The Evolution of Community and Social Media Management

Dave Evans, VP Lithium SMM Global Services | @evansdave

#LiNCLocal

Joe Cothrel, Chief Community Officer | @cothrel

TODAY WE’LL COVER

#LiNCLocal

• Evolution of Community Management

• Listening to Engagement: How did we get here?

• How do you scale?

• Putting it all together: what it means for you.

EVOLUTION OF COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT

1995-2005 2000-2010 2010-2020

SAME NAME – BUT DIFFERENT JOBS

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RESPONSIBILITIES OF A COMMUNITY MANAGER

OPERATIONAL

1 Design and configure the proper community structure

2 Select appropriate interaction styles and features

3 Define community roles and responsibilities

4 Develop marketing plans to increase usage and membership

5 Create a comprehensive set of community guidelines and policies

6 Direct and manage moderators

7 Plan for PR crises and other customer issues

8 Manage off-domain activity

9 Develop a communication plan for community members

TACTICAL

10 Identify and manage your most active community members

11 Manage functional touch points within your organization

12 Plan and execute community activities to support business events

13 Plan and execute community events

14 Create and manage your community plan

15 Expand community

16 Develop a measurement program and deliver regular reports to stakeholders

17 Coordinate with your platform vendor

18 Conduct periodic evaluations and competitive analysis

KEY CHANGES IN COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT

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• It’s gotten bigger, as initiatives grow in size and importance.

• Community manager role is in an identity crisis:

• “Am I strategic or tactical?”

• “Am I a manager or a individual contributor?”

• “Is my role about people, or process, or technology?”

• “Where will this role – and I – go in the future?”

MANAGING THE SOCIAL WEB BEGAN WITH MONITORING

Spotting influencers

Tracking reputation

Campaign management

Listening and monitoring

Social conversations about brands, products and services demanded attention, primarily from PR and Marketing

Customer feedback

BUT NOW COVERS THE ENTIRE ORGANIZATION

Customer Care

Sales/Pre-sales

R&D/ innovation

Marketing

Social conversations about brands, products, services, sales, new ideas, company policies…increasingly, integration of technology across the organization is the key business challenge.

HR and Legal

AGENTS CAN HELP GROW YOUR COMMUNITY

Supplemental growth of the optimized community

350k

175k

0

social traffic

(off domain)

Building on existing organic growth, agent referrals into the community can contribute as well.

organic growth

(on domain)

PROVIDED OF COURSE THEY CAN DO THEIR JOB!

CONNECTED TO EXPERTS, THE FRONT LINE SCALES

HR

Sales

PR

SME

Legal Dev

C-Suite

YOU ARE PART OF AN EVOLVING ECOSYSTEM

TV

online display

print

radio

search

.COM.COM

Social networks became reach and acquisition tools.

Owned media sees the engagement void.

Social networks were key engagement tools.

Span the gap with publishing and social engagement combined with community experiences that you own and control

Source: Forrester. “Interactive Brand Ecosystem”, Nate Elliott, 2011 >engagement strategy reach strategyowned media

MANAGING IT SUCCESSFULLY REQUIRES A BROAD SKILLSET

Community

brand engagement

expert engagement

accepted solutions/ tkb

CRM

Response

Analytics

Listening

Reporting

Klout

awareness

consider

purchaselis

ten

ing

pu

blish

ing

Reach

AT YOUR TABLE

When considering the evolution of your role, consider how you got here, what’s changed, and what you see coming next:

1. Where did you start your career?

2. Is the role of CM and SMM dying? Or flying?

3. How is your role evolving? 5 years? 10 years?

4. What are the three key skills you need now, and then?

5. What’s your best advice for someone starting in the field now?