Community Manager Дайджест№8 (2012) Содержание Social Media Manager vs. Community Manager .......................................................................................... 1 10 Attributes of a Fantastic Community Manager ........................................................................................ 2 Online Community Decision: Public, Private or Hybrid? ............................................................................... 3 Online Community Management For Dummies ........................................................................................... 6 Which manager, which technology for which community? ......................................................................... 6
Community Manager Social Media Manager vs. Community Manager АВТОР: Rachel Strella ДАТА ПУБЛИКАЦИИ: November 28, 2011 ИСТОЧНИК: http://socialmediatoday.com/centralpawebster/396952/social-media-manager-vscommunity-manager АННОТАЦИЯ: публикация представляет собой интервью с комьюнити-менеджерами, посвященное обсуждению вопроса о соответствии должностных и функциональных обязанностей social media manager и community manager, их роли в малых и крупных предприятиях. As social media continues to develop, so do the roles within it. Among these are the roles of social media manager and community manager. I’ve teamed up with Tim McDonald, a well-known community manager in Chicago, to help in defining both. Today, we reveal our individual responses! What’s your definition of a social media manager? Rachel: A social media manager takes the lead in managing the overall efforts of a company social media platform. This can include writing and/or posting content, monitoring accounts, and reporting/communicating ROI. Tim: A social media manager is responsible for creating content specific to a product or brand strategy across social networks. They monitor and create engagement to achieve goals of a specific campaign. Do you believe they vary for a small business vs. an enterprise? Rachel: Absolutely! An enterprise may want multiple staff to manage specific aspects of online marketing and social media, while a small business may just want an effective presence on one or two channels. Tim: Yes. On the enterprise level, they may not create the content or develop the strategy. What’s your definition of a community manager? Rachel: A community manager is tasked with managing a specific community and/or platform for business. They wear the hats of: listening post, brand champion, and chief engagement specialist for that community. I consider a community manager to be more detailed and involved in certain aspects of social media, whereas a social media manager can manage more of the bigger picture aspects of online marketing. Tim: A Community Manager uses online networks to be the voice of the company to the community and the voice of the community to the company. Do you believe they vary for a small business vs. an enterprise? Rachel: Yes, as I believe a small business may not hire a community manager, but rather a social media manager due to both the level of complexity and financial resources. I would assume a business with over ten employees may want to consider a community manager. This could all be an assumption, which is why I am glad Tim is also providing answers to these questions! Tim: While there are many similarities, a small business community manager is likely to wear more hats and respond directly to community questions. Enterprise community managers are more likely to assign the response to the appropriate party. Small Business community managers may also be involved with in person events, bridging online and offline. Since you are a social media manager, what else can you say about this role? Rachel: This role requires one to wear a lot of hats so it’s important to have certain skills such as: timemanagement, organization, flexibility and a delicate balance of creativity and structure. An organization looking to hire someone to manage social media should not just be looking for a ‘young 1
Community Manager person’ but rather someone who understands the role social media plays in the marketing puzzle and can manage themselves and their time effectively. Tim: Since you are entrenched in community management, what else can you say about this role? The main difference between Community Managers and Social Media Managers is Community Managers are more empathetic. They are the champions of the voice of the community. A Community Manager is like a Shepherd. A community is like a flock of sheep. A Shepherd tends to their flock. They live among the sheep, but they are not a sheep. They foster a healthy environment by allowing the sheep to work out conflict without bringing harm to each other. They keep the sheep together and moving in the direction of green pastures, so the flock can grow and expand. They protect the sheep from outside predators. The Shepherd always knows the count of the heard. 10 Attributes of a Fantastic Community Manager ДАТА ПУБЛИКАЦИИ: Jan 23rd 2012 ИСТОЧНИК: http://socialwebthing.com/2012/01/10-attributes-of-a-fantastic-communitymanager/ АННОТАЦИЯ: автор статьи представляет свое видение основных качество успешного комьюнити-менеджера, а именно: стратегическое мышление, способность к развитию отношений, лидерские качество, идентификации проблем, способность к пониманию эмоций других людей (эмоциональный интеллект), внимание к деталям, аутентичность, способность быть посредником, уважение и пуленепробиваемость! As we celebrate Community Manager Appreciation Day today, I’ve thinking about the attributes, skills and behaviours that make a successful Community Manager (you can view all the #CMAD conversation on Twitter). I’m lucky enough to have managed several high-profile communities throughout my career, ranging from mobile phone to sports apparel to food brands, so I’ve drawn upon my experience when compiling this list. My colleagues Britta Heer and Jasper Krog correctly point out that Community Managers should be appointed based on their strategic, communication, social and management skills, so here’s what I consider to be the 10 attributes every successful Community Manager needs. 1. Strategic focus There are many challenges and opportunities awaiting brands who engage in real-time conversations with fans, but this activity needs to be underpinned by a clear strategic framework and an effective Community Manager who understands and can execute the strategy. 2. Relationship development The central focus of all Community Management activity is the ability to identify, nurture and develop long-lasting relationships with new and existing community members for the mutual benefit of fans and the brand. 3. Leadership Effective Community Managers help shape the conversation which takes place online and they need to possess strong leadership qualities in order to guide the conversation and community in line with the overall strategy. 4. Issues identification There are many examples of crisis’ blowing up on Facebook pages, but a successful Community Manager will be able to identify, monitor, intervene and escalate issues where appropriate, before they develop into a crisis. 5. Emotional intelligence Admittedly, this is a very broad term, but Community Managers need to have high emotional intelligence and be able to spot, assess and respond to the emotions of the community using the correct tonality, language and frequency. 6. Attention to detail
2
Community Manager Paying attention to detail at all times is critical to being a successful Community Manager. Whether it be posting content, replying to individuals or recording daily activity, focusing on and appreciating the detail is crucial. 7. Authenticity Great Community Managers have the ability to let their personality shine through when engaging with fans, whilst staying true to the voice of the brand. These types of authentic, personalised conversations are what the community wants, rather than default, corporate answers. 8. Mediation Frequently within online communities there are opposing views, which can often lead to inflamed, passionate and angry exchanges taking place between different community members. However, a good Community Manager will be able to calm things down, mediate and bring any conflicts to a resolution. 9. A ‘thick skin’ Online communities contain a wide spectrum of views and there are bound to be times when people vent their anger at the brand, product or community manager. Subsequently, having a ‘thick skin’ and the ability to remain calm and not take things personally needs to be part of the Community Manager’s personality.. 10. Respect Following the last point and it may seem obvious, but treating all community members with the respect at all times is absolutely essential when looking after communities. There have been many examples of bad Community Managers engaging in slanging matches with fans, causing reputational damage. Online Community Decision: Public, Private or Hybrid? АВТОР: Vanessa DiMauro, CEO of Leader Networks ДАТА ПУБЛИКАЦИИ: January 16, 2012 ИСТОЧНИК: http://www.business2community.com/online-communities/online-communitydecision-public-private-or-hybrid-0117014 АННОТАЦИЯ: в статье представлены рекомендации для компаний, решившихся использовать потенциал онлайн-сообществ, в частности описываются основные характеристики, преимущества и недостатки публичных, частных и смешанных онлайн-сообществ. Your organization has decided to develop an online community to serve your customers. Congratulations! This is an important step towards building a social business. As the team gathers in the conference room with whiteboards, markers and lots of coffee, you start by talking about other online community examples the organization might want to emulate, or those that have caught your fancy. Features, content, look and feel are usually a major part of this discussion. But chances are you haven’t considered a fundamental but critical question: will the online community be public, gated or a hybrid (largely public with a private, members-only area)? This is one of the most important decisions you will have to make, one that shapes virtually every aspect of how your community will operate and, in most cases, determine its success. The decision to make the community public, private or hybrid depends in large part on the characteristics of the audience you are trying to serve. At Leader Networks, we call this “The Engagement Model.” It states that “The who and why of your community will dictate the what and the how.” For example, if your organization seeks to reach a wide audience, such as a technical support community — chances are a public community is the right format. If your audience is small and focused, such as prospective customers of an airplane manufacturing company, a private, gated community is probably a better fit. Serving multiple audience types or needs may require a hybrid format. So what are the benefits, drawbacks, revenue models and other distinguishing factors for each type? Public Online Communities 3
Community Manager Public communities are open to anyone on the web who would like to join the community. While the community may — and probably should — require password-protected member registration to join or post a message, anyone with an email address and a web browser can have access. Organizations trying to engage a large audience of consumers or customers (B2C or B2B) with content and conversation online will usually choose a public community. Audience Anyone who is interested in the community, company or topics addressed Growth Ultimate size is determined by the potential audience universe Usually (much) larger than private online communities Need to scale quickly due to (typically) lower participation rates – more readers than posters Focus Goals are to educate and inform members about a product, service or issue Activities includes content creation & distribution, discussions and member sharing Topics include marketing info, education, product/service support Common Features Forums, blogs with comments, simple reviews (“like”), downloadable content, polls, webinars and multimedia Revenue Models Advertising, content sponsorships, lead generation, a la carte paid offerings such as webinars or reports, overall cost reductions for support communities, self-service sales Benefits Broad reach, enables company to show market penetration, marketing, product or service evangelism Sample Measures Member acquisition growth over time, views or likes, content contributions, SEO page rank, PR value With tech support communities, reduction in support costs (community vs. call center) is a primary measure. Private Online Communities Private online communities are gated, often invitation-only communities serving a highly targeted audience. Many B2B professional organizations have private communities. There are membership standards, which can include subscription fees, in-depth profiles, vetting or current member recommendations prior to member acceptance. A gated community can create greater sense of trust and intimacy among members with more information about individual members and shared acceptance criteria. This can lead to more open and substantive engagement and collaboration between members and the sponsoring organization. Content and member contributions are considered privileged and not shared outside the community. Audience Highly selective audience based on a clear criteria, including verification of credentials such as title, practice area, certifications and other attributes. Growth Absolute size of private communities is less important than achieving high levels of member satisfaction in conjunction with business objectives Audience selection criteria are crucial to member acquisition, participation and collaboration Achieving a critical mass of members is necessary to grow collaboration. Can be successful with hundreds to thousands of members. Focus Goals are to share knowledge and expertise on mission- and career-critical issues; collaboration for professional advantage Activities include co-creation, idea-sharing, high-level consultation, expertise development, collaboration and thought leadership. High level of service and benefits to members Common Features 4
Community Manager Member directory, member-generated content, research and in-depth polling, forums, thought leadership and expertise presentation Revenue Model Member subscriptions (may include additional benefits such as special access to content and experts), sponsorships, commissioned research, discount purchasing programs, events (online and offline), thought leadership access Benefits Increase customer loyalty, increase in client penetration of product and service purchases, improve R&D and speed to market, gain high-level expertise from members, market foresight. Risks Private community members expect high levels of member service, poor execution risks alienating powerful customers and prospects Audience selection criteria limits ultimate size, high quality content required, active community management. Sample Measures Membership revenue & renewals, NPS scores, customer retention, customer purchase increases, new audience targets acquired, PR, actionable expertise and ideas created within community Hybrid Online Communities Hybrid online communities have both a public and a gated or private area within the overall community infrastructure. They provide the features of both options at a single destination. Access is determined by the member’s role. For example, a hybrid community might have an open, public area for consumer visitors with private, gated areas for suppliers or executives. Hybrid communities often evolve after an organization is successful with one of the two models (public or private) but then discovers a business need to serve a different audience or segment using the other engagement model. At Leader Networks, we discourage trying to launch both at once; the complexities of initial messaging to prospective members and operational difficulties make this choice very risky. Instead, determine the best model for launch, then evolve the community. Leverage the learning from the first successes to improve the next phase. Audience Bifurcated, with both a public (anyone) and a private (selective and targeted) membership Growth Aim for rapid growth of the public community. If the private side will be a subset of the public audience, base private audience growth estimates on public audience acquisition rates — but be prepared for significant variations. Focus The biggest challenge will be managing differing messaging and member engagement needs within a single community. Goals and activity expectations must be extremely clear and distinct for each side of a hybrid. Common Features A hybrid requires especially strong member management tools to maintain separation within the platform plus a robust, experience operations group to keep similar functions separate for each audience. Revenue Model Complex and multifaceted based on the business goals and organizational values. Which community type is the primary business driver? Benefits If able to capture the value of both community types, synergies might include reaping the rewards of a private member-driven thought leadership community plus using very selective distribution of the private content to attract a larger audience to the public space. Risks Loss of focus, confusing brand identity, channel and message conflicts in audience acquisition, complex technical and operational structures Sample Measures
5
Community Manager Each aspect of the community (public or private) should be measured independently with different, contextual metrics based on the single models. Online Community Management For Dummies АВТОР: Online Community Management For Dummies ИСТОЧНИК: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1118099176/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=allinfoab09 3220&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399373&creativeASIN=11180991 76 АННОТАЦИЯ: книга, описывающая типы сообществ, инструменты управления сообществами, принципы эффективного управления и основные методы общения с членами сообществ. Книга открывает перед читателями преимущества, которые дают знания об управлении сообществами, показывает какую роль в современном обществе играет комьюнитименеджер. Learn to manage, grow, and communicate with your online community Online community management is a growing profession and companies are investing in online communities in order to gain consumer insights into products and to test new products. An effective and dedicated community manager is essential to engage and manage a successful online consumer community. This straightforward-but-fun guide shows you how to effectively manage, grow, and communicate with your online community. Clear coverage shares tips for dealing with customers and fans through Twitter, Facebook, forums, and blogs. A practical approach shows you how to ensure that visitors to your site are satisfied, kept happy, and return. You'll explore the various types of online communities and benefit from learning an assortment of tips and tools that will help you stand out above the competition, attract more visitors and gain the attention of potential advertisers and investors. Aims at providing community managers the information they need to get a handle on their online communities and make them successful Addresses the role of the community manager, the core community management tasks, and how to create an online community Highlights ways to build relationships within your community, evaluate return on investment, and handle and respond to criticism Offers advice for establishing policies and transparency and encouraging community interaction Online Community Management For Dummies is the ideal introductory guide for making sure that visitors to your site have a good experience and return for more. Which manager, which technology for which community? АВТОР: Dominique Turcq ДАТА ПУБЛИКАЦИИ: 5 июля 2010 ИСТОЧНИК: http://www.boostzone.fr/which-manager-which-technology-for-which-community-4/ АННОТАЦИЯ: статья, раскрывающая особенности основных коллаборативных моделей, которые впервые были описаны в 2007 году: «квадрат сообщества», «квадрат комьюнитименеджера», «квадрат инструментов по управлению сообществами». Understanding the differences between communities within organizations is a must for grasping the value of any collaborative intelligence eco-system. I have been working for several years now with the community quadrant diagram, published for the first time in 2007 in what was then mostly a description of communities. In the present post I would like to ouline the implications for the roles of the community managers and for the tools involved. Four “collaborative models” 6
Community Manager In short, the quadrant segments the world of a corporation into 4 boxes, four different types of collaboration, depending on two factors : - Is the community open to all or only to a selected few ? - Is the community totally within the firewall or is it outside (or does it allow outside members ) This let appear four very different types of communities :
The quadrants help to clearly segment what is one talking about but more importantly it is a decisive factor for talking about the roles of the community managers, very differently structured depending on the box. The implications are significant in terms of the profiles to recruit for these positions (and for the ones of the members‌) Community Managers are different animals:
As one can see these roles require different skills and different personalities. Different usages different tools The same principle applies to collaborative tools. Depending on the box, the tools may look sometimes alike but are in fact very different because of the usages practiced and because of the functionalities requested.
7
Community Manager
This matrix tend to let believe that the COP box will be dominated by large tools like Lotus Connect and SharePoint; the internal open communities box and the external COP box will require much more friendly and flexible tools i.e. internal social networks looking like the LinkedIn of today, with many links to the intranet; the external Brand and marketing communities box will have to constantly adjust to the current market’s social networks, today the Facebook and the Twitter, tomorrow increasingly a plethora of niche communities. These tools however will have, thanks to the community managers’ actions and to a number of other tools, to allow for exchanges of information in different ways. For example the marketing innovations spotted in the external communities of practice will need to be transferred to the professional COPs; vice versa the professional COPS will be required to communicate ideas and work concepts to the external COPS as well as to the Open Internal Communities. An other example will be around the Marketing and Brand communities where any discussion on social networks that could put the brand at risk (product brand, employer’s brand, corporate brand) will require rapid responses to be generated by the organization, mostly the professional COPS whenever the community manager will not have the skills or the knowledge to respond directly (the case in most crisis situations). The nature of interactions between social media and corporations becomes everyday more sophisticated. Corporate executive, finally leaving the areas of questioning and doubts, are progressively discovering that communities are a powerful productivity, innovation and engagement tool on many management fronts. The quadrant helps them to determine some of the priorities and some the choices to be made for people and technologies.
8