College | Caffeinated

Quick note: This is something I’ve thought about for awhile. I know some Community Managers, they’re my friends and I look up to them. They’re intelligent people. Hell, I’d be a Community Manager. To be cliché, I’m not trying to hate the player. I’m hating the game.

It annoys me that more and more brands are adding a Community Manager to their payroll. They shouldn’t need one. Instead, they should be investing in new product development, improved customer service, or *gasp* a better marketing scheme that encourages a community to manage itself. Yes, that means giving up control. You’re foolish if you think you have that much control in the new media landscape, anyways.

Products and services don’t need to hire Community Managers. They already have them. Use your brand evangelists- the unpaid fans of yours that like you for you (I use “you” in the sense of product/service/brand). They are the best people to lead your community. They already are leading your community. For free.

Agencies and firms don’t need to hire Community Managers. They already have them. Actually, they usually have tons of them. Look at Fast Horse. Nobody is their ‘Community Manager’, but Mike Keliher, George Fiddler, and others have done an excellent job at managing their community. Same goes for the people over at Brains on Fire. People that love working in a strong community will take it upon themselves to manage that community. You’re already paying them. They’re already a part of your community.

Take away the Community Manager. The community will still exist. The community will take care of itself, because that’s what a community does.

Focus on building a community strong enough to manage itself. Don’t focus on hiring a community hitman – an outsider. That dilutes the word “community”.

You don’t need a community manager. You need a strong community. A strong community is it’s own community manager.

Shameless plug: at the end of every post this month, I’m putting a call to action to vote for Pepsi Refresh projects. Specifically mine, obviously. You can vote for an idea once every day and have 10 votes each day. That means you can vote for my idea, or others, but preferably mine, up to 28 times.

photo credit Flickr user eva101

I trust people by default. You have my trust from the second I meet you. That trust can always be lost, but it can also be strengthened.

I don’t trust businesses by default. Businesses have to earn my trust. They don’t get my trust by default.

Am I the only one that thinks like this? I doubt it. It’s just easier to trust a face than a logo.

Robbin Phillips wrote about her experience with Scott Monty and Ford yesterday. The post, aptly titled “Keeping Promises”, talks about why Robbin would consider buying a Ford- because of Scott. Robbin says that there is “something about ‘knowing’ someone at Ford has made me a sincere fan.”

I think that “something” is as simple as Ford putting a face before their logo. Scott Monty is technically a part of Ford, but more accurately, Ford is a part of Scott Monty. People talk to faces, not logos.

How does your trust work? What is that “something” that will make you trust a business?

*photo credit to Flickr user laverrue under the creative commons license