Online Community Management: Yes, it's really a job

01/27/09 FastWonderBlog.com 1
Online Community Manager
Yes, It's Really a Job
Dawn Foster
dawn@fastwonder.com
Fast Wonder Consulting
http://FastWonderBlog.com

Agenda
● Defining Community
● Community Manager Jobs
– Examples of Community Manager Jobs
– What They Do & Skills Required
– Salaries and Career Paths
● Guiding Principles and Best Practices
2

What is this thing we call community?
3
In Person Community Activities

4
Broad Community Sites

5
Corporate / Customer Communities

6
Virtual Communities

Why Have an Online Community
● People: gives people a place to engage with
your company, organization, or product
● Innovation: get feedback on products or
ideas from many people
● Collaboration: work jointly with people
toward a common goal
● Evangelism: help you grow evangelists for
your cause or products
● Loyalty: engagement can drive a
tremendous amount of loyalty toward your
efforts
7

Community Manager Jobs
““Jobs of the future, #1: Online CommunityJobs of the future, #1: Online Community
OrganizerOrganizer
...... If you were great at this, I'd imagine you'd neverIf you were great at this, I'd imagine you'd never
ever have trouble finding good work.”ever have trouble finding good work.”
--Seth Godin--Seth Godin

Job Market
● Recent Hires
– Current TV
– Sega
– QT Software
– reddit
““It's a hot job. We only expect it to get hotter.It's a hot job. We only expect it to get hotter.
Every smart business now communicates online, withEvery smart business now communicates online, with
customers, with employees and with the world at large.”customers, with employees and with the world at large.”
--Marshall Kirkpatrick (November)--Marshall Kirkpatrick (November)
from ReadWriteWebfrom ReadWriteWeb
● Job Openings Now
– Record label
– Rosetta Stone
– MMO gaming company
– KaBOOM!

Examples of Community Manager Jobs

Community Managers
What do we do?
– Ongoing Facilitation
– Content Creation
– Evangelism
– Community Evolution
What Skills do we need?
– Patience
– Networking
– Communication
– Facilitation
– Technical Skills
– Marketing
– Self-Motivation
– Workaholic Tendencies
– Organization

Job Satisfaction
Source: ForumOne August 2008

Community Manager Compensation

Compensation By Age

People are Watching You
Translation:
People see everything
you do in the community.
Be a good example of
the “right” behavior.
““My eyes see.My eyes see.
His eyes see.His eyes see.
I see him.I see him.
And he sees me.And he sees me.
And so we say,And so we say,
““Hooray for eyes!Hooray for eyes!
Hooray, hooray, hooray...Hooray, hooray, hooray...
... for eyes!”... for eyes!”

Guiding Principles and Best Practices

Community Ownership
● The community "owns" the community
● The community manager or company who
starts a community:
– owns the infrastructure
– facilitates the discussions
– moderates and keeps people in check
● If you don't play nice with the community, the
community will take discussions elsewhere
● Like hosting a party
17

Guiding Principles: It's All About the People
● Focus on the individuals: Participate as a
person, not a corporate drone
● Be Sincere: Sincerity = believability & credibility
● Not all about you: Community is about
conversation, which is by definition two-way
● Be a Part of the Community: Don't try to control
the community
● Everyone’s a Peer: You are not the expert;
knowledge comes from everywhere
18

Play Nice
Translation:
Play Nice: Be polite and
respectful in your
interactions with other
members
"I'm the Lorax who speaks for"I'm the Lorax who speaks for
the trees which you seem tothe trees which you seem to
be chopping as fast as yoube chopping as fast as you
please.please.
NOW...thanks to your hackingNOW...thanks to your hacking
my trees to the ground, there'smy trees to the ground, there's
not enough Truffula Fruit to gonot enough Truffula Fruit to go
'round.'round.
And my poor Bar-bar-loots areAnd my poor Bar-bar-loots are
all getting the crummiesall getting the crummies
because they have gas, and nobecause they have gas, and no
food in their tummies!"food in their tummies!"

What Makes a Community Work?
● Open, inclusive and transparent
● Listening to good and bad feedback
● Actively engaged in the community
● Encouraging new members
● Making it easy for people to participate
● Integration into other relevant areas of the
site
● Responding to criticism (never deleting
negative comments)
20

Communities to Avoid
● Community is lip service, not a serious
endeavor
● Pushing marketing messages takes
precedence over 2-way collaboration
● Community software / configuration /
policies that get in the way of collaboration
● Neglected communities where no one
monitors or responds to discussions
● Overrun with spam and bad behavior
21

Flickr: Community Done Well
● Clear and simple guidelines (ex. Don’t be
creepy. You know the guy. Don't be that guy.)
● Easy to use and intuitive to participate
(comments, favorites, tags, notes)
● Transparency about people (profile, favorites,
groups, etc.)
● Private, public
● Little things: Comments you've made
22

Dealing with the Difficult
● Negative Comments: Do not delete negative
feedback. Respond constructively
● Spammers: Put aggressive measures in
place to deal with spam
● Pain in the ***s: Put them to work if possible
23

Don't Feed the Trolls
Translation:
Don't encourage the
trolls. They want
attention. Resist the urge
to give it to them!
““oh-oh!” Sally said.oh-oh!” Sally said.
Don't you talk to that cat.Don't you talk to that cat.
That cat is a bad one,That cat is a bad one,
That Cat in the Hat.That Cat in the Hat.
He plays lots of bad tricks.He plays lots of bad tricks.
Don't you let him come near.Don't you let him come near.
You know what he didYou know what he did
The last time he was here.”The last time he was here.”

Why Do People Participate?
● Motivation is complex (multiple influences)
● If people aren't motivated, they won't participate
● Promotion must take motivation into account 25
PassionPassion
DevelopDevelop
SkillsSkills
LearningLearning
Status &Status &
RecognitionRecognition
CareerCareer
AdvancementAdvancement
SocialSocial
FunFun
FinancialFinancial
GiftGift
CultureCulture
WorkWork

Promotion
● Use existing promotional methods
● With any new community, run a limited beta
with people you trust. Get their feedback and
let them help promote it to others
● Augment traditional community efforts with
social media: corporate & personal blogs,
audio, video, Twitter, Facebook, etc.
● Incentivize people to join & participate
26

Promotional No-No’s
● Do not use your community to sell anything
– Use your community to get people excited about
your products
– If you get people excited, they will figure out how
to buy it.
● Do not promote your community on
competitor's sites (slimy)
● Do not use social media (twitter, facebook,
blogs, etc.) with the sole purpose of pimping
– Talk about your ideas, thoughts, and products
with a personal spin (what YOU are doing)
27

Make it Fun
Translation:
Have fun! Lighten it up
occasionally!
Why do you sit there like that?Why do you sit there like that?
I know it is wet.I know it is wet.
And the sun is not sunny.And the sun is not sunny.
But we can have lots of goodBut we can have lots of good
fun that is funny!fun that is funny!
I know some good games weI know some good games we
could play.could play.
I know some new tricks.I know some new tricks.
I will show them to you.I will show them to you.
Your mother will not mind atYour mother will not mind at
all if I do.all if I do.

Q & A
Additional Reading:
● http://fastwonderblog.com/starting-point/
Great Blogs with Job Listings:
● http://www.web-strategist.com/blog
● http://www.onlinecommunityreport.com/
● http://www.communityguy.com
About Dawn:
● Online Community and Social Media Consultant
● More Info: http://fastwonderblog.com/consulting
● Dawn@FastWonder.com
● @geekygirldawn on Twitter
29

Backup Materials
aka random slides
from other presentations that
might (or might not) be interesting for you

Where (and how) to Participate
● Industry Communities (PCWorld, etc.)
– Participation by subject experts (not marketing)
– Find people passionate about the topic and have
them participate as part of their job
● Blogging (corporate & personal)
– Talk about ideas, thoughts, & industry trends
– Comment on other blogs with insightful information
● Social Media sites
– Engage as people on Facebook, Twitter, etc. with
discussions about your job as one part 31

Where and How NOT to Participate
● Do not participate on competitor's sites
(considered slimy & bad manners)
• Do quietly monitor competitor’s communities and
learn from them
● Do not participate in communities solely to
pimp your products. If you can't participate as
a person with diverse interests, then have
someone else do it
● Do not mention your products in every post
or comment. Talk about the industry first &
your products second
32

Clear Purpose is Key (start here)
● Do you need to build new or can you
leverage an existing community
● What do you hope to accomplish and what
are your goals for the community?
● What is your overall strategy and how does
the community fit with it?
● What are your plans for achieving your
goals and how will you measure it?
● Do you have the resources (people & $) to
maintain it long-term? 33

Incorporation into Existing Efforts
● Look at your overall strategy
● Find the places where community fits in:
– People can engage with your company
– Product Innovation & get product feedback
– Evangelism to help you grow evangelists (outside)
– Brand Loyalty for your products.
● Articulate a clear purpose for the community
● Promote it using traditional channels
● Use social media to further grow your
community 34

Be Flexible
Translation:
Be flexible.
Improvements and ideas
come from unexpected
places.
Never budge!Never budge!
That's my rule.That's my rule.
Never budgeNever budge
in the least!in the least!
Not an inch to the west!Not an inch to the west!
Not an inch to the east!Not an inch to the east!
I'll stay here, not budging!I'll stay here, not budging!
I can and I willI can and I will
If it makes you and me and theIf it makes you and me and the
whole world stand still.whole world stand still.

No Community is Perfect
● Things will go wrong
– Your community software will have bugs
– Someone will get defensive or irate
– Companies have PR nightmares (remember Pentium floating
pt issue?)
● In great communities, the company
responds effectively
– Addresses the issue and works to resolve it quickly
– Keeps the focus on summarizing and fixing, instead of blaming
and justifying
– Maintains open communication channels
36

Reputation Systems
● The Good
– People like points &
recognition
– Encourages
participation
– Highlight and reward
key members
● The Bad
– They will game it!
– Does this make it
worthless?
● The Practical
– Transparency
– Members award points
– Adjust over time

Participate Where it Makes Sense
● Your own community
● Related communities where your audience is
already participating
● Blogging (personal and corporate)
● Audio & video (YouTube/Vimeo/BlipTv)
● Twitter
● Facebook
● Many others
38

Community Structures and Adoption
● Emergent
– Pros: Easy to implement, User buy-in, Unanticipated
structure
– Cons: Writer's block, Off-topic
● Highly Structured
– Pros: Control, Clear expectations
– Cons: Restrictive, Inflexible, Community resistance,
Structure that doesn't work for community
● Adaptive
– Pros: User buy-in, Some control, Evolve in unanticipated
positive directions
– Cons: Less Control, User traction required
39

Traditional Promotion (Customers)
● Use your existing promotional vehicles to
reach your customers
● Tell them about your community efforts
● Share your strategy & purpose with them
● Incentivize them to join & participate
● With any new community, run a limited beta
for customers. Get their feedback and let
them help promote it to others
40

Social Media Engagement
● Augment traditional community efforts with
social media
● Blog about your community efforts on
company & personal blogs (make sure your
blogs are listed)
● Use Audio / Video to share information
relevant to your community. Host it on popular
sites (YouTube, etc.) and embed it in your
community
● Talk about what you are doing on Twitter,
Facebook, and other social sites
41

On Domain or Off Domain: Strategic Decision
● YourCompany.com
– More focus on your products
– Clarity about who facilitates the community
– Authority source for product info (features, etc.)
● Off-Domain (YourIndustry.com, etc.)
– Focus on a segment or industry
– Accept discussions about competitors
– Possibly better perception of neutrality
– Slightly less authority about your products42

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