1. The business value of community management. 2. The functions of a community manager from a business perspective. 3. Tips on identifying, hiring, training and managing community managers. Presentation delivered at General Mills for MIMA on 16 November 2011

1. Presented by:
C
Community Management
Olivier Blanchard
16 November 2011

2. Presented by:
C
Community Management
@thebrandbuilder / www.smroi.net
Olivier Blanchard
16 November 2011

3. Part 1: Why do you need a community manager?

4. What the hell is a
community manager?

5. What the hell does a
community manager
actually do?

6. … and what the hell is
the point?

7. : You are basically looking at
two schools of thought.

8. So what you’re telling me is that
if we don’t get into social media, our
company will just shrivel up and die?
I saw it on CNN.
1. The “we need to be in social media too” crowd.

9. I can’t wait to manage
conversations!
We’re going to score
This engagement strategy is so many retweets!!!
going to be epic!
Buzzword salad.

11. Wrong.

12. Wrong.

13. Wrong.

14. Wrong.

15. #$%@*?!?!

16. How can we use this medium
to build value
for our customers?
… and be even better
at what we do?
2. The “we want to leverage social media to improve business” crowd.

17. Can this medium
help us get
more customers?
Yep.

18. … and increase sales?
Yep.

19. … and increase
customer loyalty??
Sure.

20. What about
fixing a PR disaster?
Absolutely.

21. How about
improving customer service?
That would be clutch.
That too.

22. Your company doesn’t need 1,000,000 followers.

23. Your company doesn’t need 1,000,000 followers.
Your company needs 1,000,000 new customers.
Conversions are gold.

24. Your company doesn’t need 1,000,000 followers.
Or 1,000,000 loyal customers who won’t leave.
Conversions are gold.

25. Your company doesn’t need 1,000,000 followers.
Or 10 – 1,000,000 advocates who will come to your aid.
Conversions are gold.

26. Your market is a community.

27. Actually, your market is a community of communities.
Obama 2008 Supporters
Teachers
Black hat wearers
Chihuahua owners

28. What do communities do?
Communities form around common objects.

29. Communities can form around a variety of objects:
Brand: Apple, Harley Davidson, Canon
Hobby: Wood turning, PC gaming, Gardening
Sports: Triathlon, Football, Car racing (and sub-categories)
Clubs: Fraternities, associations, sports teams
Lifestyle: Vegetarianism, modern primitives, hipsters, emo
Products: Ford Mustang, Google+, Cheerios
Causes: Ending hunger in Africa, Fighting poverty in the US
Movements: #OccupyWallStreet
Celebrities: Lady Gaga, Ashton Kutcher, Bono, the Pope
Entertainment: Music, movies, games, theater (and sub-categories)
Religion: Denominations & topic subcategories
Politics: World views & topic subcategories
Technology: Categories & topic subcategories
Professional: Massage therapists, dentists, students
Etc.

30. Communities can form around a variety of objects:
Brand: Apple, Harley Davidson, Canon
Hobby: Wood turning, PC gaming, Gardening
Sports: Triathlon, Football, Car racing (and sub-categories)
Clubs: Fraternities, associations, sports teams
Lifestyle: Vegetarianism, G&L,
Products: Ford Mustang, Google+, Cheerios
Causes: Ending hunger in Africa, Fighting poverty in the US
Movements: #OccupyWallStreet
Celebrities: Lady Gaga, Ashton Kutcher, Bono, the Pope
Entertainment: Music, movies, games, theater (and sub-categories)
Religion: Denominations & topic subcategories
Politics: World views & topic subcategories
Technology: Categories & topic subcategories
Professional: Massage therapists, dentists, students
Etc.

31. : “How do we fit into this universe?”

32. Where are the areas of intersect between you and your market?
If you’re a General Mills, for example, communities to look into might be…
Foodies  Recipes
 preparation ideas
 Storage ideas
Health-conscious  Benefits of eating Cheerios
Eco-conscious  How does General Mills support their values?
Global Trade Watchers  How is General Mills leading the way?
Mommy blogger readers  Recommendations, approval, validation
Where does your universe overlap with theirs?
This is the bridge that connects you to them.
Hint: It isn’t just your gizmo or “your brand.”

33. Where are the areas of intersect between you and your market?
If you’re a General Mills, for example, communities to look into might be…
Foodies  Recipes
 preparation ideas
 Storage ideas
Health-conscious  Benefits of eating Cheerios
Eco-conscious  How does General Mills support their values
Global Trade Watchers  How is General Mills leading the way
Mommy blogger readers  Recommendations, approval, validation
Some of your content can be pure marketing push, but it
can also be links to content not produced by you or that
doesn’t reference your brand at all.
Think about the broader narrative of the community, not just your own.

34. : “Do we want to just keep marketing
to consumers all day? …
… or do we want to also try and embed ourselves into their
communities and participate in their lives in a more
organic, natural, more relevant manner?” (Because now, we can.)

35. Do you want to be out here – just marketing?
Or do you also want to be down here?

36. …But you are still a business.
: “What are we ultimately trying to
drive?”

37. As a business, what do you really want to drive?
Customer Customer
Acquisition Retention
Customer
Developme

38. What should every interaction drive?
Awareness
Value
Preference

39. What should every interaction drive?
Awareness
Value
Preference
Customer Customer
Acquisition Retention
Awareness
Awareness
Value
Value
Preference Preference
Customer
Developme

40. Part 2: What is a community manager’s job?

41. What roles does your community manager play?
-Becomes the face of the brand online.
-Humanizes the brand
-Serve as a primary brand ambassador
-Represents the brand offline as well (engagement is analog too)
-Monitors digital channels
-(Changes in volume of mentions, tone, topics, threats, opportunities)
-Acts as first line of defense online during a PR crisis.
-Acts as a your representative and the community’s
-Manages and curates your content & social feeds
-Be expected to be a knowledgeable resource
-Support all other relevant business functions
-Customer service, PR, product management, quality control, marketing, sales

42. What should every interaction drive again?
Awareness
Value
Preference
Customer Customer
Acquisition Retention
Awareness
Awareness
Value
Value
Preference Preference
Customer
Developme

43. What does a Community manager do?
Listen
Respond
Share
Drive
Coordinate
Report
Enable & Support

44. What does a Community manager do?
Listen
Mentions
Questions
Ideas
Complaints
Trouble
Respond
Share
Drive
Coordinate
Report
Enable & Support

45. What does a Community manager do?
Listen
Respond
Mentions
Questions
Ideas
Complaints
Trouble
Share
Drive
Coordinate
Report
Enable & Support

46. What does a Community manager do?
Listen
Respond
Share
Content (blog posts, videos, articles, podcasts)
News (Company-related, community-related)
Information (Tips, special offers)
Social objects (Retweets, mentions, etc.)
Drive
Coordinate
Report
Enable & Support

47. What does a Community manager do?
Listen
Respond
Share
Drive
Conversations (Directly)
- #Chats, discussions, WOM
Business objectives (Indirectly)
- Awareness for xyz
- Preference for xyz
Coordinate
Report
Enable & Support

48. What does a Community manager do?
Listen
Respond
Share
Drive
Coordinate
Response to mentions, questions, ideas, complaints, crises
- With appropriate departments & outside agencies
Supports: PR, marketing, ad campaigns, consumer insights,
data analysts, market research, customer service, HR, etc.
Report
Enable & Support

49. What does a Community manager do?
Listen
Respond
Share
Drive
Coordinate
Report
Upwards to management (Social Media Dir., CCO)
Sideways to business teams / product teams
Outward to community
Enable & Support

50. What does a Community manager do?
Listen
Respond
Share
Drive
Coordinate
Report
Enable & Support
In-community advocates
In-community experts
In-community thought leaders
In-community contributors

51. This is how things scale:

52. Part 3: Identifying, hiring and developing a CM

53. Think of a community manager as
a Chief Communications Officer in training.

54. Grab a sheet of paper and create 3 columns
Qualities Skills Red flags
(Most important)
Cannot be taught Can be taught Relating to qualities = bad
Relating to skills = assess and address

55. Qualities
Someone naturally friendly, helpful, compassionate and giving.
(Whatever the opposite of an asshole is, that is what you want.)
Passionate about your company, its products, its mission.
(Hard to be an ambassador and front-line defender if it’s just a job.)
Natural communicator. Grammar, spelling, tone, etc.
(Offline, online, everywhere, on every platform.)
Eager collaborator.
Good sense of humor.
Good sense of what is and isn’t appropriate.
Will keep a cool head no matter what the crisis.

56. Skills / experience
Fluency with your company & brand(s)
Technical fluency with your products
Ability to legitimately establish leadership role within the community
Fluency with social and digital platforms (Twitter, Facebook, etc.)
Fluency with social and digital workflow tools (Spiral16, Radian6, etc.)
Fluent with your social media org chart (collaboration)
Conflict resolution experience
Crisis communications experience
Customer service experience
Business (operational) savvy
Other community management experience

57. Red flags
The applicant looks great on paper but strikes you as an asshole.
Poor communications skills.
Any sign of immaturity that isn’t charming.
Too much focus on a “personal brand.” Talks about themselves a lot.
Virtually no online social engagement. (Anemic feed.)
Too focused on social or digital “marketing.”
Can’t or won’t take work home. (CM isn’t just a 9-5 job.)
Has worked as a community manager for “a ton of companies.”
Lone wolf syndrome (doesn’t play well with others).
Their online behavior.
Their CV’s “narrative” does not match their online profile.

58. Who is responsible for the community manager?
It is the social media director’s job to properly
identify, recruit, develop and manage community managers.
It helps to partner with the company’s
PR, Legal, HR, IT, Customer Service, and Product
Management resources (among others) to address any and
all skill gaps and potential red flags.
A framework of training, evaluation and internal certification
needs to be established and followed.
It is crucial to have a qualified social media director on staff
who knows how to do this OR to work with consulting
organizations that can perform this function.

60. FIND OUT MORE AT SMROI.NET
Ask away.
Olivier Blanchard
864.630.7398
www.thebrandbuildermarketing.com
@thebrandbuilder (on Twitter)

61. Slide Credits
Some slides shamefully borrowed from Flickr and Google Images. Attribution or lack thereof may not necessarily reflect all international image copyrights or
ownership. If you feel that one of your images was used in this presentation without your permission or proper attribution, please contact me at your convenience
and the image will be either properly attributed or removed at your request.
Slides 1, 2, 22-28, 35, 40 Archival images
Slide 3 http://img.moonbuggy.org/children-in-gas-masks/
Slides 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 14, 16-21, www.ufoseries.com
Slide 10 www.systemcomic.com
Slides 11, 12, 13 www.tomfishburne.com
Slide 15 www.templeofcats.com
Slide 51 www.smroi.net
Slide 52 www.olivierblanchard.net
FIND OUT MORE AT SMROI.NET