The Second Coming of the Online Community Manager
Flickr Photo: varnentYour job isn't going to exist in a few years, and it ain't the economy's fault. Blame it on social media.
If you're implementing social media smartly at your organization, you already know it raises more issues for nonprofits than it solves. Chief among them: who does it? If social media is about individuals conversing authentically with a community, who's in charge of the conversation?
You'll find most people responsible for social media in marketing departments. But shouldn't program staff be involved, as well? How about leadership?
I'm fascinated by the ways social media is changing how organizations structure themselves -- and in particular, how social media is redefining job titles in our sector. To whit: the second coming of the online community manager.
ReadWriteWeb has a new report out, "The Read Write Web Guide to Community Management", that marks the ascension of the online community manager (2.0). They do a great job summarizing exactly why the role is so challenging:
The job is part customer service, part marketing, part public relations, and part web savvy. Some of the skills required are timeless and some are very new and unique to the web.
Yeah, what they said.
We used to organize our jobs by who we were talking at: people with problems (customer service), the population we want to engage (marketing), the media (pr). Now, we don't have the luxury of simply talking AT people. Those same people are talking to us, and each other.
We all need someone to be part of that conversation.
But how are you supposed to write a job description for that? Doesn't it sort of sound like you're hiring someone to goof off online all day? The ReadWriteWeb report has a price tag, but it's well worth it if you're really considering these issues.
I'll summarize some of my favorite bits for the rest of you:
Are communities any more engaged when there's an official community manager?
- Well, yes. There's a great case study from Tom Humbarger. Watch the engagement levels drop as soon as he's laid off.
Is the ROI all about the web metrics?
- Not so much. The report points out ways community managers contribute to innovation, recruitment, and other key areas of an organization.
How to Frak it all up
- I love the list of ways to screw up online community management. My favorite? Be afraid. Sound familiar?
Oh, and there's a plethora of case studies. I loved the report so much I twisted MarshallK's arm -- OK, I just asked -- and he gave us three copies to give away free to NTEN members!
Here's the deal members: Leave a comment below telling us how social media is changing your job description, and we'll pick three at random to get the prize!
I have the illustrious role of being the dreamer, schemer, funder, and overall wonder, single-handedly, of a completely virtual professional association of primarily self-employed career professionals. As a result, I manage, market, spend (what I don't always have), coerce, champion, cry, and build this baby from the 77 members it had when I took over in 2004 to the 350 we have now. Whew! I am frequently strapped for time and buddget but still driven to keep going strong doing it all on my own (with some wonderful volunteers).
A lot has to do with what the new social media channels have meant for reaching out -- to job seekers with helpful advice, potential members and members with news, the media, and potential partners. It's so exciting! It has totally changed the playing field and allowed us to create a presence and fluidity that was limited with our website and web budget!
I found myself at two conferences earlier this year only to discover what an early adopter I was with my Tweets and Tweetlater agenda not to speak of all the lines I was toeing with Facebook and LinkedIn. I spent the lunches helping overwhelmed execs understand how they could pull from the items they touched during the day to seamlessly integrate a Tweetlater plan that made them seem omniscient. What fun and how great to have your members think you are everywhere and into everything when you may only scratch the surface!
I agree that social media has changed the job description and the landscape! Where we (my association/me) spent thousands in unsuccessful traditional advertising annually just a few years ago (what a letdown) now we are able to reach so many more people through social channels!
It's a thrill to think, "How well CAN I entice someone in 140 characters?" and to see how much more I actually pay attention -- listening, reading, watching for valuable soundbites that people will want to know -- it's carrying the mission to our members to always be on touch on what's new and important in our industry. How fun! I'm actually paying even more attention to the life rushing by to make sure I squeeze everything I can out of it for the benefit of all (job seeker or career professional member needing help).
It's amazing to think that if you write it 'right' thousands could see it; like David Meerman Scott's messages you could go viral and find a rapid fame that even the media cannot guarantee anymore.
I want to DO everything but I realize time is so limited it would be better to learn to do a few things the best way. Because of this I clicked all the way through to paypal to buy this report, until I saw the price. Gulp! I WANT IT!
Sigh.
Maybe I'll get lucky and you will pick me! Otherwise, I'll be shaking down some members (just kidding) so I can continue on my path as a motivated workhorse in love with the new social media channels and what they can mean for the betterment of my association and the world of job seekers out there who need us and need to hear our (members') advice!
THANK YOU for such a valuable group as NTEN! I love the newsletters and resources.
I started out as an organizer ... then worked my way into social media because, well, there's a lot of organizing going on the web. It is a great way to reach new audiences and potential members, to get your orgs story out to media including blogs, and for one person to reach large groups of people. I've become a full-time social media person.
Since then, I've gone on to be an official CM at both a pioneering mobile start-up and, more recently, a global retail brand. But while non-profits have actually led the way somewhat, industry has a huge amount yet to learn - principally that social media will never be as appetising to the public as pure community. When you boil it down, interacting with people about *anything* is always going to be more engaging than interacting with people about editorial, product, marketing, etc. Restricting social functions to just allowing dialogue about specific things will always turn off potential community members (or doners / customers).
It's not a new story. You will always visit the shop where the guy behind the counter chews the fat with you about the news, the weather, whatever. You probably won't revisit the shop where the guy relentlessly harangues you for an opinion about their product. As it stands, far to much of what we do as CMs is oriented around old-fashioned concepts such as research and marketing. We spend far too much time trying to set the agenda. I really believe that the key to success is allowing your customers / doners / users / members / punters to set their own agenda and for you to charm the heck out of them with your interaction. That's where this is going for CMs - some time soon, it won't be about us forcing them to interact with us. It'll be about them judging us on how *we* interact with them.
Being the resident Geek on my job means I've adopted social media for work purposes more than my colleagues. A dramatic demonstration is a recent web project that I posted to NTEN's community forum. Rather than the 3-5 vendors the IT Committee expected to review, we have more than a dozen - and at least 11 came from that one posting.
I find useful community gatherings and other information that I bring to the workplace almost daily. Our office is so busy serving clients, with the economy bringing many more in the door than usual, that we can get isolated. Social networking sites help me stay in touch with the bigger picture, borrow ideas from others, and generally see that I'm not alone.
Social media and networking is helping with collaboration among social service agencies -- a colleague from another agency and I just set up a wiki so a group of more than a dozen agencies can more easily share documents, ideas, and issues/strategies. The grant funding that collaborative may run out soon, but our ability to work together will continue because the wiki can supplement face-to-face meetings and enhance our efforts when funding runs out.
Right now, much of the "conversation" for us is peer-to-peer within the human service community. As more people get comfortable with working this way, I anticipate more organizations opening up the conversation to clients and engaging with them in a way they never anticipated.
I just started a new job as a "Web & Communications Coordinator" for a nonprofit, taking over a position that was previously more of a traditional communications gig. I'll be building their social media strategy from scratch, and have a lot to learn on the fly, so I hope I'm among the lucky 3...
Interesting question, Holly, and thanks for the great post. First, I would say that social media has not changed my job description one bit. It has, however, completely changed my job.
What I mean by that is that my org, the Chicago YMCA, is not officially engaged in social media and therefore my JD is the same: managing software development. We don't yet use social media enough to understand its impact as an organization and devote resources to it. Not yet, anyway. But... What has changed is almost everything else. After hiring a progressive CIO and a great web project manager who is very active in social networks, we started developing a socnet strategy. That's when I finally figure out how to stop working in my little vacuum. My days quickly changed from managing report requests and help desk tickets, to building an entire new network of nonprofit techies (and many other folks of course) and regularly using those contacts to learn about social media, other npo's, their strategies, successes and mistakes. While half of my time is probably still spent managing more traditional technology projects, what excites me the most is knowing that every day I can access my "friends and followers" to do a much better job of helping my org meet its mission... way beyond the latest request for a discount report! That is the very rewarding part about social media for me, and for my role. I don't think my job will go away in a few years, but I know that if it doesn't evolve into something that heavily incorporates social media, I will not be the one filling that role because there is no way I could effectively do so!
My new company is dedicated to helping small and medium sized companies attract the best talent and there is no way to find that talent that doesn't involve engaging in social media. This link between talent and social media is so profound that I am branching out into helping companies use social media to talk to all of their stakeholders. Community Manger Consultant?
Currently each program area updates their own social media sites -- I think that adding a component to a management role might be helpful for consistency of updates and tone. So we use social media sites but our job descriptions haven't changed, but they have evolved. Just like the rise of webmasters, there will be new job descriptions that are mainly created to disseminate social media content.
Frankly, we recognize their interest as BSOS (Bright Shiny Object Syndrome) ;) -- and we also recognize regardless, we have their attention on a topic of interest. As you know, getting most non-profit CEOs' attention on anything "technology" occurs about as often as a complete solar eclipse. So this opportunity is welcome, and this published work is timely. It, no doubt, will be joined by new works over time.
Thanks for highlighting and the review of this resource. Creating awareness, for many/most non-profits, can be the first step towards delivering the mission more effectively, empowered with technology.
Kind regards, Jeff Bundy
My main job is generic techie, and I've developed a strong interest in social media and how to make use of it in our organization. I've introduced new tools to colleagues, and pushed us on some things, like our organizational twitter accounts. Our structure, history and leadership makes for some slow changes in this area, though we are generally a pretty technology-adept organization.
As with nearly every other nonprofit going deeper into this space, our greatest internal challenge to social media is the fear of change and the "loss of brand control". At the moment, the Communications Dept. "owns" the tools, the voice, the measurements, and the strategy behind it all -- but ONLY because we're in the process of making the case for how beneficial social media can be to many other departments. Our change strategy involves not only demonstrating how it CAN work, but how it already IS working.
My role at the moment is that of social media incubator, priming our ecosystem of tools and content so that our department can successfully make the case for why others should be involved, from the customer service end of things, to program management who have the one-on-one relationships with our volunteers. My role as incubator largely involves both content creation and strategy right now, but as more staff come on board my role will likely shift to involve more strategy.
It'll be a long process, and definitely frustrating at times, but we welcome the challenge! Would love to get in touch with others in the same position, so please reach out! Thanks.
Although no longer staff, I do feel a part of the community they serve (after having served for 18 months with them) so feel empowered to represent/advocate for them/their community where I go online.
Coincidentally, the social media 'presence' (website, Facebook, outposts etc.) I built for them throughout my AmeriCorps service infiltrates (in a good way) other communities/networks I care about.
My work then, as a community managing 'independent' is strengthening the ties/bridges between these networks using social media - work that's sometimes difficult within any one organizational structure, but much easier in a 'network' structure of related organizations.
First, instead of only a small handful of streams (webpage, email list, direct mail) there's seemingly endless streams (facebook, twitter, youtube, change.org, etc.). It's a matter of figuring out where my time is best spent, while still not neglecting the old forms of communication.
The second change is that the flow of conversation is more directionally balanced and transparent. Instead of just sending a mass email and then privately answering PIO emails and responses, our constituents can engage with us (and about us) "in public." It's a whole new dynamic...yes scary, but also exciting.
As more and more nonprofits embrace social media, I suspect that many staffers in roles related to technology and communications (and other areas, too) will find the scope of their jobs expanding. I certainly have! We're working to find the right balance now. Will we go Rule of Thirds or some other mix? Either way, my responsibilities and opportunities to learn have increased dramatically.
As the Web Content Manager for Carnegie Mellon's Heinz College, I have no choice but to use social media. In order to effectively reach our target demographic, I have to be sure Heinz College has a presence on the latest and trendiest social sites.
Where a Web manager used to just focus on distributing content on a single site (or at least very few sites), I now have to manage content in multiple places in the digital environment.
The biggest way social media has changed my job is that I now have to be aware of the conversations about Heinz College that are happening online. I'm now patrolling the Web watching for references to us, highlighting the positives and responding in a nimble and appropriate fashion to the negatives.
Social media sometimes makes me feel like I'm running out of fingers to put in the dam.
At the same time, though, it's very, very fun, and I wouldn't want to be doing anything else.
Thanks Holly! This is a really thoughtful write up. I hope our report will serve your readers well. Great idea on the give away! I promise it is worth full price too :) Good luck winning the drawing, brave non-profits and keep on rockin' online!