Being in the business of social media marketing does not automatically make one a Community Manager, and yet I so often see people referring to themselves as a community facilitator when they don’t seem to display evidence of any actual community building. So out of a sense of utter frustration I’m going to stand on my little soap box and have a moan. (Well it is my blog and I’ll cry if I want to.) To add, I had hesitated over publishing this post because I didn’t want to come over all negative. However, after seeing Keith Burtis’s frustration earlier today, over the way many treat Twitter like a broadcast tool, it made me realize that I am not the only one who has been feeling this way.
So here is my little soap box moan:
If you are NOT building relationships with people online, then you are NOT a community manager.
If you only broadcast, and do NOT have two way conversations with people, then you are NOT a community manager.
If you are putting together a marketing plan solely to SELL to people on the internet, you are NOT a community manager.
If you are NOT listening, then you are NOT a community manager.
If you are NOT connecting people with each other, then you are NOT a community manager.
If you are under the impression that people online are just an AUDIENCE, then you are NOT a community manager.
If all you do is create cool games and contest to get people to “like” your Facebook page, but do nothing to engage with your page’s visitors, then you are NOT a community manager.
If you think Twitter is all about the amount of followers you have then you are NOT a community manager.
If you confuse a platform for a community, rather than the tool you use to connect with people, then you are NOT a community manager.
If you have NEVER dealt with a troll, then you a NOT a community manager.
If you’ve never been compared to Hitler, then you are NOT a community manager.
If you’ve never had a community member threaten you, or swear at you, or moan at your, or blame you for all the ills in the world, then you are NOT a community manager.
If you do NOT realize that community building takes time, then you are NOT a community manager.
This isn’t a definitive list by any means, I’m not an all-seeing-eye and I don’t know everything there is to know abut online communities. I learn new stuff every day and I make mistakes every day. I’m also not an “expert” in any stretch of the imagination. BUT … I know what I know because I’ve been successfully facilitating the building of relationships between people online for over 12 years. So I have a little bit of a clue. I’m not a writer, nor a marketer, nor a communications major … but I’ve learnt a few things about what makes people tick over the years, and I love interacting with people both online and offline. I know how to get people to connect with each other which in turn helps form a community. Do you?
Image courtesy Daveness_98 of via CC.
I LOVE this post! Thanks for the shout out but I’d really like to emphasize a few things.
“I so often see people referring to themselves as a community facilitator when they don’t seem to display evidence of any actual community building”
This is SOOO true. I’d like to add one of my own, “Because you know how to send a tweet doesn’t mean you should, and certainly doesn’t mean you should call it a job.”
Look, I know that these posts and rants can certainly be a bit negative sounding but I really think they help others think about what they are doing and what the objectives really are. Yea, I can send a tweet and get 30-40 instant visits to my blog but I’d much rather have a single great contact that I can do business with, collaborate with, discuss problems and brainstorm. Social has become, unfortunately, very surface oriented. Its about driving traffic or attention. I’d much rather chat with someone about my triathlon training and find out they are the CEO of a company that I might potentially (or not) do business with. We talk about creating sustainable business practices and there are only two ways to do this. 1) Relationships and 2) Amazing Product/Service.
The traditional broadcast mindset has ruined networks like Twitter, IMO. Time to build something new.
Great thoughts here!!!!!
-Keith
Thanks Keith, you hit the nail on the head. Yesterday I had a great conversation with a lovely lady called Lindsay (@VivoEstSomnio) about books and stuff, it was nothing to do with business, or what we could do for each other, but just two people connecting over a shared interest. Something which you quite rightly noted earlier today seems to be happening less and less these days.
The relationship building is my favorite part. So weird that it gets overlooked so often!
Thanks for this, Sue. So true!
Thank you for that post! I think that people working with communities, real Community Managers, real community specialist, moderators should finally start a conversation about bad practics that are seen on different markets – marketers should know that being a community manager need something more that publish a post on a fb wall or a link via twitter to companys product or service. 1000 fans that liked the companys fanpage is not a real community.
I sense some kind of superiority complex among community managers. All the others jobs mentioned here are valid professions, they can be engaged on a different level, to achieve different aims. But I don’t see posts by those people saying others are not real marketers, real content managers etc.
Hi, thanks for stopping and sharing your thoughts, I do appreciate that.
Absolutely those are valid jobs, and people do them extraordinarily well. It certainly isn’t my intention to make-out otherwise. But that’s that my point. I don’t say I do those jobs. For example, if I called myself a marketer people would be quite within their rights to tell me if I wasn’t doing my job properly. So rather than a superiority complex I am just frustrated as seeing some (note I say some not all) people jumping on the Community Management bandwagon, and calling themselves Community Managers, when they truly are NOT Community Managers because they are not building community.