesperson represent you offline as well?
Kudos Marijean for writing on this important topic.
Marijean says:
Wed, April 14, 2010 at 8:49:am
Barbara, thank you so much. Another concern I have is that smaller companies will see brands like the ones you mention, @BettyCrocker, etc. and think that they don’t have to do what those other, bigger brands are doing in social media. What I’m seeing a lot of is launch and stall and what I’d like to do is help companies figure out their game plan before they launch or, if they’re in stall-mode, prepare a re-launch with a better plan for accountability, management and success.
J.D. says:
Wed, April 14, 2010 at 9:03:am
Fantastic post, Marijean. And thank you for including a point about that person representing you in a crisis. (And I agree with Barbara—it’s best if that same person represents you online AND offline in a crisis.)
If you’re interested in more depth on managing crises in this space, here’s a link to my blog-post summary and attached PRSA Strategist article on the topic: http://www.jamesjdonnelly.com/2010/03/analyzing-five-commonly-held-beliefs-about-2-0-crises/
All the best,
J.D.
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Danielle says:
Tue, April 13, 2010 at 10:18:am
Personally, I think the best way to go starting off is to transfer that responsibility to someone in your organization. Someone in marketing, in customer relations, add it to their job responsibility. Then, once you get going, get a successful campiagn, you may need to create a position more specifically designed to handle social media.
But not by hiring a teenager. I manage social media, and I’d like to think I’m young and hip, but it isn’t cause and effect! Social Media Marketing is based on strategy. You have to have that kind of mindset going in, you have to be able to figure out the best way to leverage the platform for your business.
-Danielle
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