As we mentioned in the previous post, Ideas4all attended a conference on a new professional profile that has emerged with the development of social networks, the Community Manager.

We will try, here, to give you an idea of what was said by the speakers attending the round table:

Javier Nadal, Executive Vice-President of Fundación Telefónica, Koro Castellano, General Director of Tuenti, José Antonio Gallego, President of Aerco, Pedro Jareño, in charge of Communication and Marketing at minube.com.

Javier Nadal very rightly pointed out the virtues of the Internet and new technologies sector, which is helping to create new jobs (he very intelligently failed to mention the current financial crisis), with enormous future possibilities, and which is nonetheless still considered somewhat “underground”.

There are a great deal of corporate environments that need to know more about their clients, and these new professions fit these spaces like ring on finger. “We mustn’t forget that many other environments have a latent need that will soon, very soon, come to light”, “It is necessary for us to appreciate the value of this new profession”, says Javier, inequivocally.

Koro Castellano, corroborates the appearance of these new actors on a stage that, although yet unknown, has developed in a new direction, very social and community oriented.

On one hand, the Consolidation of new professional profiles is real. “We need to try to retain national talent and keep it from migrating”.

On the other hand, the Generation of new profiles begins to proliferate: the Internet has become a social phenomenon, the use of social networks has increased six-fold.

The digital natives divide their time between the PC, Mobile Phone, TV, Video, and Video-games, but the data collected confirms a trend: the Internet reigns supreme.

We are hearing talk of addiction to social networks and Koro confirms there is enough evidence to support this (for example, users spend over 63 minutes a day in Tuenti).

The General Director of Tuenti cannot conceive a world without social networks; an example of this is the fact that some universities ask their students to give their tuenti or facebook accounts instead of their traditional e-mail, in their contact details.

“There is a fluid dialog between users and brands”.

“The Internet is SOCIAL, becomes more LOCAL every day, as well as more MOBILE” .” Geopositioning has become indispensable”. Koro again confirms the opening of new niches with consequences that won’t take long to appear: new professional profiles as well as new opportunities for businesses and brands.

It is interesting to hear that José Antonio Gallego considers strategic and analytical components key tasks that any community manager must take into account.

José Antonio identifies a series of functions any CM must acknowledge:

1.- Listen (not to overlook conversations that are generated about your brand, the competition etc.… apart from participating or creating community).

2.- Circulate the information within the company, filtering said information and transforming it into an effective discourse.

3.- Explain the company’s position within the community adapting corporate discourse to the community’s language, while trying to maximize support.

4.-Identify leaders within and without the company that favor cooperation, the creation of synergy on the next level, both inside and outside the company.

5. Find avenues for Company/Community cooperation (by establishing clear strategies in this respect).

Pedro Jareño begins his speech by making it very clear that any company wanting to work on communication cannot forget the new figure of the Community Manager.

He draws an analogy between the Internet, new technologies and Art, where brands are the clay, and users are the hands that shape it to their liking, participating in the on-line reputation of such brands.

Pedro categorizes 3 different types of C. Manager, as well as three phases that explain their functions.

Types:

1. Brands that want to create a community (the CM is part of the company)
2. Agencies that want to create a community between different brands (the CM is part of the agency)
3. A Community per se (typical of Start-ups)

Phases/Functions:

.- Creation of a community: This period, in which we try to attract community members, must be constant, Search for potential users// Creation of contests// Guerrilla marketing actions.

.-Creating loyalty: A personal and sincere approach (the idea is to humanize the company)// Absolute dedication// Perseverance// Honesty // humanization (put a face on brands)

.-Stimulation (make ourselves useful to users): this is done constantly, day by day. Creation of competitions// Content generation// Activism of personnel and brand members// Public evaluation of users’ efforts

A CM must stand out for the following qualities and aptitudes:

PASSION (we must believe in the brand we represent)

INTUITION AND COMMON SENSE (we must be one step ahead)

PROACTIVITY AND PERSEVERANCE (a crazy idea is valid as long as it is supported by strategic thought)

PEOPLE SKILLS (innate management skills)

CONVERSATION SKILLS (know to listen, pay attention).

LEARNING EVERY DAY

CONSTANTLY SURMOUNTING ONESELF

OVERCOMING CHALLENGES

THE CONVERSATION

INTERPERSONAL SKILLS

Questioned about the future of CMs, Pedro confesses he does not know where it lies, but is sure this profile will continue to forge itself and become a part of businesses.

As always, many thanks to José de la Peña, Debate and Knowledge Director of Fundación Telefónica, for shedding light on subjects of such current interest, that evolve, however, in very closed circles but merit the support and recognition of broader circles. Thanks @sandopen

You can view the live broadcast from this website.

Rocío Bravo from Ideas4all

This entry was posted on Thursday, 8 de April de 2010 at 10:05 am and is filed under Events. You can track comments on this feed RSS 2.0. You can leave a comment or trackback from your own site.