I updated my talk from Web 2.0 Expo SF for Do it With Drupal in New Orleans. Here are my slides!
What exactly is a Community Manager? A Community Manager can do a lot more than moderate your forum. She can change the entire culture of your company. She can advocate for your community. She can keep you one step ahead of your competitors. She can help you build a sustainable business… if you let her.
Hiring a Community Manager could be a great thing for your company. But imagine if you could turn all of your employees into Community Managers! We’ll work together to learn how employees in every department of your company can benefit from asking the question: What Would the Community Manager Do?
Presented at Do it With Drupal in New Orleans, Dec 10, 2009
The basic gist of the talk:
1. I have lots of experience in community.
2. I’m finding that experience incredibly useful as I’m running my first startup, NeighborGoods.
3. How can you apply the Community Manager best practices to your job?
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
I know that it’s just a matter of semantics, but I’m not a big fan of the title, “Community Manager.” From what I’ve read about a Community “Manager” role.. it seems that Coordinator might be a better word. Sort of like someone who works for parks and rec and is organizing summer events for kids. Can you really ever manage the kids that show up? ..no, you do your best to coordinate the events and activities and ensure that they have a good time. No?
When I think of a manager.. I typically think that works better within a controlled environment where you can have oversight into who is part of the group of people being managed. Communities are typically much more open (at least the good kinds) and not sure they can be manage in the same way… if anything, you’re there to enable and lead them… which is why I lean towards Coordinator.
my three cents.