(3 posts)

Today, I know I am lucky to be surrounded by a group of brilliant colleagues who understand—and innovate on—every facet of the social business. I am also lucky to be in the right place at the right time. Just as my parents eventually realized I wasn’t wasting time on my first social network, companies are overcoming their fear of social and are ready to take their relationships with customers to a new level. This shift can’t be attributed to luck. Luck is too dismissive. This is the natural progression of the business world, and we knew it would come sometime.

While working on a recent project, I was asked to step in to a branded Facebook community that already had a very active following. Problem was, the brand presence up to that point was minimal and the community resembled something from William Golding’s Lord of the Flies. Due to the lack of an official brand voice, a group of extremely engaged advocates rose to power. Though their participation and assistance was appreciated, there was a clear need for an official presence in the community.

When called upon to explain what it takes to be a good community manager, I often feel like I’m writing a children’s book on how to be a good friend. Truly, good community management is not difficult to figure out, but many people are intimidated by the new avenues of communication in social media and [...]