Community Rocks!
From the category archives:
I wrote a post for the BlogWorld & New Media Expo blog I felt would be of interest to the community here. What happens when you encourage your community to join various social networking groups? Sometimes, it only encourages them to hang out somewhere else rather than your site. Read: Are Social Networking Groups Driving Away Your Community and please share your thoughts.
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72 community managers responded to Kommein’s request to take our community manager survey. The results were quite interesting as I know many of us have been curious about items such as community manager’s pay and where they fit in with their companies. This blog post is revealing the responses to about half of the questions asked. The rest will be discussed in various standalone posts in the future.
Please add your thoughts and comments!
Well, I won’t keep you waiting any longer. Behold, the results of Kommein’s Community Manager
Survey.
While most of us have been community managers for a short time and have felt this to be a new position, plenty of CM's have been at this longer than three years. One respondent has been doing this for 15 years.
Answers to this ranged from project management to marketing to freelance writers. Community managers held all kinds of positions before taking their current gigs, not all having to do with computers, marketing, blogging or any of the obvious transitions. One person who responded was formerly a "sanitation engineer" but landed his CM job as a result of being heavy in his gaming community.
Though it was disappointing to see how many businesses felt a CM position is entry level, or worse, an internship, it was good to see many businesses treat community management as mid-management level position.
Most community managers polled found their CM jobs via word of mouth recommendation or because they were already established members of the community.
Several CM's who responded are also unpaid interns or volunteers.
It's hard to predict where a particular business will place a community manager. Of the CM's polled some report to customer service, some to marketing, some to product development, and others to quality assurance, IT, technical support, editorial and public relations.
As you can see, community managers have a wide assortment of duties including blogging, social networking, customer service, technical support and more.
Judging from the results, there's no "median" income for a CM - they're paid somewhere between $20,00 and $80,00 depending on their business and who they work for.
It appears the bulk of CM's work longer than 8 hours days. Hopefully they're adequately compensated for the extra hours.
It was interesting to read the comments as many community managers are frustrated by internal issues such as not being given a voice as to how the community should be handled. Also, many CM's are frustrated at managements reluctance to embrace the community and really listen to their wants and needs.
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Are you a community manager? If so, we’re interested in learning about your experience. We’ve put together a survey for community managers that will tell us a little something about community managers salaries, who they report to, job challenges and more. And yes, we’ll post the results here.
Please note, we’re not asking for names and don’t need to know who you are. Feel free to speak openly and candidly about the issues facing you as a community manager.
Please access the community manager survey here. We’d be doubly appreciative if you could pass this around to other community managers in your network.
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Analyzing my online community’s stats is one of my favorite ways to learn about the people who interact at my blog network on a regular basis.. In fact, my analytics programs sometimes tell me more about my community’s wants and needs than if I had straight out asked them (and, just to be clear, we should be doing that as well.)
Here is what I learn from my daily stats reports:
All of this is important. For instance, when people come from different regions, even different regions of the same country, their wants and needs are different. Also, by learning which content gets the most visits and the biggest response, a community manager or editorial team can write the type of blog posts, articles and other written content tailored to the users’ needs.
I use a combination of Google Analytics and Performancing Metrics, both provide a goldmine of information. If you’re a community manager and your place of employment won’t allow you to have access to the company’s stats, patiently explain the reasons why it’s important. Successful community management depends on knowing your users’ wants and needs. Without knowing where they’re coming from and what they’re doing, the job is made that much more difficult.
Community managers also need to know what is going on outside of the website or online community. What is someone is saying something untrue about the business or has a specific issue in need of trouble shooting? What if a product or service received a glowing review and the community manager would like to reach out and say thanks? Knowing who is linking to you and what they are saying are key when it comes to getting others to drink the Kool Aid.
What do the stats say about YOUR community?
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Successful community managers know cultivating a community is more than just creating a Facebook group or spamming Twitter with some links. It’s about building relationships and touching on users’ wants and needs. The community manager truly is the voice of the community. This means she needs to be knowledgeable about all aspects of the business. Leaving a community manager in the dark, is leaving a community in the dark.
Here’s how to set up a community manager for failure. For your CM to be a success, do not do any of these things:
Your community manager likes nothing more than to be clueless. Her favorite thing in the world is for her community to get frustrated with her for not knowing the answers. Nothing gives a community manager more pleasure than to always have to ask other people for answers, rather than saving time by responding to questions on her own. Give yourself bonuses points if, when your CM looks to others for answers, they don’t answer for days - or not at all.
To further ensure your community manager’s lack of success, make sure she’s never privy to any of the discussions pertaining to her community, especially customer service. The less she knows about anything having to do with the community the better.
You know the best way to have your community manager look like a fool? Don’t tell her about any product or service launches. Don’t get her opinion on new applications or web designs. Don’t tell her anything until after the launch. She’ll love that, I promise.
Canned, approved by management responses only. Who needs a personal touch?
Just because it’s all about community nowadays, doesn’t mean it has to be about community. Go ahead and hire a community manager but don’t actually allow her to do anything resembling community management. Instead have her act as a glorified assistant handling paperwork, spreadsheets or web research.
What the heck does she know anyway?
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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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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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Do you know what the first thing I do upon logging on to my laptop each day? No, it’s not checking email. I head directly to my Tweet Deck, to check out Twitter and then I head over to my company’s forum. To me, this is the equivalent of walking into work first thing and stopping at the water cooler or my friends’ desks for a little chit chat. Except that it’s my job. Even if it wasn’t my job, it would still be all about community and people. It’s what I do, it’s what I like to do, and it’s what I am.
When I manage a community, I give it my all. I live, breathe and sleep that community. I check in first thing when I wake in the morning and last thing before I go to sleep. I stop by on weekends and even on holidays. Not because it’s my job, but because it’s my community. I don’t know that many folks who aren’t into the whole online community thing would get this, but it’s a passion.
Anyone looking to take on a community management role must be aware that it’s not just a job. Good community managers form relationships with people and wish to see them succeed. They care about the people in their group and get to know them in a way customer service reps never will.
If you’re thinking of taking on a community management role simply because you want to spend more time on Twitter, please reconisder. While this is a fun job, there’s more to it than hanging out in the social networks. It’s making personal connections with real people and fostering a community among individuals. It’s a 100% committment, not a 9 to 5 job.
So I ask you, how vested are you in your community?
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Last week for homework, my six year old son had to write three facts about Barack Obama for a class discussion. My son’s report read as follows:
As you can imagine, my pride was evident, clearly The Child is his mother’s boy. His teacher asked him to explain to the class what “social media President meant” and he responded “He talked to people on the Internet and told them to vote for him.” Can’t argue with that too much.
President Obama’s successful social media campaign is proof that for any business or individual to succeed, an online presence is necessary. The President embraced Twitter and other social networks, reaching out to rock the vote and find out what was on our minds. Folks like to know the leader of a nation is in touch. It’s embarrassing to hear the person with the most important job in the world talk about not knowing how to turn on a computer or use email. When I learned Barack Obama had to give up his Blackberry I felt his pain.
But this isn’t about being plugged in. It’s about being in tune with a nation and using every resource possible to campaign and reach the American people. The new President of the United States gets the need for a heavy online presence, shouldn’t you do the same for your business?
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Here’s a typical morning for Deb:
Every morning before beginning my day I read my email, respond to as much as possible, answer Twitter DM’s, FaceBook wall comments, and visit forums and groups relating to my jobs and blogs. It can be a lot of work, but I firmly believe in this practice. Though there are times when the email and questions are out of control, I do try and respond to everyone who reaches out to me.
Folks are trusting me to help them solve a problem or get results. I feel like I’d be letting them down if I ignored them. Moreover, it’s a bad representation of the company I work for to ignore emails and messages. If I don’t have the answer, I can find the answer or find the person who can answer.
It’s not just email, either. I answer questions in a busy forum, blog comments, and messages sent via social networks. I think a community manager has to be approachable, but also responsive. I’m being entrusted to be the voice of the community, what kind of voice can I give them if I don’t reach out in return?
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