NETTING IT OUT
In today’s Web 2.0 world of ever-increasing social networking and
customer engagement, forward-thinking companies are identifying new ways to
engage customers more deeply and in more ways. And customers are demonstrating
that they want—even expect—these interactions to be diverse, authentic,
and collaborative.
From an organizational perspective, building and leveraging successful customer
communities greatly depend on (1) having an organizational structure that
reflects the priorities and commitment to running a customer-centric business,
and (2) filling the roles within this structure with the right people. This
includes having someone with a seat at the executive table, a Vice President
of Community, who can develop an effective community and social media strategy
across product lines and brands.
This visionary VP of Community is supported by a team (or multiple teams) with
the right mix of skills and personality to deliver on this strategy. The
team consists of one or more Directors of Community (also strategic, but
within a given brand, product line, or type of community), Community Managers
(the day-to-day, “get things done” people), Moderators, Administrators,
and others.
Our approach to presenting the ideal customer community team, roles, and responsibilities
is based on the needs of large organizations with multiple customer touchpoints.
Those in smaller organizations can still find value, of course, in the discussion
by scaling back the ideal structure accordingly to their size and needs.
Much of the same things need to be done in any customer community; the primary
differences are in the organizational and strategic complexities found in
the enterprise, where there exist multiple customer communities, boards/councils,
and/or other groups.
INTRODUCTION
When it comes to online communities, even companies that have supported them
for years haven’t necessarily solved the community roles and responsibilities
puzzle. For sure, organizational structure is dynamic; no business unit,
department, or team remains the same forever, especially in the presence
of the fast-moving and world-shaking changes that the Internet has brought.
But connecting customers directly with each other, 24x7, and enabling their
conversations and interactions is still a nascent concept. No wonder, then,
that all the kinks haven’t been worked out from an organizational perspective.
Focus on Responsibilities, Not Titles
We start by looking at what needs to be done to ensure a successful community
and move from there to roles and titles. Whether your organization has a
team of 10, or you’re a one-stop community shop, the fundamental responsibilities
are very similar, as are the skill sets and personality traits required to
be effective.
But employees do live in the real world, where title has bearing, so a discussion
of titles does have its place. And they certainly do abound. We’ve
seen titles such as Community Manager, Community Lead, General Manager of
Community, Director (or Manager) of Social Media, Chief Community Officer,
Community Moderator, User Group Manager, and more.
So while the focus here is on responsibilities and the work that needs to be
done, we do present and discuss the following roles and titles:
•
Vice President of Community
•
Director of Community
•
Community Manager
•
Community Moderator
•
Community Administrator
•
Community Specialists: Content Development/Writers/Editors, Web Technology,
Digital Media, Graphic Design
•
Subject-Matter Experts
•
Customers: Consultants, Contributors, Guides, Lead-Users, and Promoters
A VP-Level Community Person? Really?
Definitely. Especially in large organizations, there is an argument to be made
that your customer communities and your customer community strategy deserves
a higher-level and more strategic focus than they’re receiving today.
If you have a Chief Customer Officer, or an SVP of Customer Experience and/or
a VP of Customer Support, shouldn’t you also have a VP of Customer
Communities?
The trend we’re seeing toward increased customer and partner engagement,
as well as the dramatic increase in adoption of social networking (and the
associated expectations by customers that companies will enable this networking),
all but demands executive-level participation.
The Community Director role—as defined and discussed below—is fine
if you have one community. But if you are supporting different types of communities
(see the following section) and communities for different brands and/or product
lines, you’ll need someone at the VP level to oversee all the communities
your organization supports. And you’ll need to include coordination roles
across communities, platforms, tribal knowledge, and other areas of overlap.
Perhaps it’s time to have someone who sets the strategy for ALL of your
customer and partner[1] audiences in all their roles across functional silos
and product lines.
SUPPORTING A MIX OF COMMUNITIES. Customers and other external constituencies,
such as partners, aren’t a homogeneous bunch. There are different types
of customers and partners, and there are many ways in which they want to
connect with you and with each other. And there are many forms in which you
can enable and leverage these connections. These include:
•
Customer Advisory Boards / Councils
•
Partner community
•
Developer community
•
Lead-User community
•
Beta testers
•
User groups
•
Service & Support community
•
Marketing / Loyalty / Affinity community
•
Other communities and customer groups
THE IDEAL SITUATION. The approach here is to outline the ideal construct for
building and managing a successful online community in a typical business
environment. Although some companies are structured similarly to what’s
discussed below, particularly when it comes to the Director of Community
and Community Manager roles, many others are not. Even in some large companies,
there may be just one “community” person who is responsible for
many of the strategic and operational elements discussed here.
THE CURRENT REALITY. On the other hand, we’ve found that, in many large
organizations, there are many customer Community Directors or Managers—sometimes
one for each product line or business unit, sometimes one who covers a broader
range. They tend to make decisions independently from one another, because
they often (ostensibly) serve unique customer audiences. These Community Managers
usually coordinate and support one another in an informal manner. There’s
always a bit of tension among them when the company begins to look towards
an “integrated community strategy,” because only one of the current
Community Managers can wind up being “top dog.”
Dependencies
How the community roles and responsibilities play out in your organization
may depend on several factors, including:
•
Your industry
•
The size and culture of your company
•
The size of your community (or communities)
•
Executive commitment (or lack thereof) as it relates to providing budgets and
resources
•
The stage of community lifecycle (different resources are required at transitional
stages, such as launching the community or making major infrastructure changes)
COMMUNITY NEEDS
Our discussion of community roles and responsibilities starts with the overall
needs of both the community and the sponsoring organization. By breaking
things down into two general categories, strategic needs and operational
needs, it becomes easier to map specific roles to the needs.
Strategic Needs
•
Planning. Defining business strategy, from both organizational and brand/product
line perspectives.
•
Budgeting. Getting funding, allocating budgets, evaluating expenditures.
•
Strategic Analysis. Developing business-case metrics, analyzing the community
from a value / ROI perspective across the organization.
•
Advocacy and Evangelism. Having a seat at the executive table, greasing the
wheels, and fighting for budget and resources.
•
Governance and Policy. Creating a structure for good governance; setting policy
at all levels.
Operational Needs
•
Operational Analysis. Understanding what works (and what doesn’t) to
support various community-related initiatives.
•
People Management. Hiring, firing, recruiting, and nurturing team members and
others; motivating colleagues who may not be direct reports.
•
Knowledge Management. Identifying, creating, and following best practices and
community standards; documenting tribal knowledge.
•
Design. Creating the right branded graphical and experiential design.
•
Technology Development and Administration. Developing, integrating, and managing
the various technological systems that enable the communities.
•
Reporting. Reporting out to the organization, to executive management, community
stakeholders, and partners across business units; bringing the voice of the
customer (in synch with other customer-facing initiatives).
•
Community Engagement and Moderation. Acquiring, retaining, and reaching out
to members of all shapes, sizes, interests, and degrees of participation; developing
and managing content in all forms.
•
Evaluating the Competitive Landscape. Observing how your competitors are leveraging
their own, or independent (such as MySpace and Facebook) communities and social
networks.
•
Subject-Matter Expertise. Involving colleagues throughout the organization
to share their expertise with, and learn from, the community.
**FOOTNOTE**
1) We recommend combining
your customer audiences with the channel partner audiences who serve them.
Most organizations keep these groups separate and
have them report to different bosses. Yet our work with Customer Scenarios
tells us that customers want seamless support from the company, the online
customer community, and their partners. That’s why we recommend that
you think about having Customer Segment Advocates (or Customer Brand Managers)
and Customer Partner Advocates/Brand Managers joined at the hip. See “How
Should You Manage Customer and Partner Portals? Patty’s Dream Team:
Roles and Responsibilities You’ll Need for Your Customer-Centric Organization,” by
Patricia B. Seybold, December 6, 2007.
**FOOTNOTE**