I’ve been percolating on this graphic by Buzz Canuck for a while. (He explains each of the roles here but I assume this is fairly self-explanatory). It’s about corporate community managers but I think all of it can be applied to association community management – which if you think about it should actually be easier because we have a built-in community of members and stakeholders to work with.
I love his opening paragraph:
Community managers are the future host of your organization conversations – part corporate journalist, part PR person, part customer service, part likable, part sociable and enthusiastic face, part technologist, part Renaissance person and part brand fanatic, they are roles not easily configured inside companies currently.
Too true!
I’m currently interviewing three new association community managers for Associations Now: Todd Carpenter, Social Media Manager for the National Association of Realtors, Mike Templeton, Director of Social Media and Web Strategies for the Iowa Hospital Association, and Maggie McGary, Social Media and Community Specialist at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. I believe the interview will be out in the October [UPDATE - November] issue, and I’ll point you to it when it does come out – I’ve asked them all about their first six months on the job and their answers are truly fascinating.
In the meantime, I’ll see if they would be willing to comment on where their roles might fit along this diagram.
What about your association? Is your organization starting to think about a creating a community manager role? How do you define it?
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19 responses to "Defining the Community Manager role"
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Defining the Community Manager role http://ff.im/-7i7uN
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Very helpful, tks! RT @maddiegrant Defining the Community Manager role http://ff.im/-7i7uN
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RT @maddiegrant Defining the Community Manager role http://ff.im/-7i7uN. this is my day job.
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@maggielmcg, @miketempleton, @tcar whaddaya think? http://bit.ly/RGpX0
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RT @maddiegrant: @maggielmcg, @miketempleton, @tcar whaddaya think? http://bit.ly/RGpX0 <<Reading.
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I think this graphic is right-on…and also gives great insight into why the community manager role is tricky for associations. In order to fulfill all the roles effectively there is no room for silos. A community manager has to have the freedom to act in all of these capacities or their effectiveness is crippled. Not to mention the fact that they have their work cut out for them from square one of the graphic: “bringing about change from the inside.”
Don’t get me wrong–I love my job–but I’d be lying if I didn’t say that it’s a challenging job. I feel very lucky to be able to be a pioneer in this role as far as associations go. But it’s definitely a new direction for associations and requires a total re-think of the traditional staffing model, in my opinion.
I’m not sure I will ever be able to define my role here at NAR. It’s evolving. A guess it would be a mix of Client Stir Stick, Events Host, and Social Networker.
I’m not sure I agree with the rankings. Here, being a problem solver is top level because the problems are complex. I can’t just offer someone a free pair of shoes, or get the cable guy to show up on time to solve many of the problems our members are facing.
RT @maddiegrant Defining the Community Manager role — SocialFish http://bit.ly/DdI4J
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Thanks! I agree the rankings could be different – maybe I’ll try and come up with an association version (if anyone good at visual stuff wants to help, please do!!) – I actually spotted in the 201 row that “Brand Ambassador” is listed as internal, but “Moderation” is external. I’d switch those. I get why moderation is where it is, but that really has to do with internal control issues if you think about it.
I also think that in my experience it’s easier for associations to get to the “Internal Trainer” level than it is to fully embrace the “Brand Ambassador” role – they find it easy to learn and then teach, but find it hard to evangelize their stuff….
As a Director of Council Relations (I manage our membership’s various stakeholder groups), I would love to be considered a community manager, except that we are not using social media strategies to facilitate these communities. Attempts at using a blog with one of the Councils has been quite challenging and our organization just doesn’t seem ready to jump onto the social media platforms other organizations are using (much to my disappointment…though perhaps my arguments aren’t compelling enough). I would love to occupy this space more fully and am wondering how others have overcome leadership challenges in their organizations….or have been able to quietly make inroads into this space). I attended Clay Shirky’s session at the ASAE conference (and am now reading his book), and it’s more than the “information” or “understanding” barrier with leadership….it’s more about an unwillingness to listen (which he really didn’t address). If Maddie or others have suggestions, they’d be welcome.
synectic: Defining the Community Manager role http://twurl.nl/1tp1im #greader
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RT @maddiegrant Defining the Community Manager role — SocialFish http://bit.ly/DdI4J
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Lauren–my advice is to do some information gathering and listening and go from there. I wouldn’t be discouraged by the blog–blogs can be really challenging, what with needing constant fresh content, attracting readers, etc. I would suggest doing kind of a lay of the land thing–do some searches in Facebook, Ning, Linkedin and Twitter. Are there any self-formed groups of your members out there already? People tweeting about your stakeholders’ issues? Do any of your members blog? The good news is that you can barely pick up a newspaper or turn on the TV without hearing about Facebook and Twitter these days–social media use is becoming so mainstream that even holdouts can’t help but hear about it and, one would hope, become more comfortable with it.
RT @maddiegrant Defining the Community Manager role — SocialFish http://bit.ly/DdI4J
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#socialmedia Defining the Community Manager role — SocialFish: Submitted by Chris Uschan http://bit.ly/3K4ASw
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On Hiring for Social Media Roles – Get It Together, People http://bit.ly/3Keqz9
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