Tradtionally the role of managing customer touchpoints has been the responsibility of either Customer Services or the Marketing department. However, in the age of the social web the responsibility for consumer engagement and community management has left many organisation clutching at straws, or even ignoring it all together. The position of community managers has risen out of online forums to across every social media presence the organisation and, more importantly, their consumers exist in.
David Armano has written a great summary post on why marketing departments should be hiring community managers, and has listed 3 key attributes you should look for when hiring a community manager:
A community manager actively monitors, participates in and engages others within online communities.
A community manager acts as an ambassador for your organization, whether that person is an employee or contracted to manage your social web presence.
A community manager must be a good or great communicator… [and] well connected.
If you want to ensure that your customer experience extends beyond the store to the conversation online, then hiring a community manager (or team) to manage your online customer experience should be a priority for any organisation.
Read the original Logic + Emotion article here