http://ow.ly/hsc9k, The social customer wants to interact with your entire company often—to share feedback, a great experience, or an idea—not just with your support team when there is an issue. You need to constantly be listening, responding to, and learning from these customers in order to create a truly satisfying customer experience. Adapting to this new way of communicating can be a challenge, but you don’t have to do it alone. Your community manager is working directly with your customers to drive positive business benefits in every part of your company. Community managers: Drive down support costs by empowering social support and self-service Identify and incentivize brand Champions to speak on your behalf as word-of-mouth marketing advocates Solicit, respond to, and document product ideas from your most engaged customers The Business Value of the Community ManagerDownload the eBook, The Business Value of the Community Manager: The 5 Major Roles a Community Manager Plays, to learn how this role can drive significant value to every department in your company.

2. Contents
The Need for Community Management in the Social Era. . . 2
The top roles a community manager plays
in your organization: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
» Curator of Great Customer-Generated Content —
3
Community Managers are Editors!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
» Data Analysis—Community Managers are Data Nerds!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
» Medium Between Customer and Company —
Community Managers are Translators!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
» Creator of Great Customer-Facing Resources —
Community Managers are Educators!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
» And Finally, She’s Bringing Us all to the Same Page —
Community Managers are Cat Herders! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
THE ULTIMATE BUSINESS VALUE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
The Business VALUE OF THE Community ManageR: The 5 Major Roles a Community Manager Plays 1

3. The Need for Community Management in the Social Era
To truly understand the value of the community manager, you feedback that drives product innovation and brand loyalty. They’re
have to understand the way that social has changed the nature of creating systems for social support, so customers are encouraged
how we do business. Before social took hold, your customers and and incentivized to answer each other’s questions, help identify
your businesses departments existed comfortably in their various issues and bugs, and step into the role of vocal brand advocates.
silos. Your product team built for your customer, but rarely (if
This is not something that is happening automatically, but
ever) interacted with them. Your customers’ experiences with your
something businesses are catching on and adapting to, and it poses
company were restricted to their interactions with support, and
its own unique set of challenges. Whose job is it to interact directly
only when something went wrong. Your marketing team pushed
with the social customer to empower them to act as valuable
out content to your database, but they seldom solicited customer-
resources to the product, marketing, and support teams? Who
generated content.
is responsible for setting the tone they use about your brand on
Things are different now. Social does not just mean the emergence social? Who encourages them to speak up, curates the content
of various new sites and technologies. It means a true revolution in they create, and is responsible for listening and translating their
the way and speed with which we communicate, a shift in where we messages to the people in the company who need to hear it most?
get content, including the people we view as authoritative content Why, the community manager, of course!
creators. This has huge implications for your business—the silos
A company’s community manager is uniquely cross-functional,
that once were so rigid have now been broken down. The social
touching and bringing value to every part of the organization.
customer expects to interact with your entire company, not just
She’s 1 part cheerleader, part diplomat, part therapist, part author,
support. They expect their voice to be heard and responded to
and much, much more. Our community manager here at Get
quickly.
Satisfaction acts in many ways as the face of our company to our
Smart companies are not fighting this, but embracing it to improve customers. She’s a marketer, a support agent, a product person,
their business. They are leveraging the voice of their customer to as well as a saleswoman. And if your company doesn’t have a
create rich, trust-worthy marketing content. They’re blowing away community manager, you’re losing out on the value that she
barriers between customers and the product team for smarter brings to every aspect of your organization.
1 Of course, community managers come in all ages and genders. But since our
awesome community manager, Caty Kobe, is a woman, we’ll refer to the role as a “she”
in this eBook.
The Business VALUE OF THE Community ManageR: The 5 Major Roles a Community Manager Plays 2

4. The top roles a community manager plays in your organization:
Curator of Customer-Generated Data Analysis — Community Managers are Data Nerds!
Content — Community Managers are Editors! Among the benefits brought on by social are a ton of new ways
Every great marketer knows that content is king. Provide your to capture and measure insights about the satisfaction of your
customers with interesting, relevant content, and they will continue customers, as well as the successes and challenges of your
to frequent your blog, website, Twitter account, etc. But coming up business. Your customer community is a perfect place to examine
with content that is genuinely valuable to your customers (not just the way your customers are truly feeling about your brand,
pushing out sales-y marketing content) can be challenging and put products, and services in a way that results in actionable insight for
strain on resources. Plus, in the social age, your customers trust your company.
the opinions of their fellow customers much more than they trust
Want to know which products people are talking about most,
your marketing messages.
and the sentiment they’re using to talk about them? Ask your
So what to do? Supplement your marketing content with content community manager. She’s the one who knows which bugs are
generated by your customers! Your community manager can causing the most frustration amongst customers, and which
solicit content from your community in a variety of forms. Simply features are most in-demand. She can also tell you who your best
ask them for their best practices, run contests challenging them brand Champions are, as well as which customers could use a little
to create videos, extend the offer for them to guest blog post… extra company love.
even ask for praise in your community that you can place on
Thankfully, inside every community manager is a data nerd who is
your website by embedding the simple out of the box code (or
paying attention to the insights coming in through your community
widgets, for you techies out there) that Get Satisfaction offers their
and social channels, and making sense of them in a way that’s
communities.
valuable to your company and customers. She also has unique
By allowing your customers to take an active role in your content insight into the time of the day, day of the week, and even seasons
creation strategy, they will feel like valuable members of your brand and cycles when different content resonates with your audience.
family. They’ll be more likely to take an interest in your product Looking to make a product announcement, or post an important
and the other content you put out. And the best part? You’ll have a blog from your CEO? Don’t post blindly — be sure to ask your
break from the tireless task of creating fresh, exciting content. community manager first when it makes the most sense to do so
for maximum reach.
The Business VALUE OF THE Community ManageR: The 5 Major Roles a Community Manager Plays 3

5. Medium Between Customer and Company — produce marketing content, but it can often sound too sales-y and
Community Managers are Translators! jargon-y to truly be the most effective resource for your customers.
The goal of product development has always been customer Enter, the community manager! She’s intimately in touch with the
satisfaction, but now that customer reactions are louder, faster, and pain points your customers are experiencing, so she knows what
easier to tap into, product development, marketing materials, and content will be most valuable to them. She’s writing blog posts,
customer support should reflect that by being smarter, nimbler, best practices, social media content, community posts, and replies
and more relevant than ever. Think about it — social provides you directly to customers to address those very issues. She’s also
unprecedented insight into the way your customers are feeling, anticipating information they will need, like when you release a new
the issues that are on their mind, the market developments that product or feature, for example, and creating how-to guides, videos,
are exciting them, etc. The more you understand the things that and other useful content to educate and guide them.
concern them and can provide relevant, valuable insight (or even a
product) which addresses those things, the more they’re going to And Finally, She’s Bringing Us all to the Same
reward you with their business and loyalty. Page—Community Managers are Cat Herders!
Your community manager plays a critical role in this process. In a perfect world, your customers, marketers, product team,
She’s closely in contact with your customers and putting together support agents, and sales people would all be on the same page.
reports so the product team understands what to prioritize, the The description that marketers use to describe your product would
customer support teams knows what issues to study up on, and perfectly align with the product team’s vision for it; the sales team
the marketing team knows how their brand is being perceived in the would always use a marketing-condoned messaging to sell it, and
social sphere. She’s sharing anecdotal praise which boosts morale it would always come across in a way that is compelling and clear.
and feedback that is often the first indication of issues or bugs. The support team would be on board, as would your customers.
Everyone would understand that you have a unique and valuable
It is the community manager who makes sure the voice of the
product that is making the world a better place in a way that’s more
customer doesn’t get lost in the noise!
powerful and cost-effective than that of your competitors. People
would show up to meetings on time, and someone would always
Creator of Great Customer-Facing Resources —
bring hot chocolate (or wine!).
Community Managers are Educators!
When it comes to educating your customers about your industry, Unfortunately, the world we live in is not perfect. The language
company, product, and services, there is no one better suited than your sales people use to sell your product often does not align
your community manager. Sure, you have your marketing team to with the way your marketing team uses to position it in the market.
The Business VALUE OF THE Community ManageR: The 5 Major Roles a Community Manager Plays 4

6. It’s different than the way the customers conceptualize your when they inevitably disagree on the details), is a role that is part
company and the way your support team addresses issues. To therapist, part diplomat, part moderator—for our purposes here,
have a successful company, a recognizable brand, and a product we’ll refer to it as herding cats — but no matter what you call it is, it
that people understand, you need to make sure that the various is a role that is best filled by the community manager.
departments of your company are on the same page about who you
Are there other people in your company who can facilitate
are, what you’re doing, and what you make, so that your customers
collaborative conversation? For your sake, we hope so…but only the
can fundamentally buy into this.
community manager has the interests, perspectives, and needs
To get everyone in your company and market are on the same of the customer always at the forefront of her mind. Her voice
page about who you are and what you’re doing is not a simple will always be most closely in-sync with the customer because
process — it will take iterations, revisions, and genuine dialogue that’s her personal nature and professional role. And since you’re
about the needs of your customers and the capabilities and doing your best to craft your company and products around your
limitations of your offerings. Getting everyone to come together, customer, you never want to stray too far from their perspective.
have these conversations, and agree on basic principles (even
The Business VALUE OF THE Community ManageR: The 5 Major Roles a Community Manager Plays 5

7. The Ultimate Business Value of the Community Manager
So what does this mean for you and your business? Though the And let’s not forget your product team. Until recently they relied on
community manager’s role may technically fall into one of the surveys, focus groups, and sheer intuition to guide and prioritize
pre-social silos, in reality she’s impacting the bottom line across their product vision. Testing was time and cost-intensive, and
multiple departments of your organization, just like social is. bugs could live on for long periods of time in your product without
being identified or solved. Companies with a community manager,
The impact of the community manager on your support organization
however, have someone who is fluent in geek and customer. She’s
is clear—she’s deflecting one-off calls and emails by empowering the
passing product ideas and feedback from the customer to the
community to act as a resource for social support. The community
developers, and setting expectations, managing issues, and closing
content she curates serves as a dynamic social knowledge base, which
the loop back with the customers. By offering a community, your
provides real-time, self-service support. All this allows you to scale
customers are empowered to test feature rollouts and report bugs
your organization and still provide an excellent customer experience
in real-time. With a community manager, your product team is sure
without adding support agents or costs.
to hear what they have to say.
Your community manager is impacting your marketing
The good news is that you don’t have to tackle the transition to
department’s bottom line by identifying Champions and
social business alone. Hire a community manager who is friendly,
embedding their conversations on your website, landing pages, and
people-oriented, and proactive. Your business will be positively
in campaigns. This dynamic, customer-generated content is more
impacted across your organization, and your customers will see
trustworthy and authoritative than traditional marketing content—
that you have their interests at the core of your business. They will
something which impresses prospects as well as search engines.
reward you with loyalty and social advocacy. And the best part?
Speaking of search engines, customer communities are huge
You’ll finally be able to delegate the task of herding cats.
drivers of SEO. Let Google pick it up on its own, or embed it in your
website for the added boost.
to schedule a demo, or visit us at
https://getsatisfaction.com/corp/solutions/index
877-339-3997
The Business VALUE OF THE Community ManageR: The 5 Major Roles a Community Manager Plays 6