… for a Community Manager. There’s no question about that. There are so many facets to the role, but ‘damage control’ is probably the most challenging & requires a lot of patience & public relations skills.

I had practice with this in the real world. As the supervisor, unhappy people were passed on to me. What could happen in a public library? I could tell stories… but the key was to be firm, fair & consistent. And that premise transfers over to the online world. People will challenge your communication skills & my friend just had his skills tried.

When my path crossed with Shashi Bellamkonda, he was intensely interested in the Community Manager role. He had a vision of providing his company with this service & why they needed it. I sent him as many resources that I knew of. He did his homework & took it a step further & convinced the executive level to put him into that role.

Today I see that his company’s customers did some serious name calling on his blog. (I’ve been called names too – in real life & online. Common sense prevails in the end though). It seems that his company changed their policy, Shashi saw negativity on Twitter & responded to the criticisms. He quickly put a response up on his personal blog and that’s where he took the hits. I’m glad about a couple of things: 1) he engaged & dealt with it; 2) his company supported him, listened to the feedback from the customers & responded.

It reinforces the importance the role of Community Manager can play. Andrew Wright does a great job of highlighting this in his post, Corporate Social Media Rep = Ombudsman

What this incident does show is that a corporate social media representative must be more than a mouth piece for the organization – this is not simply another broadcasting channel for the organization. While not comprehensive, here are my thoughts on the ideal role this person plays:

  1. They must have direct lines of communication with decision-makers at the executive level. And executives must listen. There’s no one that has their ear to the rail like the social media rep. They can smell trouble in the blogosphere and on services like Twitter well before trouble surfaces through traditional channels.
  2. Similarly, the role is like an ombudsman. This person acts as a representative on behalf of the community. The organization must both recognize this and respect it and all that comes with it.
  3. The role is not pure PR. The blogger can’t spin things they don’t believe. This isn’t a “brand” we’re talking about, but a real person with valuable relationships. If trust is broken, credibility is gone and is difficult to recover. A blogger with a damaged reputation is not worth much to the organization going forward. Again, organizations must respect this as well – consider it an acid test for decisions being made.
  4. Organizations must take the leap of faith and keep the lawyers at bay. You can’t run this stuff through legal approval processes.

I really like your summary Andrew! And congratulations to Shashi for having handled the situation so tactfully. I’m sure that his company realizes the asset of having him listening to feedback & responding with a human voice. As companies add this position, they really need to realize that their person is out there acting in good faith. Understanding of this is crucial to the success of the person in this role.