Questions you should ask before taking that “Social Media” or “Community” role

Categories: Community Marketing, PR, Social Media, Web IndustryPosted on May 30th, 2007

I know most of the “Community Managers” in Silicon Valley and beyond, many of them are my friends, I read their blogs, see them at events. A small group I help them to grow, and mentor them as Shel Israel did to me, so I know the Community manager role well.

We also know that the Community Manager role is appearing at almost every company, (learn more about this role) and every PR firm is starting to have a division to focus on this area as well.

This is a great list of questions that arm anyone that’s going into a role that requires them to be involved with social media. James Durbin has spent some time to help the job seeker make sure they don’t get into a firm or agency that asks them to do something un-authentic, awkward, or just boring.

List of Social Media Interview Questions by James Durbin

There’s a few questions that I would add:

-How is success measured, and does that impact my income?
-Does social media only imply online work, or does it include real life events
-Will I have resources and time to attend industry conferences, workshops, and events?
-How will I be encouraged to learn and stay on top of the fast moving curve in social media?
-Important one: Will I be encouraged to make mistakes, hopefully so our clients don’t have to? (I’m fortunate to be a role where this is ok)
-How much do you value social media in the future of communications?
-How much freedom will I be allowed to craft out this new role?

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 30th, 2007 at 7:01 pm and is filed under Community Marketing, PR, Social Media, Web Industry. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Great questions Jeremiah.

I was trying to think of the tough ones that corporations aren’t good at talking about until you signed the employment contract.

In some ways, I wonder if companies can really do what it takes to hire community managers. Are the good hires someone slipping underneath the radar, or are they solid hires from a solid employment process?

The skills to be a community manager can be taught - we just recently worked with a housewife with limited technical savvy, but a burning curiosity, a willingness to learn, and passion for what she did.

She now runs a 9 channel community site with 12,00 uniques and impressive advertising revenue for a bootstrap site that is just a few months old.

No one would have given her a chance three months ago. Today, they’d jump at the chance to hire her.

Posted by Jim Durbin on May 30th, 2007 at 7:35 pm

Jim

That’s a wonderful story. I really believe that being a social media or community person has very little to do with technology, and a whole lot to do with ‘being human’. I applaud you and that housewife.

Posted by jeremiah_owyang on May 30th, 2007 at 8:02 pm

Somewhere you said that it’s more of a marketing/PR background rather than the IT & I totally agree. Communities are all about people. The passion drives it and the technology is so user friendly now. If the position evolves, isn’t the engagement more authentic too?

Great questions to consider from both sides of employee/employer!

Posted by Connie Bensen on May 30th, 2007 at 8:29 pm

I’m community developer for 2 projects: Video on the Net, our conference about the Internet’s impact on TV, Film, and Broadcasting, and Network2.tv, a video guide platform. I’ve made community my business for the last several months, but it was my passion before that.

Your list is great. Attending the events is part of the role. Sometimes, doing things for no direct return is part of the role. Making sure I can interact in a way that benefits the community and educates my employer is important.

Another to add to your list: am I empowered to do things differently than they’ve been done to date? Not only my role, but can I take on the organization and move it to change? That’s the sweet spot to me.

Very great post, and no, you didn’t crash my browser (Firefox on MacBook dual core).

Posted by Chris Brogan... on May 30th, 2007 at 11:05 pm

[...] Questions that a Community Evangelist should ask before taking the job Published May 31st, 2007 Uncategorized KEY TAKE AWAY: Jeremiah Owyang is a primary source for information on community evangelists. In this post, he shares questions for Community Evangelists to ask their potential employers before taking the job. [...]

Posted by Questions that a Community Evangelist should ask before taking the job « Web 2.0 strategy and execution for business leaders on May 31st, 2007 at 12:29 am

I agree with Chris - that’s a good point! Does the company have a flexible corporate membrane that can be stretched? (as Mr. Scoble so aptly put it).

Posted by Connie Bensen on May 31st, 2007 at 5:43 am

Chris Brogan

Glad to see you here, I’m a big fan of all the work you’ve been doing lately, Yes, you are a man of the Community.

Connie, excellent insight as always.

Posted by jeremiah_owyang on May 31st, 2007 at 6:21 am

Questions to ask an employer about that …

By way of Chris Brogan, I learned of Jeremiah Owyang’s post, which in turn was actually a response to James Durbin’s post (got all that? If that last sentence made sense to you, you might just be a great candidate…

Posted by Disruptive Conversations on May 31st, 2007 at 12:19 pm

These are great questions. I am recruiting for this position at Yum! Brands in Louisville, KY and this information has been very helpful. Thank you and please let me know if you have any candidates for me!

sarah.beauerle@yum.com

Posted by Sarah Beauerle on June 2nd, 2007 at 10:15 am

[...] Web Strategy by Jeremiah » Questions you should ask before taking that “Social Media” or “Community” role More on the ‘Buzz Director’ role though this time it’s called ‘Community Evangelist’ - the page also has a link to an outline role description which looks good (tags: roles socialnetworking collaboration socialsoftware Web2.0) [...]

Posted by links for 2007-07-10 « Working Notes 2.0 on July 10th, 2007 at 1:24 pm

[...] the job Posted by James Lim on 05/31/07 under Interactive Services ‘KEY’ TAKE AWAY: Jeremiah Owyang is a primary source for information on community evangelists. In this post, he shares questions for [...]

Posted by Achieve Market Leadership » Questions that a Community Evangelist should ask before taking the job on August 1st, 2007 at 9:09 am