SueOnTheWeb
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As others have already mentioned, you can't really go too deep when you only have a limited amount of characters to get your point across. But I don't think Twitter chats shouldn't be thrown out with the bath water quite yet. They do help build connections and relationships, and after all as CM's we are supposed to be facilitating communication in order to build community. As ice breakers Twitter chats work, and can help in getting to know others in a community, or maybe become an extension of a community that is hosted on another platform. They can be the first step in building a relationship with someone who wouldn't of otherwise crossed your path. I, for one, have Twitter chats to thank for meeting, and getting to know, many of you ... and in the words of a famous ad .... "that's priceless." :)
Great post. I would also add getting your "power users" on board too. Approach them privately and not only get their feedback, but "sell" the change to them too. The fact you've gone out of your way to approach them will go a long way to an easy transition, because they have a large influence on the community vibe. If you have them on board it will be easier to get the rest of the community on board too.
I enjoyed reading this, it's a great conversation starter, but I don't see any distinction at all in your post between a SM and a CM. Indeed I think all you did was describe what a Social Media Manager does. A Community Manager builds community, facilities community, strives to get its' community members to build relationships with each other. To get an idea of what a Community Manager actually does check out the following blogs: http://www.feverbee.com/ - http://www.blaisegv.com/ - http://www.managingcommunities.com/ - http://community-roundtable.com/blog/ - http://venessapaech.wordpress.com/ - http://kommein.com/
and a little blog post I recently did on a similar subject: http://bit.ly/PcVskz
Congratulations!!!
meganlarsen4larboz Indeed, I would be happy to guest post. Let me get my ducks in a row and I'll see if I can pull something cohesive together and expand on the above.
larboz That is an interesting question. It probably comes down to why the community exists in the first place, and how does one measure the community's ROI? For some communities it could be that it's a support community and the members are answering each other's tech questions, thereby alleviating the amount of time the brand's customer service has to spend on tech troubleshooting. Or it may be the amount of sales generated that can be shown to stem from community activity. Or it could be the amount of members signing up, or the amount of posts and/or activity. Or it could be the amount of advertising revenue the community brings in. Or even that the brand earns a great reputation because of happy community members, so in turn those members act as Brand Advocates elsewhere … etc, etc. All this to say that a brand needs to clearly define its' goals before it even tries to build the community. For instance something I've often seen referred to many times in community management circles is the misconception that if you build it they will come. In other words companies can't just build a community and expect people to appear, and pull up a chair and start interacting just because they've built/brought a fancy little platform. A community needs a common goal or interest that will bind its' members together, and to expand on my comment above, a person becomes part of, and returns to, a community because it offers him/her something of value, whether that be relationships, or help with tech questions etc etc.
So to answer you question, I don't believe there is difference between a brand-backed community compared to other communities because each community has some sort of ROI that it measures.
larboz Social Media has indeed opened up online community to a wider audience. But the community I founded and run, (and indeed other large communities that have been around for many years) have always been global, and not local. Please don't get hung up on the "business" aspect of community because to do that one looses focus on what a community actually is. In my opinion it's less to do with the brand/product and more to do with relationships. Brands can create the community but although their product may pull people to the community, it's the relationships those people build there that will keep them coming back.
Great post and one which certainly highlights the many different platforms that SM/CM's have to interact with people on, so you are so right in that we have to keep ourselves up-to-date with technology and social networking platforms. My only negative about your post (and is only a small negative) is that the Community Manager role is not new per se. Community Managers have been around for well over a decade, however it's only in recent years that the role is becoming more main stream and recognized, hence I think why there is a misconception that the job is "new."
tamcdonald You are welcome.
tamcdonald Safari and I've just checked with Firefox and it's doing the same on that too.
Would it be possible to remove the "share" slider you have running along the side of the article on the left hand side of the page? It makes it really difficult to read. Perhaps moving it to the right?
Great post, you've really done a brilliant job of highlighting the different stages that members do go through when they join an online community. I think the dificultiy lies when people join an already established community, and so you have people going through all the stages at different times, not all at once. Hence a Community Manager has to really be on her toes in order to identify these stages within the community. I believe one sticky area can be the relationship building between those in the Power stage and those in the Polite stage. If not handled correctly it can cause issues.
.... and so say all of us. Great post Blaise. I particularity like the use of the word "faffing." It's one of my favourites. :)