Being A Director of Community: One Year Later

Last year, I wrote a post about being a director of community. It was a bit of a drilldown on what a job like mine entails, some of my functional areas of responsibility, and a bit about the time commitments that come alongside working in the social media realm full time.

It’s been a little over a year since I’ve been in this role, and boy has that year seen a lot of changes. So I thought I’d share with you a bit about what’s evolved, what’s stayed the same, and what I think the future looks like for community-related roles inside of companies.

What’s Evolved:

Team size:
A year ago, our community team was just emerging. David Alston was manning the ship, and in addition to me we had Mike Huggard, who helped us manage some of the lead pipeline from the community to the account teams. So there were three of us.

Today, we’re a team of twelve, and still growing. In April, keep an eye out on the Radian6 blog where we’ll dive into more detail about how we’ve built our department, and the structure and processes we use to operate in this unique way.

My Responsibilities:
When I started my role a year ago, my responsibilities were chiefly doing the active listening as well as front-line engagement through our external communities – Twitter, blogs, and the like – and creating content. I still do engagement and content creation, in addition to now overseeing a more complex and strategic system of team community management and content generation.

The biggest part that’s changed is the growth of our company, and therefore our team. I’ve now got a pretty awesome team of community and content folks that make me look good every single day. That means I’m less in the trenches, and more in an oversight role to help keep the big ship on course.

Here’s a bit of what’s in my wheelhouse:

Events and Business Development
I do a great deal of speaking and attending industry events, because the offline component of community building is still critical. During busy event season, I spend anywhere from 40-60% of my time on the road to spend face time with the people that drive our business (and our community team is doing more and more of this, too). My goal at those events is to meet and talk to existing customers, get to know the social media community at a deeper level, and yes, bring home potential leads for our sales guys.

Internal Communication
Our community management team is focused on supporting our users and external communities on a day to day basis. And while that’s my role too, I’ve also taken a lot of ownership over internal communications and community, making sure I’m the bridge between our internal departments, executive team, and the communities we serve. We have lots to communicate, so I work closely with our product, support, and sales teams to keep the lines of communication open, and always find better ways to keep everyone informed and working from the same sheet music.

Community Resource Development
It’s my job to make sure our team is mobilized to provide our users and the social media community with the resources they need. Whether that’s our monthly ebooks, content for the website, our blog, or a community for our users, those are the projects I help shepherd. I also continue to actively contribute to our content creation myself, and am ever thankful for folks like Teresa, Lauren, and Katie for keeping me on task. That goes for our internal folks too; when they need help with strategic social media input for customers, our team helps on that front.

Listening and Engagement
We have an entire team dedicated to fielding the discussions in the community about our brand and industry, and engaging with them actively online. I do plenty of direct engagement myself, and help set some of the benchmarks like engagement guidelines, processes and workflow, and responsibility distribution on our team. And I have awesome people on the front lines that are the ones that make those thoughts reality.

Measurement and Reporting

I have a dashboard of metrics I track daily, looking at 14-30 day timeframes: breakdown of engagement (% of posts responded to and what categories they fell under, like support or compliments or content sharing), our Share of Conversation, competitive landscape, sentiment trends,  and what media are carrying the conversation about us so we can gauge our outreach accordingly. We’re also putting together regular executive reports that detail metrics on community engagement, content performance, lead generation, and competitive analysis to take regular snapshots of the impact of our work.

What’s Stayed The Same

Community work is still not a 9-5 proposition. Our team has grown, but that’s just scaled the number of people we have managing specific pieces of our community and content functions. The intent remains the same: for us to build human and personal relationships with our users and the social media community as a whole, provide rich and useful content on social media strategy specific to listening, engagement and measurement, and help businesses build social media into the very operations and culture of their organizations.

That means I’m on and connected more than might be comfortable for some people, and I balance that with being a mom and having a personal life. I still work long days – anywhere from 12-16 hours usually – and I’m blessed to work with one of the hardest working groups of people I know. My role has definitely evolved from an in-the-trenches and hands-on role to a more strategic and leadership-based role, but it’s critical for me to stay involved directly in my community. But make no mistake: this is all by choice.

You never really scale, because the needs always grow alongside. So you have to consistently evaluate priorities, and tweak your approach accordingly. And I still have to always balance my personal and professional presence, but you do eventually settle into what “feels” right, and go from there. There’s no checklist or precise answer for this one, and it’s something that every community person will have to figure out for themselves.

The Future of Community Management

It’s hard to speculate on this one still, because community management is still a bit of an enigma for many companies. They’re not sure what it’s for, or why these roles exist, and they tend to be pigeonholed as “online” community managers, as in the days of forum moderators. But the role really does have business significance, offline too, and it’s serious work.

If I had my druthers, I’d be educating companies about how this role is a hybrid discipline – a mix of sales and customer service and communication – and how really should be silo agnostic, functioning as a hub for many different disciplines inside the company. Online engagement is part of the role, but so too is the integration of that online world with offline efforts, business strategy, and even the culture of an organization.

These people are spokespeople, Trust Agents, communicators, networkers, brand ambassadors, and representatives of their community all wrapped into one. And in my opinion, it’s a role we need to take seriously and require that the people who hold them can demonstrate a wealth of mature business and interpersonal skills. That’s the ideal, of course.

The folks over at the Community Roundtable (I’m a member) have put together an interesting report on the State of Community Management. It’s worth a read, as it reflects a lot of the realities today (to the good and to the challenging) as well as a glimpse at what tomorrow might look like. And at Radian6, we put together an e-book on Building and Sustaining Brand Communities that gives our take on what these roles and functions look like inside an organization.

What Do You Think?

Does this job look the way you expected? Is a role like mine going to become more prevalent in the future, and where do you think it fits in business (and why)? What other questions do you have about community roles that I can help answer?

I’m looking forward to your comments.

Special thanks to my Radian6 colleagues for making this year the roller coaster of the best kind, and to my team for always making me look smarter and more accomplished than I am. You guys are what keep me doing this every day, without question, and keep the ship afloat.

image credit: David Paul Ohmer

My Dirty Little College Secret

I have a lot of people ask me where I went to school, and what I studied in order to set myself up for the career path I have now. So it’s time for me to come clean with my dirty little secret:

I don’t have a college degree.

Moreover, when I was in school? I was a music major. Flute performance, to be exact. I am, actually, a professional band nerd.

To some of you, that’s not a biggie. To others, you’re sitting there going “but how on earth do you have a successful career in social media if you don’t have a marketing degree or something?”

My career path went something like this.

I went to school, and while I was fortunate to have some of it paid for, I changed majors and didn’t graduate in four years. And after my fifth year, I couldn’t afford to continue (bartending is awesome but not quite lucrative enough for rent AND a college education). I loved music, passionately, and wanted to be in the industry but not necessarily on the stage.

I walked in the door at the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and asked for a job. Any job. Entry level, unglamorous. I got a job as a development assistant in the fundraising department earning $17,000 a year. I worked hard, and I learned.

That took me through 7 years of professional fundraising roles, both in the arts and in social services. From there I was recruited by a former colleague to lead first client services, then marketing and communications at a design and architecture firm, and I did that for several years. Then I left and started my own online communications business, worked my tail off to make it work – I would have been willing to work part time at Target to pay the bills if I had to – and did. A bit more than a year later, I got hired by my then-client, Radian6.

I overcame the lack of a degree with hard work. It’s that simple, and yet not.

In my first few jobs, people asked about the degree.  I addressed that discussion by saying that I didn’t complete my degree for financial reasons, but I could point to tangible professional results in the positions I’d had to date, and that I believed they illustrated my capabilities in a more practical way.

Some people listened, some didn’t. The ones that didn’t weren’t the right culture for me. And after that, people stopped asking, because my work spoke for itself. Yes, I’ve heard the “degree is proof that you can finish something” mantra, but I don’t buy it. Wouldn’t you rather know I can finish a project for you that can help build the business?

I earned the role I have today because I have a track record of results, no matter what role I was in, and when I was an employee or a consultant. Period.

But enough about me…

I’m a bit of a heretic. I’ve always defied convention just a little bit, but it’s demonstrated to me that in the career path I’ve walked, the degree wasn’t the important part.

You can do this too.

And even if you have a degree, it IS possible to make it relevant to a new career, a new industry, a new role. It’s about demonstrating how hard you can work, what results you’ve achieved (and what you learned when you missed the mark), and what you’re willing to do to earn credibility and trust that goes beyond your education.

If you don’t have a degree, or the “right” degree, you can very much still build a case for why you can do the job you want without it. That might require being willing to take a more junior role in order to earn your stripes. That might require meticulous attention to tracking the results of your projects, and illustrating how you’ve succeeded without it.

You might take volunteer or internship work (even as an established professional) in order to earn relevant experience in a new field. You might seek out a mentor in your desired field, and patiently spend your own personal time learning outside your current gig in order to build up a library of knowledge that can help you earn the gig.

The point is this: if you want to make something happen bad enough, you do what you have to do, and find ways around the obstacles instead of whining about their existence.

What will you do next?

I feel kind of odd writing a post that’s so me-focused, but I’m hoping that you can take something away from this that’s relevant to you. It is, after all, the perspective and experience I have. And folks ask about it so often that perhaps there’s something in this story or experience that translates, gives you some ideas, or helps you see things through a new lens.

Do you have a similar story to share? Has your degree or college experience helped or hindered you, or have you overcome a challenge on that front? Are you proving your value through demonstrated results and practical examples?

I’d love to hear your stories.

Special thanks to my colleagues at Radian6, most especially David Alston and Marcel Lebrun, for believing in me for what I could accomplish, and not the piece of paper that wasn’t in my pocket.

image credit: pthread1981

Four Words for 2010

I’m breaking with convention a bit here, and instead of three words to frame my year, I’m choosing four.  They’re all related, and intertwine. They may or may not make sense to you, but perhaps they’ll get you thinking about yours, and what your guideposts will be for the coming year.

Discipline.

This has several connotations to me, related to all facets of my life. Discipline in how I choose my endeavors, to be sure they fit into the bigger picture (see Chords below). Discipline in terms of patience and temperance, to step back and breathe before I react, assume, or imagine the worst (the opposite of which is one of my weaknesses). The discipline to let my thoughts simmer sometimes, and come together when they’re ready, instead of feeling like I have to force them. The discipline to make time in my day for the things that are important to me, whether that’s doing a puzzle with my daughter, or setting aside dedicated time to read or write.

Canteen.

I  used to love to camp as a kid, and set off on adventures through the woods with my knife and a canteen full of water. The trick? The canteen only holds so much. And if you can’t find a fresh water source to replenish it, you’re out of luck (and thirsty, which can end up dangerous). I learned the hard way in 2009 that I have a tendency to chase after some things so hard that I leave little water in the canteen for other things. The result? Burnout. It’s related to Discipline. I need to learn how to ration my energy and time so that it’s used in the right places, when I can make the most of it.

Chords.

I have, at any one time, several things I’m trying to do at once. From my day job to my other professionally-related passions to my personal interests, they really need something to tie them all together.

In music, if you’ve got a chord progression on paper – a unifying language, if you will – you can improvise a bit with those chords and scales, and still stay pretty well in sync. It’s a theme. A thread. But not spelled out to the detail. You can take a few liberties, or you can play straight. But those threads of tonality through the whole thing will keep you moving in the same, coordinated direction, even if you vamp for a while. I need that.

Fleet.

It’s rarely a single ship that manages to get anything done. It’s usually a fleet of ships, and each one has a purpose within the overall expedition. Most importantly of all, no one person can sail all the ships at once, and each ship needs a captain, in charge of their own mission within the fleet.  I need to hone my delegation skills, and my ability to empower and equip people while letting them own their own course.

So, those are mine for this year. Have you thought about what ideas or themes are going to keep you on track this year? I’m curious to see if mine help for the long haul, and how I might have to tweak them along the way. If you’ve posted on yours, please share below. And if not, leave a comment and let us know what you’ve got planned.

image credit: ayel Aheram

Dave Murray Gets Personal (And Hysterical)

Way back in March this year, I finally got to meet my friend Dave Murray in person, in Detroit. Dave and I had chatted several times online through various channels, but never had the chance to sit down and share some words in person.

Boy, I had no idea what I was in for.

The night before the Module Conference in Detroit, a pile of speakers and such went out for dinner at a fabulous Lebanese restaurant (whose name, of course, escapes me). The food was great. The conversation was hysterical.

I was lucky enough to sit next to Dave, who shared a completely and utterly hilarious story that involved a shoe and some Jagermeister. I won’t out Dave here with all the details of the story, but suffice it to say anyone who’s experienced a little nuttiness in college would relate. The best part was Dave’s storytelling. He has a knack for timing and facial expression, and a nearly-deadpan delivery laced with just enough self deprecation to be perfect. In short, he’s phenomenally funny.

The whole lot of us at the table just rolled with laughter, and since March, that story has come up more than once in conversation. And I’m grateful that Dave and his delightful wife Jenni have become good friends and people I’m just glad to know.

So late last week when I retrieved a box from my post office, I was curious to see Dave’s name on the return address. And I couldn’t imagine what was inside. It was an awfully big box for a holiday card.

The picture here is what was in the box. I’m told the other shoe made its way to another friend who shared in the joke. (And incidentally, Dave had to tell the post office he was mailing snow globes to get the booze in the mail. Awesome.) I absolutely and utterly laughed my face off. And Dave included a personal, heartfelt note that warmed me to my toes when I read it, in between the snorts of laughter.

The beauty in this is that, for the holidays, Dave could have sent a card or a box of chocolate or whatever. He could have sent a letter or a set of reindeer mugs. But Dave remembered how much we laughed and laughed over the story of the booze and the shoe. And he took the time to buy the stuff, package it up, and send it off so that we could laugh about it one more time. Now, I’ve got a crazy fun, visible reminder of that dinner and our friendship that has an esteemed place on my office shelf.

So thanks, Dave, for the awesome gift and the chance to laugh with you all over again. I hope that’s the first of many dinners and stories we’ll share together. Happy New Year.