Fair warning: this post is long. Really long.
But I have LOTS of questions I get asked on a regular basis around my job, and it didn’t seem right to split them up somehow. I wanted to keep it as one solid reference, hopefully that you can show your boss or just chew on to write your job description or whatever (this one might help too). It’s okay if you tune out. Better yet, bookmark it and come back later.
But for those of you who are in it for the long haul, grab a bevvy and let’s go. Either way, I hope it’s really useful.
1. How many hours do you work?
I don’t have a particular schedule I stick to, because things move fast and I need to adapt to shifting priorities. I usually work about 10-12 hours per day on average, but that’s broken up in chunks and sometimes during non-traditional hours, like in the evenings or weekends.
Evening and weekend hours are mostly because that’s when I get some of my best and most uninterrupted thinking done, but Twitter and blogs are still active outside of business hours, so I try to be responsive there when it’s reasonable and I’m able. I probably spend 2-4 hours working and managing stuff on each weekend day. Much of that is self-imposed, because it’s how I work best. Your mileage will and should vary.
2. How do you prioritize your tasks?
I use a rather simple but effective triage system for most of what I do.
Engagement
- negative/support/concern posts first, no matter the medium. ASAP.
- specific company/brand inquiries that indicate a lead or customer service opportunity. Twitter first, because of it’s short lifespan (within 15 minutes if possible). Blogs next (within a few hours).
- compliments and kudos, including review blog posts (as immediate as possible)
- industry discussions (social media monitoring, social CRM, community management, etc)
Do I respond to every mention? No. I can’t. I respond mostly to things that are catalysts for discussion, or invitations for connection. You’ll know the difference, and it will evolve over time. Nothing here is ever static or set in stone.
Priorities
Engagement with the community is always first. Then comes internal, longer-term priorities and projects that further our community needs. For example, we’re building a resource library on our website, and modeling a listening grid for our organization that can hopefully help other companies build theirs. We’re also doing a lot of work on the subject of articulating social media ROI. I’m involved in all these projects, because our community has asked for them, and our whole team is involved.
General insights, industry discussions, and ongoing relationship management tuck in for the rest of the time. That includes all channels, including email, social networks, and phone calls. Everything from helping someone out with a monitoring question via email to vetting event and speaking opportunities, participating in a chat on Twitter, or being part of a professional network like the Community Roundtable. Does it scale well? No. But I do the best I can to get to everyone.
3. How do you decide where to spend your time on social networks?
Professionally, I base that purely on where our customers and potential customers are. Because we monitor these conversations closely – about our brand specifically, our competitors, and our industry as a whole – I know that most of our active discussions take place on Twitter, blogs, and forums (in descending order).
Twitter is like the phone to me. It’s up constantly, and it’s a key channel for us, so I use that the most. I spend several hours on Twitter every day, some of it passive (listening) and about 2-4 hours interacting. I spend about 2 hours a day commenting on blogs, and woven in to all of this is routing posts that need others attention, that are sales leads that require follow up, and the like.
All in all, I spent 3-5 hours engaging online, and another hour or two routing things and analyzing our work. But remember, this is my JOB. If you’re doing this as part of your role it’s going to be a lot different. And your customers might not be where mine are. That’s where the listening bit comes in at the start.
4. What else do you do besides social network stuff?
I manage our company’s event presence (sponsorships, speaking opportunities, and the like). I probably put about 30 min. to an hour into logistics each day, and I have help on that front with our awesome coordinator, Dave Clark. During heavy event season (March-June and September-November), I spend about 50% of my time on the road at or face time with our community and doing speaking engagements on listening and engagement and community management. When I’m traveling, I have members of our kick-ass team that help me respond to timely needs on Twitter or blogs when I can’t be as immediately responsive, and assign stuff to me that I can engage with later on.
I also create tons of content, including writing for our blog, podcasting, website content, case studies, and other resource material for our community. This typically comes in waves, and probably totals 1-3 hours a day on average. I write. A lot.
Lastly but not least-ly, I do strategy work, including considering what’s next to support our community, continuing to broaden our social media presence as an organization, helping frame out community and engagement best practices for us and our clients, measurement and tracking of our community outreach efforts. That’s a few hours of solid work each week, and several nights scribbling in the notebook beside my bed.
5. Where does your job live within the organization, and how big is your team?
In our company, our marketing/PR/community team is kind of all one thing. We don’t draw lines, because we think it all blends together. In many other organizations, this type of role reports into a communications department, like marketing or PR, and sometimes even customer service. Depends a lot on the goals of the organization (as do all things). For us, it makes sense as a unified group.
My role reports to David Alston, our VP of Marketing and Community. We also have Mike Huggard, our Community Analyst who does a lot of biz dev support as well, and Warren Sukernek our Director of Content Marketing, who drives the creation and promotion of our content. Also on the content creative side, we have Bob Beaton, our awesome design and UI dude, and Andrew Embury, our video rockstar.
We’ll be adding more people as our engagment and content development model evolves, and several members of our executive, support, and business development teams participate and engage on a regular basis as part of their overall responsibilities. And because they get it.
6. What metrics do you use to justify your position?
This could be a long answer. But for ease of conversation, let’s say that we look at:
- Our ratio of posts/mentions/discussions engaged vs. not, and how much time it takes to respond. In essence, how engaged and converstaional we are as a brand.
- The trending number of posts about and around our brand over a 30 day period (awareness and reach)
- Our share of conversation in social media, both within our industry and as compared to our competitors, and tracked over time
- The overall sentiment of posts about us, and the ratio of positive/negative/neutral (brand affinity)
- The volume of leads generated through social channels, and their conversion rate
- How many customer support issues are initiated (and resolved) through social networks
- The breakdown of types of posts about us: support, reviews, passing mentions, compliments, complaints, etc.
- Discussions, referrals, and mentions that come from different segments of our community: customers, prospects, specific events, etc.
- How our website traffic from social content converts and behaves
There are tons more things I want to be tracking, and we’re working hard on lots of best practices in this arena. Community positions impact all these areas and more, because the relationships they forge affect every bit of the business. Stay tuned for more as we learn and evolve, and as I get more relentless about justifying the existence of folks like me to the c-suite.
7. What tools do you use?
Radian6: Yes, surprisingly, I do all of my monitoring, measurement, tracking and engagement, and reporting through our own platform. It works. For a list of how I might do it manually, look here.
Twitter: for ongoing conversation with friends and colleagues, inquiries about our platform, customer service inquiries, and industry discussion. I use TweetDeck and our own Twitter engagement capability through the Radian6 platform (which helps me track and capture responses). I use Tweetie when I’m on the go on my iPhone.
Adium: for IM. I use this more internally than not, and rarely at that. IM tends to get overwhelming.
Yammer: We use this as our internal Twitter/chat stream, to share news about ongoing company activities and goings-on and talk amongst ourselves.
Google Docs: We use collaborative calendars, spreadsheets, and word processing docs. Especially important because I work remotely.
Google Reader: My RSS reader of choice. I subscribe to about 75 blogs, and I’ve pared that down. I click “Mark All As Read” probably once a week. I scan liberally, read about a dozen or so posts in depth every day, share what I can, and have to skip the rest. There are only so many hours, and information overload is mine to control.
Entourage: my email client, which is the lesser of many evils. I get about 100-150 emails a day across two main accounts, and they’re about 60% internal. Twitter has dramatically reduced my email volume in day to day work, probably by half at least.
Facebook and LinkedIn: We’re just starting to really build a foundation for our community in these outposts, but I have accounts there. I don’t keep separate personal and corproate accounts. It’s all one and the same to me. I’m part of my company and vice versa. Argue with me on this later.
WordPress: My blogging platform, both at Altitude and for Radian6.
Books: I read. Voraciously. Analog isn’t dead. I have about three books going right now, two of which are business-related.
8. How did you get your job?
I started my professional career as a fundraiser for non-profit organizations, beginning in performing arts (symphony orchestras and music conservatories. I was a music performance major in college). I did that for about seven years and was recruited into corporate marketing/communications, and did that for four-plus years, including branding, PR, and corp communications.
I’ve always maintained an interest in the online world, blogging (journaling) when it was nerdy and even trying my hand at programming (I don’t have the attention span). I was a chat room nerd, too. My nonprofit days lent well to community building with donors and volunteers, both online and off. And I always tried to infuse this stuff into my corporate job, whether I was successful or not. 🙂
When I decided to go it alone in 2008 and leave my corporate gig for solo work, Radian6 was one of the first companies I worked with. Lucky for me, when it came time to hire someone full time to do community and social media work, they trusted me with the gig. So here I am. It was much less about some elusive “skill set”and more about understanding the role of online social stuff inside a business environment. Maybe David Alston will tell us in better detail in the comments why I was the right fit.
9. What do you love about your job?
The people. I meet and talk to the most amazing people, every day. And I am so very lucky to work with a company that lives and breathes social media as a business model, not a “channel”. Yes, I realize how fortunate that makes me. Is it always roses? No. It’s hard work, but nothing worth having was ever worth less. And it’s the most rewarding job I’ve ever had.
My job is to connect with people, and make them as passionate as I am about the potential of this universe. Does that suck? Heck no. Do I wish that kind of job for everyone? Yes. And I’m going to keep stumping on my soapbox for their benefit, and for the establishment of more jobs like it, until you all tell me to shut up.
10. What would you change?
The barriers to understanding, and the blinders we’ve managed to put on the corporate world for the last several decades. The focus on the tactics and tools instead of the underlying (and rather basic) tenets of relationship-based business.
I’m much less frustrated by a temporarily disgruntled person on a blog than I am by a business person who still isn’t seeing how important and revolutionary this stuff is, and not because Oprah is on Twitter. I’d like to elevate the discussion from “how do I monetize Facebook” to “how do I change my culture to return to the basics of good business and tie this to my overall goals” (which is really all this is, in techie clothing).
I know I’m an idealist. But dammit. Revolutions were never started because someone decided something was “close enough”. ROI doesn’t have to be that complicated. I’m here to change the status quo.
11. How do I convince our company we need a community position?
If you have to do too much convincing, they’re probably not ready. But, that being said, there are a few discussion points.
This job is the evolution and marriage of customer/client service, PR, marketing, and business development. It’s a bridge builder between your internal and external communities, and a liaison. A relationship builder, message deliverer, content creator, hand holder, educator, rain maker, and brand steward, both internally and externally. It’s the hybrid of online and off in all these areas, but without the trappings of outdated tactics that are likely not relevant to your customers anymore.
If your company doesn’t see the value in that and can’t tie some specific deliverables and metrics to the performance of that person, then the discussion is probably too soon. And if you or they can’t imagine that a person like that exists, you’re definitely not ready to have one.
Bonus Round
12. What music do you listen to while you work?
I have crazy eclectic music tastes. Faves right now include Nonpoint, Shinedown, Eminem, Nine Inch Nails, Nickel Creek, Sick Puppies, Shiny Toy Guns, Massive Attack, Josh Kelley, John Legend, Flyleaf, Emilie Autumn, Breaking Benjamin, and some Shostakovich thrown in for good measure.
What Did I Miss?
My (sort of) plan is to keep updating this post as new questions arise, because I know my position and those like it will keep evolving. I know I haven’t answered everything, and I’m happy to keep trying. Just leave your questions in the comments, but remember that there’s no such thing as one-size-fits-all. And your answers and insights are just as valuable as mine.
Does this help? Share, won’t you?
Very insightful post.
So here are some questions I get asked quite often, from very smart business people in senior management who want to see numbers and not fluff.
How do you quantify the amount of hours you spend managing a community?
What is the ROI of community management?
How do you determine or measure success?
My answer is usually something like this … “people use social media and naturally engage in communities. They also buy products. How do you determine the success of a billboard ad?”
I would be curious to know how you would answer this question.
Michael Britos last blog post..Best Buy: Crowdsourcing a social media job description
Very insightful post.
So here are some questions I get asked quite often, from very smart business people in senior management who want to see numbers and not fluff.
How do you quantify the amount of hours you spend managing a community?
What is the ROI of community management?
How do you determine or measure success?
My answer is usually something like this … “people use social media and naturally engage in communities. They also buy products. How do you determine the success of a billboard ad?”
I would be curious to know how you would answer this question.
Michael Britos last blog post..Best Buy: Crowdsourcing a social media job description
Oh, and …
how much community management is benefiting the company you work for versus your personal brand? Is there even a difference? And, does it ever become an issue?
Michael Britos last blog post..Best Buy: Crowdsourcing a social media job description
Oh, and …
how much community management is benefiting the company you work for versus your personal brand? Is there even a difference? And, does it ever become an issue?
Michael Britos last blog post..Best Buy: Crowdsourcing a social media job description
Ah, yes. I get asked that one a great deal. Will have to work on a concise answer. 🙂
Hi Michael,
I tried to touch on that a bit in #6. The trick is that ROI is different for every business. I wish there was a formula. There isn’t.
I’ll see about expanding on that somewhat and see if I can offer some more specifics from different angles.
Amber
Do you see the volume across the various ‘outposts’ getting so high, and the number of blogs so vast that it stops being personal and becomes a corporate/group monitoring process. Social media as it matures, will it become just another department using tools such as yours to monitor, create metrics with responses with canned frequently asked questions. I know this is a cynical view but surely one that will be viewed by companies as ‘the way to go’ to avoid this personal/professional conflicts especially in regulated industries such as pharm, insurance. I guess what I am asking is where is this in 5 years?
Amber
Do you see the volume across the various ‘outposts’ getting so high, and the number of blogs so vast that it stops being personal and becomes a corporate/group monitoring process. Social media as it matures, will it become just another department using tools such as yours to monitor, create metrics with responses with canned frequently asked questions. I know this is a cynical view but surely one that will be viewed by companies as ‘the way to go’ to avoid this personal/professional conflicts especially in regulated industries such as pharm, insurance. I guess what I am asking is where is this in 5 years?
That’s the thing. Like I said above, human relationships don’t scale.
You can mechanize certain aspects, but NOT the interaction part. It requires more headcount, which requires being that much more efficient about how you allocate human resources. I think this kind of job is RUTHLESSLY efficient, because of it’s cross pollination.
In five years, there are going to be the companies that finally look at their people as 360-degree assets, and not canned job descriptions. Then there are those that won’t. It’s an evolution and a sea change, but the beauty to me is that social media has raised the *possibility* of something new. In terms of business. Not just process.
Altruistic? Maybe. But if my company can get it and scores of others can too, I have hope.
See – I told you it would be a hit 😉
The trending word I see here is ‘evolution’. Much of this role is about how you, the CM, evolve with the this role and the many facets of business that it touches. Continuing to evolve and change the way you work to not only make things more efficient but to unveil even more opportunities for your business and especially, your community.
I think aside from being in touch with people and connecting with them on a daily basis, the growth and scope of a CM has always intrigued me and is why I continue to work every day to get my butt planted in a role that encompasses many of these facets that you’ve listed out here.
And I love Shiny Toy Guns – but don’t you hate that the lead female singer from their first album is gone? She was great, IMO 🙂
Great work on this piece, Amber.
Sonny Gills last blog post..Exceptions in Customer Service?
See – I told you it would be a hit 😉
The trending word I see here is ‘evolution’. Much of this role is about how you, the CM, evolve with the this role and the many facets of business that it touches. Continuing to evolve and change the way you work to not only make things more efficient but to unveil even more opportunities for your business and especially, your community.
I think aside from being in touch with people and connecting with them on a daily basis, the growth and scope of a CM has always intrigued me and is why I continue to work every day to get my butt planted in a role that encompasses many of these facets that you’ve listed out here.
And I love Shiny Toy Guns – but don’t you hate that the lead female singer from their first album is gone? She was great, IMO 🙂
Great work on this piece, Amber.
Sonny Gills last blog post..Exceptions in Customer Service?
You weren’t kidding when you said this would be “long and meaty,” my dear! Thanks for sharing all of these great insights into an emerging career track that so many folks don’t really seem to understand. As always, you are an asset to the communications, PR, marketing and branding community!
You weren’t kidding when you said this would be “long and meaty,” my dear! Thanks for sharing all of these great insights into an emerging career track that so many folks don’t really seem to understand. As always, you are an asset to the communications, PR, marketing and branding community!
Amber,
This really the best FAQ I came across related to Community Management.I would say this can be a starting point for any new community manager or people interesting in moving to online community management profiles.
Vijay Rayapatis last blog post..Connecting With Consumers For Feedback And Word-of-Mouth Marketing
Amber,
This really the best FAQ I came across related to Community Management.I would say this can be a starting point for any new community manager or people interesting in moving to online community management profiles.
Vijay Rayapatis last blog post..Connecting With Consumers For Feedback And Word-of-Mouth Marketing
Amber, this is not only helpful to anyone interested in this kind of role but also a testament to why R6 is doing so well! You really have it all together (or at least as much as one can in this rapidly evolving space).
I guess the key question I have for you is as this evolves and the demands become increasingly difficult, how would you see expanding your team?
Steve Dodds last blog post..steve_dodd: RT @unmarketing: See who you’ve given access to ur Twitter account to http://twitter.com/account/connections
Amber, this is not only helpful to anyone interested in this kind of role but also a testament to why R6 is doing so well! You really have it all together (or at least as much as one can in this rapidly evolving space).
I guess the key question I have for you is as this evolves and the demands become increasingly difficult, how would you see expanding your team?
Steve Dodds last blog post..steve_dodd: RT @unmarketing: See who you’ve given access to ur Twitter account to http://twitter.com/account/connections
That’s a great question, Steve. I’ll work it in above in an update.
Awesome post Amber! Great insights on this emerging and evolving field of community management. I’m definately bookmarking and looking forward the updates.
Awesome post Amber! Great insights on this emerging and evolving field of community management. I’m definately bookmarking and looking forward the updates.
Community Management and the role of the Community Manager seems to differ quite a bit between brands and communities so it’s nice to read about what others do, and compare the similarities and the differences within the role.
Thanks for another great post
Sues last blog post..Community Manager Gigs
Community Management and the role of the Community Manager seems to differ quite a bit between brands and communities so it’s nice to read about what others do, and compare the similarities and the differences within the role.
Thanks for another great post
Sues last blog post..Community Manager Gigs
*sigh*
I needed to see this. This is probably the one illuminating post that I will refer to time and again as I weave my way through what I hope are the very beginnings of my involvement with social media as a business model.
You covered your bases, and so much more, so clearly and I think you also drove home the importance (maybe necessity) of having a community manager built into a marketing/PR/customer service team.
Still not sure how you do it all, but impressed and enlightened by the list of tasks you manage daily.
Thanks so much for writing. Lengthy, but absolutely worth the read. 🙂
Teresa Basichs last blog post..Questions Begging for Answers
*sigh*
I needed to see this. This is probably the one illuminating post that I will refer to time and again as I weave my way through what I hope are the very beginnings of my involvement with social media as a business model.
You covered your bases, and so much more, so clearly and I think you also drove home the importance (maybe necessity) of having a community manager built into a marketing/PR/customer service team.
Still not sure how you do it all, but impressed and enlightened by the list of tasks you manage daily.
Thanks so much for writing. Lengthy, but absolutely worth the read. 🙂
Teresa Basichs last blog post..Questions Begging for Answers
This sums up everything that community managers and engagement specialists WISH their clients and stakeholders knew.
Great post!
Look forward to reading more.
Cheers,
Ron Schott
http://www.springcreekgroup.com
@ronschott
Ron Schotts last blog post..All Things Social Media – Upcoming Events
This sums up everything that community managers and engagement specialists WISH their clients and stakeholders knew.
Great post!
Look forward to reading more.
Cheers,
Ron Schott
http://www.springcreekgroup.com
@ronschott
Ron Schotts last blog post..All Things Social Media – Upcoming Events
Oh! Duh. Thank you for the bonus! 🙂 I heart Massive Attack. GREAT work music.
Teresa Basichs last blog post..Questions Begging for Answers
Oh! Duh. Thank you for the bonus! 🙂 I heart Massive Attack. GREAT work music.
Teresa Basichs last blog post..Questions Begging for Answers
Looks like my earlier comment may not have made it through.
One thing that is missing from the FAQ is compensation information, although I totally appreciate not being able to reveal that 🙂
We’ve done a lot of research around community staff compensation, roles, responsibilities and team structure. You can find summaries here:
http://bit.ly/xeRC1
http://bit.ly/lxyTK
Bill Johnstons last blog post..Community Influencer Programs
Looks like my earlier comment may not have made it through.
One thing that is missing from the FAQ is compensation information, although I totally appreciate not being able to reveal that 🙂
We’ve done a lot of research around community staff compensation, roles, responsibilities and team structure. You can find summaries here:
http://bit.ly/xeRC1
http://bit.ly/lxyTK
Bill Johnstons last blog post..Community Influencer Programs
btw Amber, i am planning on writing something similar to this. Of course, I will give you full credit for the post idea.
Have a great day.
Michael Britos last blog post..Best Buy: Crowdsourcing a social media job description
btw Amber, i am planning on writing something similar to this. Of course, I will give you full credit for the post idea.
Have a great day.
Michael Britos last blog post..Best Buy: Crowdsourcing a social media job description
Awesome. Share when you’re done?
Kickass. Even your playlist was solid. 😉
olivier blanchards last blog post..And on the eighth day… (A word-of-mouth primer)
Amber’s warning of a “long post”.. lol.. Olivier you’re posts should all have warnings then!
Amber I loved this: “But remember, this is my JOB.” – soooo easy to get pulled into social media when it ain’t my actual job!
Scott Goulds last blog post..Digitall, Digicool, Digitool and Diginots
Kickass. Even your playlist was solid. 😉
olivier blanchards last blog post..And on the eighth day… (A word-of-mouth primer)
Amber’s warning of a “long post”.. lol.. Olivier you’re posts should all have warnings then!
Amber I loved this: “But remember, this is my JOB.” – soooo easy to get pulled into social media when it ain’t my actual job!
Scott Goulds last blog post..Digitall, Digicool, Digitool and Diginots
Amber, interesting how closely related our jobs are. This is a great resource for anyone entering the community space. The one thing I think I would put a bit more emphasis on is the reporting back to conversion. So important for our industry to be able to place real values on the soft metrics as they lead back to the bottom line. I know thats a separate post all together 🙂 just where my head has been at.
Me <3 Radian 6
~Keith
Keith Burtiss last blog post..Community Mavericks
Amber, interesting how closely related our jobs are. This is a great resource for anyone entering the community space. The one thing I think I would put a bit more emphasis on is the reporting back to conversion. So important for our industry to be able to place real values on the soft metrics as they lead back to the bottom line. I know thats a separate post all together 🙂 just where my head has been at.
Me <3 Radian 6
~Keith
Keith Burtiss last blog post..Community Mavericks
I agree, but you’re right. That’s a post in itself. Many of the metrics I cite above are absolutely concrete. The trick is in getting companies to do the legwork to TRACK and MEASURE them in the first place. There’s no shortage of tiebacks, things that impact the bottom line, and the like. The real work is in articulating it.
And I’m emphatic that companies have to stop waiting for people to hand them an ROI kit. It’s time to start keeping track of your activities and using some common sense.
But rant aside, I’ll definitely come back to this in greater detail soon.
Amber – thank you for doing this post. The more education you, and other community managers can do for corporate-types (and probably even agency-types too) on what it is exactly you do can only help the process. So often a company says they have some young kid in there communications department that “gets” social media. I’d bet the chances are small that they actually get it.
By the way, your explanation under question 11 is one of the best, short explanations I’ve seen for what goes into a good community manager.
Amber – thank you for doing this post. The more education you, and other community managers can do for corporate-types (and probably even agency-types too) on what it is exactly you do can only help the process. So often a company says they have some young kid in there communications department that “gets” social media. I’d bet the chances are small that they actually get it.
By the way, your explanation under question 11 is one of the best, short explanations I’ve seen for what goes into a good community manager.
Wow.
I’ve been a secret admirer of yours for some time now, Amber – but am now compelled to “go public” after reading this post. This is, without a doubt, the single most insightful, most helpful, most practical thing I can remember reading on the web (by anyone) in a long time.
BIG thanks and kudos!
Jon
Wow.
I’ve been a secret admirer of yours for some time now, Amber – but am now compelled to “go public” after reading this post. This is, without a doubt, the single most insightful, most helpful, most practical thing I can remember reading on the web (by anyone) in a long time.
BIG thanks and kudos!
Jon
All I can say is, “wow”. I am truly impressed, Amber, by how well you articulated these points.
I love points 10 & 11. Being from a traditional corporate background, I completely ‘get’ the issues we marketing-type folks run into when trying to justify a new approach, tactic or technique.
Fortunately for me, after a couple of years on my own learning tons about social media marketing and the online community, I’m now involved with an entrepreneur that embraces technology and all it has to offer. I now get to Tweet and issue FB postings guilt-free, and will hopefully very soon be looking at communicating with a sizable online community of our own.
Thanks for your post!
Lisa-May
All I can say is, “wow”. I am truly impressed, Amber, by how well you articulated these points.
I love points 10 & 11. Being from a traditional corporate background, I completely ‘get’ the issues we marketing-type folks run into when trying to justify a new approach, tactic or technique.
Fortunately for me, after a couple of years on my own learning tons about social media marketing and the online community, I’m now involved with an entrepreneur that embraces technology and all it has to offer. I now get to Tweet and issue FB postings guilt-free, and will hopefully very soon be looking at communicating with a sizable online community of our own.
Thanks for your post!
Lisa-May
You are just the bestest of the social media peeps. Authentic and practice what you preach. Thanks again for giving us all a piece of your knowledge and experience.
Rick Morgans last blog post..Insurance Agents Don’t Market
You are just the bestest of the social media peeps. Authentic and practice what you preach. Thanks again for giving us all a piece of your knowledge and experience.
Rick Morgans last blog post..Insurance Agents Don’t Market
Thank you so much, Rick. Walking the walk is the best compliment I can receive. Truly. Appreciate it.
Great post Amber on an often confusing role. Thanks for putting the time in to share so much!
Kevin Briodys last blog post..DIY indie music marketing
Great post Amber on an often confusing role. Thanks for putting the time in to share so much!
Kevin Briodys last blog post..DIY indie music marketing
“Revolutions were never started because someone decided something was “close enough”. ROI doesn’t have to be that complicated. I’m here to change the status quo.”
Love it. A phrase I heard recently sums it up best for me. It’s not that we must accept the things we cannot change. But rather: We must change the things that we cannot accept.
“Revolutions were never started because someone decided something was “close enough”. ROI doesn’t have to be that complicated. I’m here to change the status quo.”
Love it. A phrase I heard recently sums it up best for me. It’s not that we must accept the things we cannot change. But rather: We must change the things that we cannot accept.
Awesome, awesome, awesome post. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been asked what I ACTUALLY do in the past 8 months as Community Manager at RedWire – I’ve boiled it down to public relations, community relations, social media strategy, and events (planning, attending, speaking). But it’s so broad – one day I could spend most of my time writing blog posts & strategies, and the next day the longest thing I’ll write is a comment on a blog or a Tweet. Some months I travel a lot, some months I go to events in Toronto exclusively. I think you’re right on so many points, especially that you don’t want to work for a company who needs convincing that this position is relevant. I’m lucky to be at a startup where this is the ONLY position involved with marketing/PR/communications, so I get tons of great experience while exploring new media.
Thanks for your insights, and I look forward to more community managers sharing their experiences! See you in Chicago soon I hope!
Erin
Awesome, awesome, awesome post. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been asked what I ACTUALLY do in the past 8 months as Community Manager at RedWire – I’ve boiled it down to public relations, community relations, social media strategy, and events (planning, attending, speaking). But it’s so broad – one day I could spend most of my time writing blog posts & strategies, and the next day the longest thing I’ll write is a comment on a blog or a Tweet. Some months I travel a lot, some months I go to events in Toronto exclusively. I think you’re right on so many points, especially that you don’t want to work for a company who needs convincing that this position is relevant. I’m lucky to be at a startup where this is the ONLY position involved with marketing/PR/communications, so I get tons of great experience while exploring new media.
Thanks for your insights, and I look forward to more community managers sharing their experiences! See you in Chicago soon I hope!
Erin
Amber, adding my love to this stack ‘o… The concept of community is at the heart of employee engagement (I have most exp in internal comms) — my hope, always, was that at some point I’d outlive my usefulness in managing the community (though that’s not what we called it…) Do you see your role as ongoing, or community-limiting? Also, as you sift the traffic, do you see clear patterns? Have you figured out how to measure your own success (totally getting that ROI for each org is or may be different…)
Cheers.
Sean
@commammo
P.s., I’m SUCH a geek…
Sean Williamss last blog post..Does Social Media Engagement Link to Financial Performance?
Amber, adding my love to this stack ‘o… The concept of community is at the heart of employee engagement (I have most exp in internal comms) — my hope, always, was that at some point I’d outlive my usefulness in managing the community (though that’s not what we called it…) Do you see your role as ongoing, or community-limiting? Also, as you sift the traffic, do you see clear patterns? Have you figured out how to measure your own success (totally getting that ROI for each org is or may be different…)
Cheers.
Sean
@commammo
P.s., I’m SUCH a geek…
Sean Williamss last blog post..Does Social Media Engagement Link to Financial Performance?
Another awesome post. I’m seven weeks into the new job and my focus is more on the analytics/data side so your posts are always so valuable to me.
We are just getting our feet wet with social media – creating a SM presence on Twitter, corporate blogging, establishing a community, evaluating monitoring tools (loved Radian6 by the way). It will be a moderate process for us and most of our customers are evolving at the same pace as us. We are also taking the time to educate our employees and customers on the value (yes, I know, still ;-)). The most important thing is that my company realizes the value and is enabling employees to be creative, participate, and help shape our strategy. To me that’s half the battle! Thanks for keeping on keeping on!
Another awesome post. I’m seven weeks into the new job and my focus is more on the analytics/data side so your posts are always so valuable to me.
We are just getting our feet wet with social media – creating a SM presence on Twitter, corporate blogging, establishing a community, evaluating monitoring tools (loved Radian6 by the way). It will be a moderate process for us and most of our customers are evolving at the same pace as us. We are also taking the time to educate our employees and customers on the value (yes, I know, still ;-)). The most important thing is that my company realizes the value and is enabling employees to be creative, participate, and help shape our strategy. To me that’s half the battle! Thanks for keeping on keeping on!
I totally agree with you on the one account thing. Especially me, being a freelancer, it wouldn’t make sense to have separate accounts for business and personal.
I totally agree with you on the one account thing. Especially me, being a freelancer, it wouldn’t make sense to have separate accounts for business and personal.
I need to get more into this social networking thing for my small business. This was a great post!
I need to get more into this social networking thing for my small business. This was a great post!