Here are the slides from Facing Facebook for Small Business, delivered to fabulously fun peeps at the Fernie Chamber of Commerce on Thursday, March 24.
[slideshare id=7392302&doc=facingfacebook-110325191512-phpapp01]
And some cool links:
Monday was Community Manager Appreciation Day (follow #CMAD on Twitter). I celebrated by eating half a jar of Nutella with a butter knife. We know how to party around here.
I wanted to post on the day, but being a busy Community Manager myself, I didn’t have time because I was busy connecting, advocating, researching, promoting, listening, and responding!
All self-congratulatory binging aside, it’s a great week to consider what a Community Manager can do for your organization, and how the role has evolved with the maturity of many social networks, and the growing understanding of the importance of online outreach and participation. Community Managers bridge many roles, but:
- the Community Manager is not a marketing specialist
- the Community Manager is not tech support
- the Community Manager is not customer service
Rather, the Community Manager plays a tune that’s a bit like a one man band (a good one man band). The Community Manager:
- manages the editorial content of your initiatives, ensuring that content is appropriate, engaging, and available through all channels through appropriate messaging
- knows your website and message as well as they know their own sibling
- connects people, be they “influencers”, “squeaky wheels”, or your run of the mill evangelist, and connects them to the information they need or to others who can help them advance their interests
- manages the “voice” through social media channels and monitors them effectively, responding to Tweets, Facebook comments, comments posted on external blogs, and all other social networks
- listens with ears wide open for opportunities to thank and connect with engaged online audiences, and to solve problems, slay trolls, and monitor sentiment
It’s an evolving, but critical role, and the list of responsibilities above is not exhaustive. Non-profit Community Managers will experience a much different day-to-day than their big brand counterparts. Community Managers in the middle of a move from beta to big time won’t mirror the work that goes on in an established initiative.
I’ve compiled some of my favourite Community Management reading out there. Have suggestions? Put ‘em in the comments, friend!
12 Steps to Hiring a Social Media Manager
What your Community Manager Should Be Doing
Fire Your Marketing Manager and Hire A Community Manager
15 Essential Articles for Online Community Managers
…aaaaand the Community Roundtable is chock full of nutritious advice for Community Managers. Check it out.
I like presenting. I have a not-so-secret yearning for a job on the Shopping Channel too. Over the last year, I’ve had the pleasure of delivering several Social Media 101 workshops to a number of groups and organizations. Because I believe very strongly in what some might call the strategic tenets of the medium (and if you’re wondering what these tenets are, I’d suggest reading the inimitable Tamar Weinberg’s recent post here), I also believe in creating a similar authenticity in presentations about social media. SpaceRace specializes in helping people, companies, and organizations develop a digital strategy. Every person, company, and organization is different. Every presentation requires a close examination of the particular goals that can be achieved through a social media strategy and tactics. But the presentation itself should hold true to the ideas housed within. Walking the talk (in my best New York accent).
Tonight I’m working on a presentation for a large non-profit organization, and I’m thinking about how I’d like to position our time together as a conversation rather than a one-way delivery of stats, facts, and anecdotes. They are expecting me to stand at the front and deliver slides (and perhaps a few one-liners), but I’m going to create an experience for them that will illustrate that I’m there to listen as much as I am to share what I know. Here are my new rules:
1. I’m going to make it user-centric and personal. Do the research. What do I know about my audience? Their audience? Are they new media newbies? What is their existing decision making structure? What might their resources allow them to explore?
2. I’m going to make it interactive. Social media is “tactile”. It’s about actions and response. It’s about giving, and then responding. If we talk about Twitter, we need to tweet. I can help facilitate by creating a hashtag in advance, and invite my network to welcome and contribute.
3. I’m going to make it accessible through a number of entry points. On the day, it might be Prezi, or it might be Keynote. But it will be holdable in one’s hands, should someone want to use a pen and make notes. It will be accessible through their website, and other channels. Scribd. Slideshare. Maybe a podcast.
4. I’m going to make it fun. I’m going to wear a lampshade on my head. Wait…no! I’m going to wear my Snuggie!
5. I’m going to be myself. I won’t misrepresent my experience, my knowledge, and my current state of learning. Aren’t we always learning? Don’t we learn by listening?
6. I’m going to tell the truth. I’m going to provide case studies that relate. Warts, corns, and all. I’m not going to talk about the pot of gold, but rather how slippery the rainbow is.
7. I’m going to make it sustainable. I’m going to encourage and enable my audience to continue the conversation, with me and with each other. I might build a wiki, open up comments wherever it is housed, or plan follow ups and check ins. I’ll give my personal email address, phone number, and all the places within the social media space that I can be found and contacted.
I hope it goes well. I’m really looking forward to working with this group, because they’re out to make the world a better place for their clients. They deserve the best.
