One of the star players in Social Media is the “Community Manager”. Responsible for the management and revitalization of communities on a Companies or Causes site.
1 .- Sites embody a community of real people with faces, voices and names. And gradually, they will produce many experiences, the constant generation of experiences that seek to convey the soul of the brand or cause and engage all users.
2 .- The figure of the Community Manager has been highlighted in recent times, especially with the explosion of social networks and their proliferation. The wikipedia defines this figure as the “person in charge of building, growing and managing communities around a brand or cause.” But above all, the community manager is a nexus between the “brand” or “cause”, and the user. In the case of a brand, the person or community team must try to match the target of that brand and transform it into an environment that attracts users. Attempting to meet the objectives of both parties so both are satisfied.
3 .- What are the functions of a Community Manager?
A community manager needs to observe all that is discussed in the previous paragraph and is “down to earth” and turn those functions into everyday tasks. Tasks of many kinds: moderate, dynamic strategies, applications and / or tools, contact the user, social reputation, market research, etc.. But obviously, these tasks depend on many factors: whether it is a brand community or not, whether large or modest, has an impact off-line, objectives, budget, etc.. The more complex the community, managers have more roles and in the case of a trademark is further complicated. All these functions have had to add one more and very important thing to understand the role, what makes a community. Of course, much depends on the brand, its values, its politics, but you must understand that this is a medium that now is being used increasingly by the brands. They have seen communites and social sites potential and want to get into the game, and obviously have to be there to help them have as clear a role as possible, so they also know how to play well together.
4 .- Professionals: Here is the brand itself that acts under their name. I would give anonymity to the people behind the trademark, but at the same time, allow more than one person take care of things. Staff: it would be a particular employee (or other) of the company or brand, name and surname. There is comcast cares on twitter and then there is eric at comcast.
My opinion is that both models should not be rigid. Depending on the behavior observed or feedback from the user, the intention is to learn from the community and always with them and act accordingly.
5 .- What Social Media tools can you use for a community manger role?
Google Alerts, Tweetbeep, research new pages, applications and trends of the social web. Each day depends on: a new strategy, a new application or a promotion … It would be impossible to list everything. Regarding the “social media” that you can use, the question is almost what not to use.
6 .- One of the keys to community or social network is to find the “social object”, ie the concept that makes a person decide to enter and be in this community and not in others. The space where real people share the little things that make them happy every day. Create the space where we expect users to share and assume the values of good netizenship.