Hilton Barbour is the executive director of strategy for Organic’s Toronto office. He is currently the Editor-in-Chief of Organic's industry-leading blog Threeminds, which features forward thinking articles on digital marketing.

Social media has quickly become de facto for interaction and communication, emerging as the new gateway for consumer influence. With social media channels such as Twitter and Facebook giving consumers the power to directly impact a brand’s performance, businesses are hiring a new member of the marketing team to not only monitor these channels, but also interact with consumers.

Commonly referred to as the "Community Manager," these brand ambassadors are a company’s direct link to its customers, owning the critical responsibility to grow, shape and respond to online conversations happening around that brand.

Do You Need A Community Manager?







Determining whether your brand needs a community manager comes down to efficiencies, trust and skill. One of the biggest reasons companies need a manager is that they are looking to humanize their brand and create a closer connection to consumers. Community managers provide an excellent way to not only monitor online communities, but to also support and engage in new conversations around the brand. As a human voice of the company, community managers are critical in establishing a level of trust with consumers that keeps them coming back.

Another factor to consider is the type of brand (or campaign) you’re marketing — is your brand involved in awkward, sensitive or taboo subjects that should be addressed via open dialogue? Or is your campaign focused on educating consumers? If so, a community manager can be hugely beneficial. Community managers can jump-start and create online conversations to show members that they are not alone. At the same time, by answering questions and providing information, they establish themselves as experts and trusted resources for information. This is particularly valuable for those brands that have an element of education or advocacy.

A great example of this is Kimberly-Clark’s (K-C) U by Kotex campaign. As the company looked to break down the taboos around feminine hygiene and educate young women on these sensitive issues, they hired a community manager to oversee social media conversations on feminine health, act as a liaison to teen girls and to add valuable insights when appropriate. If a young woman posts a relevant question on Yahoo Answers, for example, the community manager answers the question and leaves a direct call to action to visit the U by Kotex website.

As a result, the community manager helped ignite an instantaneous dialogue among consumers, bloggers and traditional media who praised Kimberly-Clark for building advocacy with hundreds of women sharing their personal experiences and thanking U by Kotex for driving a long overdue conversation about feminine health.

The New Skill Set

Once you decide that your brand needs a community manager, the next step is determining how to hire the right person for the job. While many companies choose to utilize existing employees to act as campaign managers, some have seen great success in hiring members of the public who are passionate brand advocates to fill this important role. While the role of the community manager is not new, the biggest mistake businesses make is hiring them at the wrong time and not equipping them with the support they need.

To start, community managers must possess a diverse skill set that includes creative, strategic and analytics capabilities while still being able to support consumer conversations — not drive them. An over-enthusiastic community manager can drive consumers away if they do not manage how and when they should join the conversation. It is not a "nine to five" job, as online conversations are happening around the clock. This is especially important for brands that target the teen demographic, whose conversations largely take place at night. In addition, brands should look for a person that understands the needs of both the company and the campaign. Social media guidelines are increasingly commonplace but, in fairness to the community manager, these should be tailored to the requirements of their individual assignment.

Having a community manager on the team at the right time is also crucial. Getting them on board just before a campaign launch is not effective — they won't know enough about the campaign objectives if they are inserted into the process too late. They need time to define a role within the campaign that will help them move consumer conversations toward the desired objectives. They also need to remain involved with the broader marketing team as the program continues. The speed with which social conversations evolve means that community managers are often the first to encounter changes in the public’s opinion of a brand or product. They can provide invaluable, time-sensitive feedback if utilized correctly.

Conclusion

Conduct solid planning up front and establish a good balance of preparedness before hiring a community manager. Take a look at how this person is supported, create a "decision tree," and identify the tools and access they will need to succeed.

Community managers must understand that it is not their goal to drive conversations; rather, it is to build an environment in which conversations happen naturally. Failure to meet this goal can make or break a social campaign, and possibly damage a brand's online following and reputation. However, when used correctly, community managers can tap into conversations — both positive and negative — and nurture relationships between a brand and its consumers in new and exciting ways. It has become an increasingly pivotal role within organizations and the hiring of those who take on that responsibility shouldn’t be taken lightly.

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