A Community Manager is a Swiss Army Knife

That’s a new analogy that @curtprins came up with at Social Media Breakfast MSP. I like it!

I want to thank Rick Mahn & Albert Maruggi for inviting me to join them to present on Community at MSP Social Media Breakfast #13. It was a great event with 70 people! Albert invited us to the St Paul Boat & Yacht Club with a gorgeous riverfront view. On the drive there I grabbed a photo of the sunrise over the MPLS skyline.

I can talk passionately about community building for a long time & was a bit nervous if the majority would care. But Albert, Rick & I lead a very interactive session that sparked some good discussions.

These are notes from the Twitter backchannel. I encourage you to follow some of these great MSP people!

Community management not about technology, it’s about people & relationships!

How do we get the message to corporate America that many of them are doing it wrong =1way communication?

Communications, relationships, community building is where you can build your business

It’s not community management, it’s community building

Building community in B2B – helping people into the sales funnel, helping people pass through it, and ongoing support as they purchase

Twitter can be used as a lead generation tool

B2B has many opportunities now that only B2C used to have in the social media space

Social media – change. The walls are tumbling down.

Have to begin at the top of the enterprise chain, how do you get there in a way that is informative & educational

@albertmaruggi social media = one hell of a chat room

curtprins: Is a community manager a marketing swiss army knife–acct, product, pr, development et al via Social Media?

This isn’t new…The first social network—the rotary club 150 yrs old..

tsauce: Digging @curtprins swiss army knife analogy for role of community managers via social media

matthewtift: In typical online community, 99% of the community is just there to observe and not participate

mindsailing: Community spokesperson does take organizational brand recognition and memory with them if they leave.

btkennett: SMERF Social Media Elite Response Force ! I LOVE it!

MegCanada: great point about social media turning up volume on personalities that grow larger than a brand.

NicoledeB: #smbmsp just brought up idea of companies gaining equity from individuals’ brands. This makes me think of yesterday’s Chris Anderson talk

KakieF: Personal brand and corporate brands, can they be effectively integrated so there is win-win

tsauce: How do companies cope with losing employees who grow personal brands/equity and then leave?

matthewtift: Imagine starting a company with a bunch of people who each have a strong personal brand

lulugrimm: What’s your crisis plan? Do you have one, and to that one that includes solving a social media crisis

KakieF: Who writes the brand standards for social media in corporate america and where will they get their expertise?

curtprins: The barriers to creating personal brands have dropped. Companies are spooked. Thought leaders do not share corporate their own P&L

You need to begin with an audit of your brand… Then plan and strategize. Then how will collaboration and partnerships work

michelle_eide: What kind of person/position is best suited to be a community manager considering building brand vs. risk mgmt?

You have to collaborate and partner, especially in the current economic state

jbsem: Brand of "you" is the lens of how we will view employment in the future.

curtprins: Social media offers individual marketers direct access to their customers…at risk of the corporate brand?

negative feedback/ comments from the community is important & needs to be embraced

KakieF: what are you doing to listen to the chatter, what tools are you using, net vibes, blogpulse, google alearts

btkennett: Who owns the "community" in your org? Great Question from

timj4real: @btkennett can anyone own community? By definition isn’t it ‘common’

emlarson: From #SMBMSP, pondering "personal brand" of community manager vs. "company mascot". Wondering if news anchors are a metaphor in that mix.

traciknoppe: @emlarson I see mascots as a funny distraction, like at the high school football game; not a serious brand draw.

beehivepr: Community managers need to be able to talk to the front line to the c suite. Also need natural leadership skills and creativity.

tsauce: Comcast has a dozen people around the country that jump on you through twitter as soon as you mention the brand

mitchellhislop: "Comcast attacks you if you say anyhting" #smbmsp Lets test it COMCAST COMCAST COMCAST

tsauce: It’s similar to when you’re shopping, an a swarm of sales people is constantly asking if they can help you

KakieF: Tell us more about hosted services to manage brands

ckbliss: Social media tools are about more than extending your community. It’s about becoming a part of THEIR community

MegCanada: Feel like we are asking all the unaswerable questions, this stuff is so dependent on local leadership

Create own opportunities and reach out to companies you are interested and pitch yourself

studiozeroseven: Are these Community Managers expensive to hire?

KakieF: What is the best way to position self as an expert if no background working in this space?

lizgiel: If you’re in a situation where you need to find a job, get creative – what do you have to lose? @cbensen

KakieF: Good q – how to educate people in companies about how to use social media? A – ease into it = consultant approach

mindsailing: Leadership in social spaces has to be internally motivated. Leadership must demonstrate for adaptation to occur

KakieF: Find early adapters, get them trained, as word spreads you can gain credibility

lulugrimm: Great advice @cbenson you can’t say we are starting a corp. Blog and all of you are going to blog and like it

(for training people internally)   lulugrimm: You need to find the early adopters and let it happen organically 

KakieF: One company I know of started a blog under the radar and it really took off, sr leadership accepted, now widely read

lizgiel: Marketing is now about mediating relationships

matthewtift: Marketing used to be about mediating content, now marketing is about mediating relationships

rohnjaymiller: #smbmsp With social media a company gives up control of the brand to a degree in return for authenticity.

bstemmler: Recession has helped speed up embracing SM which has been a great thing! (my opinion)

stevekloyda: @rickmahn Community is ever expanding. It’s organic it grows. #SMBMSP gave me a different way to look at community. Very valuable.

I didn’t follow the Twitter stream while I was at the mike. So now I had a good chuckle about the ‘left side’ against the ‘right side’ of the room. The room was a ‘V’, so they couldn’t see each other but they were definitely communicating!

Conversation is a bit disjointed at #smbmsp today. Jumping from question to question without really exploring each.

If you disagree, find a way to argue without sarcasm #rightsideleftside #leftsiderightside #smbmsp

mitchellhislop: #starbordside is the wrong side #portsidestarbordside

And here’s a few excerpts from the coffee drinking contest!

lizgiel: @mitchellhislop (5 cups) on a coffee drinking marathon, one-up on @myklroventine (4 cups) #smbmsp

mitchellhislop: @lizgiel Red alret! Mykl got a bigger cup!!!

mitchellhislop: Anyone know CPR? This coffee drinking contest may not end well. #smbmsp

And finally, the Twitter Stream was keeping up to SXSW. I just went thru 24 pages of tweets, so there was lots of conversation happening.

lindsi: Following #smbmsp stream on @tweetgrid. Y’all are trending in the top 10 right along with SXSW and iPhone 3.

This is a great way to get feedback on how the audience received the presentation. We were really interactive & that was reflected in the comments.

If you have questions on any of the points, feel free to ask. And if you haven’t attended a Social Media Breakfast in your area, I highly recommend it!