… for a Community Manager. There’s no question about that. There are so many facets to the role, but ‘damage control’ is probably the most challenging & requires a lot of patience & public relations skills.
I had practice with this in the real world. As the supervisor, unhappy people were passed on to me. What could happen in a public library? I could tell stories… but the key was to be firm, fair & consistent. And that premise transfers over to the online world. People will challenge your communication skills & my friend just had his skills tried.
When my path crossed with Shashi Bellamkonda, he was intensely interested in the Community Manager role. He had a vision of providing his company with this service & why they needed it. I sent him as many resources that I knew of. He did his homework & took it a step further & convinced the executive level to put him into that role.
Today I see that his company’s customers did some serious name calling on his blog. (I’ve been called names too – in real life & online. Common sense prevails in the end though). It seems that his company changed their policy, Shashi saw negativity on Twitter & responded to the criticisms. He quickly put a response up on his personal blog and that’s where he took the hits. I’m glad about a couple of things: 1) he engaged & dealt with it; 2) his company supported him, listened to the feedback from the customers & responded.
It reinforces the importance the role of Community Manager can play. Andrew Wright does a great job of highlighting this in his post, Corporate Social Media Rep = Ombudsman
What this incident does show is that a corporate social media representative must be more than a mouth piece for the organization – this is not simply another broadcasting channel for the organization. While not comprehensive, here are my thoughts on the ideal role this person plays:
- They must have direct lines of communication with decision-makers at the executive level. And executives must listen. There’s no one that has their ear to the rail like the social media rep. They can smell trouble in the blogosphere and on services like Twitter well before trouble surfaces through traditional channels.
- Similarly, the role is like an ombudsman. This person acts as a representative on behalf of the community. The organization must both recognize this and respect it and all that comes with it.
- The role is not pure PR. The blogger can’t spin things they don’t believe. This isn’t a “brand” we’re talking about, but a real person with valuable relationships. If trust is broken, credibility is gone and is difficult to recover. A blogger with a damaged reputation is not worth much to the organization going forward. Again, organizations must respect this as well – consider it an acid test for decisions being made.
- Organizations must take the leap of faith and keep the lawyers at bay. You can’t run this stuff through legal approval processes.
I really like your summary Andrew! And congratulations to Shashi for having handled the situation so tactfully. I’m sure that his company realizes the asset of having him listening to feedback & responding with a human voice. As companies add this position, they really need to realize that their person is out there acting in good faith. Understanding of this is crucial to the success of the person in this role.
Hi Connie…thanks for the kind response to my post. Here’s hoping that Shashi and others in positions like him succeed in changing the way organizations interact with their constituencies, and hopefully think more about the decisions they make and how they will affect their relationships with customers, etc.
Andrew,
I think that we’re headed in that direction. Companies are realizing the value. Your summary was quite eloquently said. Thank you!
I totally agree with the post except one thing, which is Andrew’s comment: “The role is not pure PR. The blogger can’t spin things they don’t believe.” PR’s roles is not to spin, it’s role is to build goodwill between an organization and its community. This is the classic purpose of PR.
In actuality, if PR was actually done correctly the community manager role should fall under this department. But because my industry is filled with folks who believe in controlling the message even if it means lying, corresponding Spin, and media relations as the primary outreach form, PR may never have more than an influencers role in social media. That’s why this business is
In the case of Shashi’s company, he is actually in the PR department. His group gets it. Obviously, it differs from company to company.
Thanks for your comment Geoff. It really made me think. It may seem odd, but I don’t separate PR from marketing. Their spaces are starting to become more clear to me, and maybe this is because I don’t have a formal marketing education? I have seen you & Brian Solis talk about this.
So I have a question back – doesn’t marketing put a ‘spin’ on things, too? (Having a feeling Connie’s going to get an education in the difference between marketing & PR…which is great because I’m willing to learn!)
In online communities, there’s increasing convergence between marketing disciplines. I wrote a post called Convergence on that topic http://www.livingstonbuzz.com/blog/2007/12/10/convergence/
As to marketing spin, not as bad as PR. I think the point is that everyone — including organizations have a point of view — but they must be grounded in facts, not spun BS.