On Community Management:Current practice, possible

futuresYoumna OvazzaSeptember 2011

Key points and illustrations from the eponymous articleavailable on www.butter-cake.com

Summary

For most businesses today, community management is only a cosmetic innovation, in both reputation and practice. Appearing to be a new function because the medium is new, it has reproduced the traditional organizational model of the business, which offers each category of consumer a single centralized point of contact with the business.

The potential development of the role is nevertheless rich in possibility, from the integration of different departments of the business to an ongoing role as an intermediary between individual consumers and individual employees.

A business that recognizes the potential for the individuation of its employees in the process of internal community management opens the royal road to true integration of “Web 2.0,” though inevitably this will require fundamental reorganization to obtain real benefits in customer loyalty and innovation.

The « relational bottleneck »: the traditional model of business organisation

in its relation with its audiences

At the most basic level of business, the director/freelance is in direct contact with his client and other target audiences (suppliers, partners, customers, opinion formers etc.)

Director / FreelanceIndependent

Clients

Suppliers

Partners Opinion leaders

Etc.

The relational bottleneck:the traditional model of business organisation in its relation to its customers

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PR

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CustomerRelations

Support

Sales…

Upfront:Certain key

functions/Publicly identifiable

personnel

Behind:The rest of the

anonymousworkforce

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Associa-tions

Lobbies

Unions…

Upfront:Representativeorganisations

In the background:The crowd of anonymous consumers

Personalised and

individualised patterns of exchange

Patterns of collective

exchange and influence

THE CUSTOMERS THE BUSINESS

www.butter-cake.com

The internet and Web 2.0 have disrupted this control of this relational bottleneck

Web 2.0 has disrupted this control of the organisational bottleneck

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Employees are no longer

anonymous

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Associa-tions

Lobbies

Unions…

The crowd is no longer anonymous and has become visible. New kinds of

groupings emerge

Individual and collective exchanges

become possible at any level

Social networks

Discussion groups

Etc.

Blogs

Formal representation is overwhelmed

THE CUSTOMERS THE BUSINESS

www.butter-cake.com

PR

Com

CustomerRelations

Support

Sales…

What is the role of the community manager in this newly reorganised world?

Community management today: new pathways in business relations

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Associa-tions

Lobbies

Unions…

Social networks

Discussion groups

Etc.

Blogs

THE CUSTOMERS THE BUSINESS

CommunityManager

PR

Com

CustomerRelations

Support

Sales…

www.butter-cake.com

Community management, as it has evolved, encompasses the traditional business functions of:

Tasks PR Communi-cations

Marketing(Research/Innovation)

Sales After-Sales Service

Customer Relations

Coordination of the brand’s presence on social networks and community spaces (Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, YouTube/Dailymotion, Flickr, forums/discussion groups…)

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Editorial planning, content production, or collection of internal content for repurposing

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Responding to incoming questions and/or referral to the right people/correct internal service

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Brand monitoring and intervention on behalf of the brand at discussion sites not owned by the brand: forums, comparison sites etc.

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Identification and coordination of a « community » of influencers and opinion leaders (journalists, bloggers, etc.)

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Pre-sales or coordination of sales (putting promotions and direct sales online etc.)

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Coordination of projects of co-creation or innovation with consumers

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www.butter-cake.com

How to « fix » this function, what are the potential options?

4 possible paths of development for community management within the

organisation of the business

Possible organisational developments

THE BUSINESS

CommunityManager

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AThe public:Consumers, customers and opinion leaders

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THE CUSTOMERS

Option 1: The community manager as an outpost of the business, as coordinator of relations

with consumers and clients, liaising with different functional teams within the business and different audience groupings

www.butter-cake.com

PR

Com

CustomerRelations

Support

Sales…

Possible organisational developments

THE BUSINESS

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AThe public:Consumers, customers and opinion leaders

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THE CUSTOMERS

Option 2: The community manager integrated into a functional team which

corresponds to the dominant function of the job

CM

www.butter-cake.com

Possible organisational developments

THE BUSINESS

PR

Com

CustomerRelations

Support

Sales…

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AThe public:Consumers, customers and opinion leaders

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THE CUSTOMERS

Option 3: The community manager integrated into each functional team:

As a relational extension of each function of the business

CM

CM

CM

CM

CM

www.butter-cake.com

Possible organisational developments

L’ENTREPRISE

RP

Com

SAV

CRC

Ventes…

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LES CONSOMMATEURS

Option 4: The community manager as an intermediary between individual consumers and individual employees, i.e. as much an internal coordinator of experts as of the

external « community » of consumers and opinion-formers.

CommunityManager

www.butter-cake.com

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ConclusionFor a majority of businesses, the title of community management is currently only a cosmetic function, newly devised in response to the use of interactive digital media. Its use within the organization, or worse, its outsourcing, reflects a reproduction of the traditional organizational model of a "relational bottleneck:" but now faced by the new groupings of consumers made possible by the social networks and forums of the web.

The rich possibilities created by web 2.0 will only be truly exploited by businesses when they are fully integrated into the structure of the business, as a factor which requires existing functioning and attribution to be reconsidered, rather than as a foreign body implanted by modern tools. The function will then be fully realized as community management per se, with respect to consumers—and also to employees—with major benefits for the business, in terms of quality of service and its resulting impact on customer loyalty, in terms of the quality of insights and the impact on the development of new business, and in terms of internal management and the satisfaction, motivation and loyalty of collaborators.

Thank You.

www.butter-cake.com@ButterCakeNews