Business

I have a confession to make. I’m technically challenged. When it comes to blogging I can handle the writing end and maybe even a little widget and plugin installation, but when it comes to the nitty gritty, I haven’t a clue. I generally hire people to design my blogs and to handle the issues I can’t.

In November,  I was thrilled to be able to announce I was revamping my popular Freelance Writing Jobs blog from a single blog into a network of six blogs. Imagine how it feels watching a small blog grow into the number one online community for freelance writers? This was a thrilling and scary time for me. At the recommendation of my trusted tech guys, I moved over to a more reliable hosting company. It was a company that came highly recommended, received good reviews and they patiently answered all my questions when I called.

A tale of two servers

A couple of weeks after the move and upgrade, I received a notice from the host. My site is too busy, processes are running and it’s affecting the other websites on the server. Could we look into it? Indeed we could. My tech guys looked into it and fixed the problem. Or so we thought.  In mid- December the host sent another notice.  My blog network is too busy for the chosen plan, I had to move to a dedicated server. This must be done within 24 hours or my service would be yanked. Feeling I had no choice, I paid hundreds of dollars (that I couldn’t spare during the holidays) to get this done. Some of that money, by the way, had been earmarked so I could give my bloggers an end of the year bonus. Sorry, guys. [click to continue…]

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Every day I do a Twitter search to see who is talking about the business I work for. It allows me to say what folks are saying about us, and also if there are any users or potential users having trouble with the service. If I see someone using our service for the first time or asking questions about how it works, I reach out to them to see if there’s any way I can help. I also find the users who are having a bad experience and see what I can do to difuse the situation. Most folks seem to appreciate the Twitter presence, but I heard from someone today who thought it was a little too “Big Brother” for him.

Now,  regulars to Kommein know I believe businesses should have a heavy web presence. However, the gentleman who was put off by my Twitter trollage had a good point. It is a bit off-putting to know businesses are reading and digesting our comments. Comments we don’t expect them to see.

Here’s the thing, though. The guy threw out the information on Twitter. He has several thousand followers. So if he wanted the information to be kept private, he wouldn’t have told the world, right? And really, wouldn’t you rather know a business had a person on staff monitoring the social network to fix potential issues – it’s better than not getting a response at all, right?

So I’ll ask you. Is it crossing a line for a business to have someone on staff who monitors the social networks…or is it just good customer service?

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Here’s a scenario some community managers are facing: You’re hired by a business interested in building a web presence. Your superiors consider themselves hip pioneers for jumping on the social media thing, but they reality is they haven’t a clue. As a result, you can’t do your job properly. They question the amount of time you spend on social networks, shuffle you around to different departments, don’t think conferences are necessary, and don’t take any of your ideas for social media promotion seriously, and really, have no idea what to do with you.  Put on a brave face folks, and don’t pull your hair out. You can make it work.

You were hired to create an online presence using forums, blogs, networks and other social media tools. You know you’re good at what you do, and you know there are logical reasons for doing what you do. Now, you have to communicate it to your superiors. This isn’t always easy, and can be very frustrating, but if they didn’t want a heavy Internet campaign they wouldn’t have hired you in the first place, right?

Take a deep breath. Don’t get angry. If you find you’re getting questioned every step of the way or that folks don’t take you seriously, take some time to write up a proposal or outline. List all your social media strategies and why you feel they will benefit the business. Send it to all the players and request a time to discuss follow up.  Now gather data and statistics so you can make your case. You CAN make this work!

It’s hard for many old schoolers to embrace social media but it’s part of a community manager’s job to make sure they get it. Don’t let frustration give in to anger. Use your energy to create a rocking community instead.

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Tagged as: Community Management, community manager, social media

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So I was having a conversation on Twitter today with @iFroggy (don’t you love using @’s instead of names?) about perhaps planning a Community Manger meetup in Austin during SXSWi, which is going on from March 13 – 17th. I’m trying to gauge interest, and if we have some takers I’ll see what I can do about finding a venue. I don’t know Austin at all, so I’ll have to enlist the aid of others there.

Will you be at SXSWI in March? If so, are you interested in meeting and talking with other community managers?

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I have a friend who’s a big muckety muck at a major phone/Internet provider. I haven’t seen him in a few months, but I keep remembering a conversation we had over the summer. I won’t bore you with all the minor details, but the bottom line is he (and many of his counterparts) don’t care for bloggers or social networking outlets because it’s harder for complaints to be swept under the rug  or handled quietly. They’d rather not have their flaws made public. I get it. Who wants that kind of negativity? I don’t agree though.  I feel having an online presence is good for business instead of the other way around.

Our conversation began when I mentioned how another blogger complained on her blog about a defective product and poor customer service. The day she posted, a representative from that same company commented saying he would take care of her problem, and he did – immediately.

Soon after that I learned my cable company was being switched to a well-known brand. I asked on Twitter of others’ experiences with this company and lo and behold….a representative of that company reached out to answer my questions. I dug the vibe.

So my friend, the big muckety muck at the phone network ,hates the idea of bloggers talking about their services or folks complaining to The Consumerist or other blogs. Again, I get it. Who wants to look bad?

But…

Consumers are frustrated by a lack of customer service, what other choice to they have?  What happens when you navigate a phone menu to nowhere, or get put through to fake supervisors who don’t help at all? Shouldn’t the folks paying for a service get the best service possible? That’s why I have more confidence in a company with a heavy online presence than with one that chooses to sweep all the bad stuff under the rug.

Should businesses monitor social networks?

Absolutely! It’s important to not only understand what folks are saying and why, but to reach out and offer assurance. In fact, I’d much rather pay extra for a company that rocked the customer care than support anyone who doesn’t put their clientele first and foremost at the top of the priority list. Moreover, if I see someone else having issues with a certain company and see said company reaching out to make amends, it will give me more confidence and maybe even encourage me to do business with them.

Just because a business doesn’t have an online presence doesn’t mean folks aren’t going to talk. Isn’t it better to monitor what they’re saying and reach out to fix the issue than to pretend it doesn’t exist?

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Tagged as: Customer Service, social networking, Twitter

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I found a great post today about why companies should invest in having a blog, and who better to take charge of such a product than a Community Manager, and so the post written on Fast Wonder with the same title, is really a great post about what a Community Manager could do for a medium to large company.

For those of us who regularly consume information from blogs, we expect to be able to grab an RSS feed of your company’s blog to keep up with news and information relevant to your industry. The research above shows that the number of people who read blogs in growing, and these people expect you to have a blog. Not only are more people reading blogs, these blogs are influencing purchasing decisions, which is important for every company.

What it comes down to is branding, thought leadership, and interaction, and if companies aren’t looking to expand their efforts online regarding these three things, then I feel like they will have issues in the coming years competing against other companies offering the same products, services while also catering to the numerous people digesting content daily online.

In the end, the hardest thing going forward will be to prove value to the companies in the world that are interested in expanding their efforts online with a blog and/or a Community Manager.

What do you think, should medium sized companies and larger have their own blog, and if so, who would you like to see write it?

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Tagged as: blog, community blog, company blog, corporate blog

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One of my biggest frustrations is when I want to communicate with a blogger or web site owner and his or her contact details are no where to be found. If anyone should be easy to reach, it’s the Community Manager.

Make sure the members of your community know your email address as well as hours you’re available to chat via Skype or other means.  Post these details on the company blog, website and community forum if you have one. Feel free to establish guidelines, for instance, if you’re only available during certain hours make sure everyone knows. Having a Community Manager who is easy to reach and talk to is one of the most important things a business can do.

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Tagged as: Community, community manager, online community, online community manager

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I have seen and been part of many discussions about community as currency. With reports that brand names are making huge bags of money from their community management interactions, it is no surprise that other companies are starting to test the waters when it comes to the ROI of community development.

In essence, what these companies are trying to do is convert people into fans and then either use them to expand their marketing efforts through unpaid evangelism or into purchasing the product, service from the company or an advertisement.

It seems simple enough, but is it right? Should companies consider their community as a currency?

I have some fairly strong feelings regarding this from both angles. As a person, I am angry that companies would attempt to do this, as it almost seems like a form of trickery. On the other hand, I see why businesses need to do this, and understand why they are so interested in making it happen.

As a human, living on a twenty-four hour per day clock, we only have so much time each day and everything is competing for it. We reach our saturation point early on, and if a company can’t get their message to you multiple times, you’ll probably forget about them and move on to join a community related to another company, product or service.

Whether we like it or not, community is a form of currency, especially online, and the value of that currency is only growing. If you want to be a community manager, part of your job will be to hide the fact that individuals in the community are really just currency for a company to do better than the competition. If that is something you aren’t interested in doing, then you might want to rethink your aspirations.

While not every company is open about this fact, in the back of their mind, they are all thinking it, or they wouldn’t spend the money on developing a community.

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Tagged as: currency, exchange rate, money, people as currency, value

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Do you really need a community? The short answer to that is, “no”. You don’t need community centered around your blog. You don’t need to build a community around your product. You don’t even need to build a community around your service. Certainly plenty of businesses have gotten by without a community throughout the years, and most of them did just dandy. So no. You don’t need a community.

Now let’s explore what happens when you don’t build a community for your business.

• There’s no effective word of mouth campaign – Certaily you can advertise, but the best way to create a buzz around your product is to have others, who are not employed by you, using, discussing and recommending your product or service.
• Your product or service has no voice.  It’s generic and antiseptic without a human touch. Folks like to be able to speak with humans.
• Your customers are frustrated. They want to chat with live folks or call and have a response instead of a menu. They want to be able to look online and see what others are saying about you.
• Your competition, the one with a large online community, is doing very well while your sales are down. All because their community and community managers have built up a level of trust.
• You don’t have a lively, congenial, helpful group of people gathering together and enjoying each others company to talk about one of their favorite things – your product or service.

So I will ask you – do you really need a community?

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