J’ai eu le très grand plaisir de participer hier à un panel ayant pour thème Le virage Web 2.0 et l’agroalimentaire, où en sommes-nous? dans le cadre de l’Événement marketing CTAC 2010 organisée par le Conseil de la transformation agroalimentaire et des produits de consommation. J’ai non seulement présenté le cas Savoura, j’ai parlé, entre autres, du rôle du gestionnaire de communauté, ce qui a suscité des questions de la part de quelques personnes manifestement intriguées par le concept.
Si, comme eux, vous cherchez à en apprendre davantage sur ce nouveau poste en communications, je vous invite à consulter les ressources suivantes:
Liste des gestionnaires de communauté publiée cette semaine par Roch Courcy.
Présentation de Nellie Brière au PodCamp Montréal 2010 (vidéo) :
Ebook publié par Kim Auclair, auquel ont contribué bon nombre de spécialistes en médias sociaux de la région de Montréal.
Quelques billets très pertinents, dont celui de Claude Malaison, de Nellie Brière, de Jolie O’Dell pour Mashable … et finalement Wikipedia en français et en anglais.
Des événements consacrés aux animateurs de communauté dont une série initiée par (nulle autre que) Nellie Brière (encore!) – qui a eu lieu au mois de septembre dernier mais, si j’ai bien compris, deviendra récurrente.
Finalement, une description de poste tirée d’une offre d’emploi annoncée au mois d’août dernier par les Producteurs laitiers du Canada :
Les Producteurs laitiers du Canada (PLC) sont l’organisme national qui représente les intérêts des 13 200 fermes laitières au Canada et dont l’un des mandats consiste à faire la promotion des produits laitiers canadiens. Notre service de marketing est actuellement à la recherche d’un Gestionnaire de communauté pour son bureau de Montréal. Il s’agit d’un poste contractuel.
Description du poste :
Relevant du Spécialiste web, le titulaire participera à la création et au développement de diverses communautés web des PLC en animant des discussions et en mettant de l’avant les nouveaux contenus, services et fonctionnalités. Le tout dans le but d’accroître le nombre de membres des communautés et leur niveau d’activité. Le Gestionnaire de communauté devra, notamment :
• Devenir une personnalité en ligne reconnue au nom des PLC et de ses divers programmes et marques;
• Aider les PLC à évaluer et maintenir leur réputation d’entreprise au sein des médias sociaux, ainsi que la réputation de leurs marques;
• Stimuler la participation aux communautés web des PLC, communiquer avec les membres de façon régulière et agir à titre de modérateur au besoin;
• Apporter le soutien nécessaire aux membres des communautés et le faire de façon créative et proactive.
• Recueillir les demandes et les questions provenant des médias sociaux et les transférer aux personnes appropriées chez les PLC;
• Identifier et analyser les enjeux et les tendances qui se dessinent au sein des communautés et surveiller l’évolution des besoins et des points de vue des membres, puis conseiller le personnel des PLC sur la meilleure marche à suivre;
• Collaborer avec les divers intervenants à l’interne afin d’identifier, de rédiger et de distribuer du contenu par l’entremise des médias sociaux;
• Travailler en étroite collaboration avec les équipes internes afin de développer des campagnes de communication en ligne qui appuient les objectifs d’affaires des PLC dans les médias sociaux;
• Offrir un appui efficace en matière de gestion des enjeux au sein des divers circuits de médias sociaux;
• Appuyer le développement de relations favorables avec les principaux médias en ligne, les blogueurs et les principaux intéressés;
• Demeurer à l’affût des nouveaux outils en matière de médias sociaux, des meilleures pratiques et de la façon dont les autres organisations utilisent les médias sociaux, de sorte que les PLC puissent adopter promptement ces technologies.
Qualifications requises :
• Diplôme d’études universitaires en marketing, communication, relations publiques, gestion ou autre domaine connexe;
• Deux ou trois années d’expérience en marketing en ligne, avec une expérience particulière en matière de stimulation à la participation aux médias sociaux;
• Avoir de l’expérience en analytique Web ainsi qu’avec un outil de surveillance des médias sociaux constitue un atout;
• Être un fervent utilisateur de médias sociaux, avec une très bonne connaissance des nouveaux médias;
• Posséder d’excellentes habiletés en rédaction et en révision de textes, en anglais et en français;
• Faire preuve d’un bon sens de l’organisation, d’aptitudes en planification et en gestion de projet, et avoir la capacité d’accomplir plusieurs tâches simultanément;
• Être adepte des ordinateurs et maîtriser la suite MS Office;
• Faire preuve de minutie et de curiosité et aimer apprendre;
• Être un joueur d’équipe, qui peut tout de même travailler de façon autonome.
Qu’en pensez vous? Est ce que les PLC ont visé juste dans leur affichage?
Here’s the problem with being ahead of your time: By the time everyone catches up, you’re bored.
This quote by Fran Lebowitz resonates with me from time to time. When colleagues and clients begin their discussions around social media, I’m carried back about 5-6 years, to a time I was first discovering a new passion: social media. I look for the same light in their eyes that I’m sure shone from mine. The same enthusiasm I had when I talked about how social media was going to revolutionize the way we communicate as a society. I don’t quite see it, but suspect that it’s because they don’t get to enjoy the same thrill of discovery that I did back then. The social media path is fast becoming a well beaten one.
Social media has become my area of specialisation. The last thing I’d want to do is to become bored with my niche.
How do you avoid becoming bored with social media?
- Take advantage of what social media allows you to do best: surround yourself with stimulating people. Connect with them;
- Discuss what you learn. Be humble and ask for advice. Learn from others;
- Pay it forward in the dozens of ways social media can help you contribute to your community or niche;
- Take pleasure in initiating others, knowing they’ll help move the discipline forward;
- Try to look at things … strategies, tactics, client needs … from new perspectives;
- Keep pushing the envelope;
- Keep pushing yourself – to network, to learn, to explore, to discover, to produce. Even when it’s hard. Challenge yourself to reach new heights and don’t stop until you do.
Twitter and Facebook are ablaze. A wronged blogger has mobilized her online community (and their online community. And so on. And so on. Like a Faberge organic shampoo commercial). Her grievances have gone viral and her supporters are attacking the brand at the source of her frustration. As a PR practitioner guiding my clients into the world of social media, I see this as an opportunity for brands to (once again) learn from the very very big mistakes of others. In the age of social media, bad policy and bad customer service can bring unparalleled damage to the brand whose image you work so hard to protect. There is no escaping scrutiny and the wrath of angry consumers when a complaint captures the attention of the online community.
In case you’ve missed the drama, here’s a recap:
Monica Gaudio found out through a friend that one of her blog posts had been reprinted without her permission by foodie magazine Cooks Source (the Internet is also ablaze about the lack of an apostrophe, but that’s another story). As she explains in her blog post, she contacted the editor of Cooks Source in an attempt to understand how her article had ended up in print. Upon realizing it had been plagarized, she asked for a public apology on Facebook and in the magazine as well as monetary compensation in the form of a symbolic donation to the Columbia School of Journalism.
Editor Judith Griggs responded by email as follows:
« Yes Monica, I have been doing this for 3 decades, having been an editor at The Voice, Housitonic Home and Connecticut Woman Magazine. I do know about copyright laws. It was « my bad » indeed, and, as the magazine is put together in long sessions, tired eyes and minds somethings forget to do these things.
But honestly Monica, the web is considered « public domain » and you should be happy we just didn’t « lift » your whole article and put someone else’s name on it! It happens a lot, clearly more than you are aware of, especially on college campuses, and the workplace. If you took offence and are unhappy, I am sorry, but you as a professional should know that the article we used written by you was in very bad need of editing, and is much better now than was originally. Now it will work well for your portfolio. For that reason, I have a bit of a difficult time with your requests for monetary gain, albeit for such a fine (and very wealthy!) institution. We put some time into rewrites, you should compensate me! I never charge young writers for advice or rewriting poorly written pieces, and have many who write for me… ALWAYS for free! »
Dismissive. Arrogant. Condescending. Factually wrong (content published online is NOT public domain and copyright free). Just bad from start to finish. From a PR — not to mention customer service — point of view, this reply is riddled with strategic landmines. We can only hope Ms Griggs’ eyes and mind were tired when she wrote it …
So where do things stand a little over 24 hours after Monica Gaudio posted her story?
- Her blog post has 17 pages of comments (and counting)
- The Cooks Source Facebook page has gone from about 130 « fans » to 2988 « fans » … although judging from the slew of negative comments on the page’s wall, Facebook needs to come up with an option other than « like » for pages. It is painfully obvious that these are not fans.
- Guy Fawkes is currently Twitter’s trending topic … but Cooks Source and the newly developed hashtags #cooksource #crookssource and #crooksource are getting their share of Twitter’s attention. The brand is being coopted by others (@crookssource) and fake Twitter accounts are being set up : @cooksource and @cookssource (at least I _hope_ that last one is fake).
Lessons to be learned:
1. Your staff are your ambassadors. They become very visible ambassadors when what they say (or write) is published online. Educate them about new realities. It’s possible that like Ms Griggs, they’ve been doing things ‘that way’ for 30 years. Times have changed and it’s high time everyone knows it.
2. Understand that what happens in Vegas no longer stays in Vegas. Your customer service emails can be published online in a blink of an eye. So can your customer service calls, for that matter. And talk to Comcast about the power of video. Make sure the quality of your customer service is always something of which you can be proud.
3. Even if you’re not ready to enter into the social media space, it’s wise to stake your claim on platforms like Facebook and Twitter. If you don’t, someone else will. And you might not like what they decide to do with it.
4. Learn from the successes of others. Companies like Best Buy, Dell and Comcast have managed to turn disgruntled bloggers into brand ambassadors simply by acknowledging mistakes and by starting to work towards rebuilding bridges. They’ve entered into the conversation in a real way and it’s paid off.
5. Apologize. Sincerely. Then try to move on. There are good stories to share, so share them. And let your natural ambassadors .. your employees, your fans … share them too.
6. A fundamental shift in communication has happened in the last few years. Free yourself from the illusion of control. Invest in authentic conversations with your clients.
A message to Cooks Source Magazine and its editor: It’s time to face the music. Trust me. You don’t want to end up like Nestle, who temporarily abandoned the Facebook ship after a Greenpeace led campaign mobilized the online community and bogged down their page. Hundreds of negative comments on your Facebook wall can seem overwhelming, but it’s feedback worth listening to. Embrace the opportunity.
I write this blog post in the middle of the night, having been violently awakened by the realization that my siamese cat had gone hunting in my country home and brought a half-dead mouse back into my bed. I see parallels, don’t you? Your brand deserves a better fate than the gift my warrior-feline presented to me tonight. Don’t let social media keep you up at night. Make sure you and all your employees manage your brand’s image online as well as off by respecting your clients, by apologizing to them when required and by demonstrating that you’re attentive to their concerns.
Social media offers you an unprecedented opportunity to engage in conversation with existing and potential clients. Grab it.
MAJ: the Internet is having fun with Cooks Source by accusing them of any of a thousand different things. My personal favourites:
Cooksource was on the Grassy Knoll
and
Cooks Source’s keyboard has 3 buttons: C, V and Ctrl
