Connie Bensen

I’m really excited about Rohit Bhargava’s new book, Personality Not Included: Why Companies Lose Their Authenticity And How Great Brands Get it Back, that will be soon published. I’ve been patiently waiting ever since I first read about it on his blog. The concept of brands having personality totally resonates with me. I’ll take it even one step further and suggest that the Community Manager position helps give a brand personality. For the book launch, Rohit is doing something very unique. He’s crowdsourcing information & asked his blog readers to interview him. So we could ask 5 questions. You can read all of the interviews on Rohit’s blog & find out more information about the book. My five questions are below and you may notice a focus from the Community Manager’s perspective. 1. What do you view as the single most important thing that companies should do to increase their brand’s personality?

I feel like I’ve put this into a lot of the interviews today, I but I would have to say the single most powerful thing is removing their “employee silencing policy.” This is what it sounds like, the requirement within many companies that employees not talk publicly about anything. Unfortunately, this is a big factor in a company becoming faceless and the best way around it is to allow these employees to share their voices.

2. What is your favorite example of how a brand creatively increased it’s personality?

My favourite current example has got to be what Gary Vaynerchuck has managed to do with WineLibrary.TV by consistently doing innovative marketing (from flash parties organized by Twitter at SXSW to running an online secret santa contest in March to give away wine. Now, he started from a base of having a personality, so perhaps this is not what you were actually looking for in a response but he has certainly increased his. If you mean a brand that has gone from bad to good … .the classic example now has to be Dell for how they have managed to get real people to speak for their brand and turned their image around.

3. What suggestions do you have for measuring ROI on these efforts?

I think the greatest ROI on personality will always be customer loyalty. Secondary to that is the word of mouth effect (usually noted as the #1 most influential source of information) that results from this loyalty.

4. As companies add community managers, do you think the brand’s personality is based on the person that’s outwardly representing the company?

Yes, I think they will definitely be linked. Is Starwood’s reputation in the popular frequent flyer community FlyerTalk based on the repuation of William Sanders – also known as Starwood Lurker on the site? I would have to say yes. But you touch upon what is likely to become a big issue as these “accidental spokespeople” as I have called them (and I am one as well), start to build their own profiles and have them linked to the brands they work for. There are really only two models: The first is Scoble’s model, where he goes from Microsoft to PodTech to Fast Company and takes all his equity and personal brand with him. The other example is Randy’s Journal, Boeing’s corporate blog which was run by Randy Baseler, their CMO who recently retired, and was taken over by another fellow named Randy, who also happened to be CMO.

5. Should companies worry about their customers imprinting on the person representing the brand? (ie: social media mgr or community mgr)

I think this relates to the earlier question, but yes I think this will continue to be an issue … particularly as these individual profiles continue to rise in popularity and visibility.

I’ve been recommending this book for quite awhile already. I can’t wait to read it!

This post is primarily intended for companies wondering why they should create a Community Manager position? But it also gives those interested in the occupation a high level overview of the position & it’s responsibilities. Companies that have a Community Manager have engaged a person with exceptional communication skills. This person provides a human voice for their products, brand & the company in general. In order to be effective, they need to have a good overview of the corporate mission as well as be connected to teams at all levels. Some key benefits of this role:

• Humanize the Company: ability & opportunity to create powerful lasting relationships with the customers
• Build Brand: initial contact with customers that sets a tone for the brand
  • proactive to establish a tone for the products & brand
  • reactive to remedy problems the customer has voiced online
  • collaborate with marketing to provide an integrated approach
• Customer Service: issues are routed efficiently to the appropriate department meaning that the customer receives help & as quickly as possible
• Product Improvement: patterns are identified & communicated to development & quality assurance
• Executive Level Interaction: proactively represent the customers & their ideas in regard to issues, future opportunities, and insights

As you can see the role spans a number of areas in a company. I definitely need to comment that the Community Manager NEEDS to be empowered to communicate at all levels for the role to be effective (and powerful). That is imperative. Also, employees at the company need to realize that the Community Manager is there for customer advocacy. There will be times when the community will test this. My experience with this resulted in a new precedent established internally. It took some time, but the patch for the issue was released last week. A community manager needs to be a multi-tasker, work independently and also enjoy providing leadership in working cross-functionally. I tend to initiate the majority of my contacts with appropriate team. Being detail oriented is a must. And as mentioned earlier communication skills are inherently important to accomplish it all. What have I missed in terms of the benefits of a company having this role? *Update* If you found this post helpful you may want to browse my Resources page. I have many links there to my favorite articles. Enjoy!

As a librarian I always enjoyed promoting books. There was talk that Google & the web would replace them, but I don’t think that will ever happen. I enjoy the tactile experience of a book. At times I crave it. Books are an integral part of our learning experience.

If you’re into social media, have you read The Age of Conversation? 100+ authors contributed their ideas on the power of social media & marketing. Today there’s a rush to drive the book up on Amazon’s ranking. All proceeds will go to Variety, a Children’s Charity.

It’s also the kick-off of the announcement of the sequel. And that’s my connection. I’m excited to be one of the 275 contributors for the sequel! Here’s the amazing list of social media writers & bloggers selected to be part of The Age of Conversation ‘08, This is an excellent list if you’re looking for new bloggers to follow.

Adam Crowe, Adrian Ho, Aki Spicer, Alex Henault, Amy Jussel, Andrew Odom, Andy Nulman, Andy Sernovitz, Andy Whitlock, Angela Maiers, Ann Handley, Anna Farmery, Armando Alves, Arun Rajagopal, Asi Sharabi, Becky Carroll, Becky McCray, Bernie Scheffler, Bill Gammell, Bob Carlton, Bob LeDrew, Brad Shorr, Bradley Spitzer, Brandon Murphy, Branislav Peric, Brent Dixon, Brett Macfarlane, Brian Reich, C.C. Chapman, Cam Beck, Casper Willer, Cathleen Rittereiser, Cathryn Hrudicka, Cedric Giorgi, Charles Sipe, Chris Kieff, Chris Cree, Chris Wilson, Christina Kerley (CK), C.B. Whittemore, Clay Parker Jones, Chris Brown, Colin McKay, Connie Bensen, Connie Reece, Cord Silverstein, Corentin Monot, Craig Wilson, Daniel Honigman, Dan Goldstein, Dan Schawbel, Dana VanDen Heuvel, Dan Sitter, Daria Radota Rasmussen, Darren Herman, Darryl Patterson, Dave Davison, Dave Origano, David Armano, David Bausola, David Berkowitz, David Brazeal, David Koopmans, David Meerman Scott, David Petherick, David Reich, David Weinfeld, David Zinger, Deanna Gernert, Deborah Brown, Dennis Price, Derrick Kwa, Dino Demopoulos, Doug Haslam, Doug Meacham, Doug Mitchell, Douglas Hanna, Douglas Karr, Drew McLellan, Duane Brown, Dustin Jacobsen, Dylan Viner, Ed Brenegar, Ed Cotton, Efrain Mendicuti, Ellen Weber, Emily Reed, Eric Peterson, Eric Nehrlich, Ernie Mosteller, Faris Yakob, Fernanda Romano, Francis Anderson, G. Kofi Annan, Gareth Kay, Gary Cohen, Gaurav Mishra, Gavin Heaton, Geert Desager, George Jenkins, G.L. Hoffman, Gianandrea Facchini, Gordon Whitehead, Graham Hill, Greg Verdino, Gretel Going & Kathryn Fleming, Hillel Cooperman, Hugh Weber, J. Erik Potter, J.C. Hutchins, James Gordon-Macintosh, Jamey Shiels, Jasmin Tragas, Jason Oke, Jay Ehret, Jeanne Dininni, Jeff De Cagna, Jeff Gwynne, Jeff Noble, Jeff Wallace, Jennifer Warwick, Jenny Meade, Jeremy Fuksa, Jeremy Heilpern, Jeremy Middleton, Jeroen Verkroost, Jessica Hagy, Joanna Young, Joe Pulizzi, Joe Talbott, John Herrington, John Jantsch, John Moore, John Rosen, John Todor, Jon Burg, Jon Swanson, Jonathan Trenn, Jordan Behan, Julie Fleischer, Justin Flowers, Justin Foster, Karl Turley, Kate Trgovac, Katie Chatfield, Katie Konrath, Kenny Lauer, Keri Willenborg, Kevin Jessop, Kris Hoet, Krishna De, Kristin Gorski, Laura Fitton, Laurence Helene Borei, Lewis Green, Lois Kelly, Lori Magno, Louise Barnes-Johnston, Louise Mangan, Louise Manning, Luc Debaisieux, Marcus Brown, Mario Vellandi, Mark Blair, Mark Earls, Mark Goren, Mark Hancock, Mark Lewis, Mark McGuinness, Mark McSpadden, Matt Dickman, Matt J. McDonald, Matt Moore, Michael Hawkins, Michael Karnjanaprakorn, Michelle Lamar, Mike Arauz, Mike McAllen, Mike Sansone, Mitch Joel, Monica Wright, Nathan Gilliatt, Nathan Snell, Neil Perkin, Nettie Hartsock, Nick Rice, Oleksandr Skorokhod, Ozgur Alaz, Paul Chaney, Paul Hebert, Paul Isakson, Paul Marobella, Paul McEnany, Paul Tedesco, Paul Williams, Pet Campbell, Pete Deutschman, Peter Corbett, Phil Gerbyshak, Phil Lewis, Phil Soden, Piet Wulleman, Rachel Steiner, Sreeraj Menon, Reginald Adkins, Richard Huntington, Rishi Desai, Beeker Northam, Rob Mortimer, Robert Hruzek, Roberta Rosenberg, Robyn McMaster, Roger von Oech, Rohit Bhargava, Ron Shevlin, Ryan Barrett, Ryan Karpeles, Ryan Rasmussen, Sam Huleatt, Sandy Renshaw, Scott Goodson, Scott Monty, Scott Townsend, Scott White, Sean Howard, Sean Scott, Seni Thomas, Seth Gaffney, Shama Hyder, Sheila Scarborough, Sheryl Steadman, Simon Payn, Sonia Simone, Spike Jones, Stanley Johnson, Stephen Collins, Stephen Cribbett, Stephen Landau, Stephen Smith, Steve Bannister, Steve Hardy, Steve Portigal, Steve Roesler, Steven Verbruggen, Steve Woodruff, Sue Edworthy, Susan Bird, Susan Gunelius, Susan Heywood, Tammy Lenski, Terrell Meek, Thomas Clifford, Thomas Knoll, Tiffany Kenyon, Tim Brunelle, Tim Buesing, Tim Connor, Tim Jackson, Tim Longhurst, Tim Mannveille, Tim Tyler, Timothy Johnson, Tinu Abayomi-Paul, Toby Bloomberg, Todd Andrlik, Troy Rutter, Troy Worman, Uwe Hook, Valeria Maltoni, Vandana Ahuja, Vanessa DiMauro, Veronique Rabuteau, Wayne Buckhanan, William Azaroff, Yves Van Landeghem

It’s on Saturday morning at 9:30 am. And yes it’s in Singapore! Unfortunately I won’t make this one.

So why am I talking about it? Well, I have a group of social media friends in Singapore of course! And I introduce them to each other as I meet them. It’s my nature…

So upon request by Derrick Kwa, I Twittered an invitation & a link to the details.

And I sent a note on Facebook to all of my friends from Singapore. (They’re in a convenient group list now.)

The result: I received a thank you from a new Twitter friend from Singapore.

That’s how it works. (and how my Singapore group of social media friends keeps growing). I did warn Derrick though – that one day I may show up at their event! Here’s Derrick’s story behind the get-together

And I had been pondering the traffic from this site to my blog because I couldn’t log in.

But upon Googling Nanyang Tech University – it’s in Singapore… Rock on guys & let me know how I can help you! If you need a speaker at an event, let me know.