Forrester Report: How to Staff for Social Computing; The Social Computing Strategist & the Community Manager

Categories: Community Manager, ForresterPosted on February 28th, 2008

I’m talking to more and more clients who are starting to budget for social media programs, this also includes hiring the right kind of people.

As you know, I hail from Hitachi Data Systems (2003-2006) as the Online Community Manager, I know the role, and what it means to connect with customers using social media tools. While I don’t officially hold that title now, I have the rare pleasure to actually do some research on the role and what it means to customers and business.

Methodology
In the last few months, I’ve interviewed nearly a dozen community managers at many companies, and compiled 16 specific job descriptions to create these 4 Tenets of Community Managers. We also had many internal discussions to whittle down what’s important and what’s not.

Companies assemble Social Media Teams
The report, entitled How to Hire for Social Computing actually outlines there are TWO roles needed for a successful social computing program. It’s available for all clients to download at will, for non-clients, you can purchase it online, and if not satisfied, benefit from the money back guarantee.

The Social Computing Strategist
The Social Media Strategist, whose job is to lead the internal charge, develops the program, gains resources, convinces management, and measures success. In the report, I reference Ed Terpening, VP of Social Media at Wells Fargo as a Social Computing Strategist,

The Community Manager
Secondly, the Community Manager, who’s job is to primarily be a community advocate Lionel Menchaca as Dell’s Community Manager as examples of best practice (big shoes to fill eh?). There are thousands of other community managers who are pushing the membrane of the corporation to reach to customers, the list grows longer every day.

What you’ll learn
This report (which is one of our products, like consulting) outlines who these people are, what do they do, where to find them, how to manage them, and how to compensate them. If you’re trying to convince your management about the validity of these roles, this report will help you.

Also, I strive to walk the talk, if you’re a client, you can leave feedback on my blog, but also leave it on the Forrester site after you login. I promise to respond to any of your questions about the report. (we allow clients to rate and leave comments on every report).

Lastly, If you’re seeking to hire or get hired as one of these social media folks, start here, and read all my On The Move posts.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, February 28th, 2008 at 12:22 pm and is filed under Community Manager, Forrester. 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.

You get some serious kudos for your work on this particular topic, Jeremiah.

The Social Computing Strategist role perhaps most closely mirrors what I have been trying to capture in my buzz director musings.
http://www.livingstonbuzz.com/blog/2007/11/16/the-buzz-director/

My question is… will orgs *really* embrace these evolving job roles (and what they stand for) into their networks, free of control, etc.

Great stuff! See if I can get hold of the report…

Posted by Steve Bridger on February 28th, 2008 at 12:46 pm

Wow great interview Steve.

Posted by jeremiah_owyang on February 28th, 2008 at 1:02 pm

Very timely Jeremiah! I’m hiring folks right now and feel like I’m inventing the business model (social media agency, a bit different than social media in-house team), but who is the team was one of my first questions.

I’m assembling programmers, SEO types, writers, PR, people, marketers… I’ve got to dig more into this! Thanks. Always like your stuff.

~Jim

Posted by Jim Tobin at Ignite Social Media on February 28th, 2008 at 1:31 pm

Great to see you on your home turf tonight! Great digs and you’re a wonderful host. And Charlene was great! Cool event. Glad I got to come!

Will 2008 be the year when all Websites become community sites? I see lots of people teaming up to create places where they can bring together multiple annual events (i.e. education related) on a Website where the non-Intel people play a key role — students, teachers, policy makers, executives. Seems like the right approach for other groups, too. What are we waiting for?

Posted by kenekaplan on February 29th, 2008 at 1:13 am

Ken

It’s a culture change and it has to happen from within, not easy.

Posted by jeremiah_owyang on February 29th, 2008 at 5:47 am

Lionel’s on my “people I hope to meet in 2008″ list, so it was neat to see him included in your write-up here.

Thanks for the great post.

Posted by Chris Brogan... on February 29th, 2008 at 8:38 am

[...] that I didn’t disclose in public, that my research on Community Managers (that I published yesterday) serves two purposes, Forrester is seeking a Community Manager at our Cambridge Mass [...]

Posted by Forrester to hire a Community Manager, will you apply? on February 29th, 2008 at 3:45 pm

[...] Jeremy Owyang, the report’s author, mentions in his blog, staffing for social computing boils down to two crucial roles: (1) the Social Media Strategist who [...]

Posted by Staffing for Social Computing : Ameel’s Career & MBA Exposition (ACME) on March 4th, 2008 at 5:31 am

[...] I published a report called How to Hire for Social Computing, it indicates what management should look for, how to manage them, and how they should think about [...]

Posted by Where Do Community Managers Come From? on March 16th, 2008 at 8:18 pm

[...] to hire people in two specific roles: the Social Media Strategist and the Community Manager (as explained by Forrester Reseach’s Jeremiah Owyang). That, for me, is really where the challenge and opportunity [...]

Posted by A Shift in Job Preferences : Ameel’s Career & MBA Exposition (ACME) on March 23rd, 2008 at 4:12 am

[...] to respectfully correct him and leaning on my research findings from my recent Forrester report: How to Staff for Social Computing. In fact, we’ve found that there are two roles to be found in corporations serious about [...]

Posted by The Need For the Social Media Manager on March 23rd, 2008 at 8:41 pm

Chris Brogan neglected to mention that he wrote a great post on hiring a community manager and the comment thread is equally full of information and “been there done that” experience notes.
On Managing a Community by Chris Brogan and commenters

Posted by Roxanne Darling on May 22nd, 2008 at 3:09 pm

P.S. One of the traits not often mentioned as necessary to this job that I admire about you Jeremiah is your sincere kindness to your audience. It really shines through to me, and the tubes could use more of it.

Posted by Roxanne Darling on May 22nd, 2008 at 3:11 pm

Thanks Roxanne, very thoughtful of you!

Posted by jeremiah_owyang on May 22nd, 2008 at 3:56 pm

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Posted by List of Social Computing Strategists and Community Managers for Large Corporations 2008 on June 20th, 2008 at 3:46 am

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Posted by List of Full Time Social Media Professionals Grows | andre-friedrichs.com - Own private idaho of André Friedrichs on July 12th, 2008 at 11:17 am

Posted by reading: List of Full Time Social Media Professionals Grows | andre-friedrichs.com - Own private idaho of André Friedrichs on July 12th, 2008 at 7:04 pm

Jeremiah, thank you and thank you again for your well thought out, timely and incredibly on-point posts about this topic. I will continue to keep an eye on you and your writing
-Liza

Posted by Liza James on July 18th, 2008 at 12:02 pm

[...] Update: I’m no longer at Podtech, but instead am an Analyst at Forrester Research covering Social Computing, in fact, I’ve published a report on this passion topic of mine, how to staff for social computing. [...]

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Posted by Enterprise Skill Sets For Social Media « on January 20th, 2009 at 10:41 pm

[...] Define the role appropriately and find the right skill set- The social media galvanizer for the company should be someone who can think strategically, interact with senior-level staff, present confidently, understands social technology and the market, understands the needs of your customers and your business, and makes social software part of his/her professional and personal life. There is a difference between the social media galvanizer or strategist and a community manager– this is something I see many organizations confusing. The community manager is the person who manages the community at a tactical level– from content programming, to responding to questions, and other responsibilities. This is a fundamentally different role than the social media strategist. You shouldn’t hire a community manager to do the social media strategist’s role or vice versa. Jeremiah Owyang does a great job breaking down the difference between the two roles and the skill sets required for each in his blog post How to Staff for Social Computing. [...]

Posted by Yes, You Need a Social Media ‘Galvanizer’ « Gary Lombardo on May 27th, 2009 at 8:48 am