Connie Bensen

I have come to realize that as community managers may be doing ourselves a disservice by choosing that title. We are all in agreement that we’re not managing anyone. But do organizations understand the term ‘Community’?

It seems that the larger the organization, the bigger the challenge. Small businesses and start-ups understand the value of having a community manager. In the last few years it is in vogue to add the position. And if the brand has a product support site, then the role is defined as a forum moderator. Oh how narrow that view is!

Let’s start with a definition for Community Manager:

The person in an organization that is the social media specialist and works cross-functionally and holistically to ensure that the business objectives in regard to social media are met. The primary objective is to serve as a translator between customers and prospects and the company and vice versa.

And what is the definition of their community? It depends on what the objectives are. But in general:

A community manager needs to support customers, prospects and colleagues. The three constituents have very different needs. Customers require excellent service and appreciation shown for their support of the brand. Prospects require information about the products and services that the company offers. Both will appreciate from information about additional services that will benefit them. And colleagues need training and support in best practices for utilizing social media to meet the objectives of their roles.

Both of those definitions are open to discussion. But do executives understand the term ‘community’ and ‘community manager’? Should they? or should we be speaking in their language?  

Should the role of community manager include the words Social Media Specialist? Would that better state what a community manager does?

Are we hurting ourselves by using words that traditional organizations aren’t familiar with? Is it arrogant to expect them to learn our vocabulary? Is it seen as vogue and trendy? or should we be speaking in terms of their business objectives? Will we get more respect if we do so?

This diagram summarizes what I have learned over the past year about how my role as a Community Manager influences the sales funnel. We are in agreement that social media efforts need to be measured. I will contend that the role of community manager or social media specialist requires you to show how you contribute to your organization’s business objectives in order to justify your presence (and paycheck).

I created the diagram to help us as practitioners describe our position and influence in the sales funnel. The concepts apply to B2B sales as much as to B2C. Too often I think that Community Managers are viewed as caretakers of forums and having the voice of the company. I will argue that it is so much more.

The Community Manager influences the sales funnel in a three dimensional way. We are everywhere: before consumers enter the sales funnel, assisting them as they move through it, holding their hand as they convert, and providing ongoing service after the purchase.

Building Brand Awareness before consumers enter the sales funnel:

This is where everyone sees Community Managers interacting with everyone. They make social media marketing look easy while they build brand & positive PR. They truly are the voice of the company as they deal with the positive as well as the negative. And they’re at events making things happen!

Assisting with the Conversion as people move toward the purchase decision:

A Community Manager is the industry expert. They have in-depth knowledge of the products and their application. And most importantly they’re very connected with the customers. Community Managers can be the Salesperson’s best friend when they need some extra assistance for the challenging questions. A Community Manager can also help with customer support issues both before and after the sale. This builds trust and confidence about the product/brand. If people know they’ll get good service they’re much more likely to purchase.

CrossSelling and UpSelling:

Our culture requires that we provide excellent customer service after the sale. So that’s considered to be assumed. The cone gets larger for a specific reason. Community Manager’s have many opportunities to educate customers about new features, additional products and provide resources. Many customers appreciate hearing about additional products or higher levels of service. It’s easy to work hand in hand with sales to provide for customer’s needs.

Product Improvements:

The opportunity to influence product development is a very important aspect of the Community Manager’s role. Working directly with the customers and sales provides much feedback as to what’s working, what’s not & ideas for improvement. As a Community Manager interacts with thought leaders and others involved in the industry they are well prepared to advise the executive level. And the final area is staff training & HR. A Community Manager needs a team. HR has the ability to empower the organization so that they can interact with customers. This will require staff training and the Community Manager to lead that & be the go-to person.

This is not to say that we need to forget social media best practices and push our message. I believe that Community Managers need to work in synch with Sales and provide assistance as needed. My experience has been that we had so much to teach each other. Once we hit our stride and realized how the two roles complemented each other we were able to run with it.

What are your thoughts? Does this help justify a Community Manager/Social Media Specialist in your business?

If you’re interested in reading more:

Responsibilities & Goals of the Community Manager Role

How We Grew Our Startup 840% in a Year

My most frequently read posts are:

Community Manager Responsibilities and Goals

Updated Community Manager Job Description

And I speak about the role from both the employee and employer’s perspectives. So over the past year I’ve been sourcing jobs. Recently people have been asking that I write more. I only have so many hours in a day, so I decided to shift the job sourcing out of my inbox and let it be self serving.

My sister has created a simple job board that allows you to post your information if you’re seeking a job in social media and also post a job if you’re hiring.

To access it, you’ll need to click on Job Listings and register the first time using the Join button.

It’s free and I hope that you’ll make a connection with the many that cruise thru my site. I only ask that your postings be social media related.

I’ve said many times that people should: “Love what you do and do what you love”. So I hope this resource will help you achieve that goal.

If I can work remotely from rural Minnesota and make a difference, then you can too. If you know what unique values you provide, then you too can do so similarly. It’s just a matter of connecting with the right opportunity.

Other job boards:

Jake McKee

Jeremiah Owyang

That’s the title that I have chosen for my new role at Alterian. For the past four months I’ve been the Chief Community Officer. I love that title because it encompasses my leadership across this broad range of areas at Techrigy:

• product marketing
• brand building
• product development
• training (team & customers)
• quality assurance
• customer service
• new business development
• sales (high level augmentation)
• operations

My vision is that the Community Manager should work cross functionally. As you can see, Aaron Newman, CEO of Techrigy, gave me much freedom in that regard. Our startup grew so fast (over 800% in 10 months) and I enjoyed taking the lead in scaling and putting processes into place as we needed them.

Now it is time to evolve my new role within Alterian. This past week I was introduced to people in many departments. It felt a bit like I was working cross functionally across two companies! Tomorrow I will travel to the UK to meet the various teams and start planning the integration.

I was asked to choose a title and they encouraged me to be creative. Does it matter? Well it does to me when I have to explain what’s on my business card. My friend & previous employer, Shashi Bellamkonda chose ‘Social Media Swami’. That’s a great conversation starter! And if you know @ShashiB, you know that it totally suits him!

I almost chose Director of Community Strategy and Choreography. Choreographer provides a nice visual of one leading a dance. But I wondered if it was too abstract?

So I went with ‘Director of Community Strategy and Architecture’. The ‘Community Strategy’ aligns with my personal brand. I think that that’s important. I’ve invested a lot in that & it’s equated with Connie Bensen.

I will put ‘Community Strategist and Architect’ on my business cards. Architect is a nice solid word for community builder. You know how I dislike the term Community Manager. I’m continually building community within my organization and without. Community Architect also encompasses the work that I’ll be continuing with SM2 as a product and my involvement in the social media industry. I’ll also be contributing to the integration of SM2 into Alterian’s products.

Is your title representative of what you do? Does it matter? What if you could choose one? What would best suit your philosophy and attitude?