Pick Your Side, Not Your Battles

Do you represent your community to your company? Or your company to your community?

If your community criticises your company, how do you react? 

Do you take your community's side? i.e. "I agree, we deserve to be treated better than this. I'm going to do my best to get an apology for you". 

Do your take your company's side? i.e. "We're sorry about that. You deserve to be treated better, we're going to try and make sure it never happens again."

The advantage of taking your community's side is popularity. You're their champion. You're the inside guy fighting to make the voice of the community heard. The advantage of taking your company's side is reliability. The community gets an honest answer rather than a passionate  fighter. This also makes you the 'corporate' punching bag.

Can you do both? No. 

You can still work co-operatively and positively, but you do need to pick a side. You can't represent your community when you think you will win and represent the company when you're sure you can't. It doesn't matter, entirely, which side you pick. It matters that you are consistently representing one side to the other - and both sides know it.

Comments

[Kirsten Wagenaar]

I´m so happy I subscribed to FeverBee. Every time I´m amazed with all the information you're willing share with us! Thanks!

[AW]

I discovered FeverBee not so long and have gained a lot of insights reading your posts. Thanks Richard, for sharing your wisdom with us. However, I have to disagree with you about not able to represent both the community and the company.

As a community manager, I'm acting like a bridge between community members and company personnel. I convey wants & needs of our community members to representatives of the company. If there is something that will help to make the community a better place so it attracts and retain members better, I fight for them and get it done.

On the other hand, if there is something that the company cannot provide, I need to represent the company and do my best to explain to community members why it can't be done.

It's a tough job. ;) But have both side's ears is equally important. We need to be able to interpret and decide which side (community or company) to pick, depending on the situation. My 2 cents.

[Stuart Foster]

Some of the best advice on community building I have read in quite some time. I think that as a community manager you have to be listening to each side and clearly explaining the position of the opposition to each.

A community manager should be a mediator for both parties...but it's sometimes tough when one side pays the bills. (Btw...hoping you get more traffic here...just tweeted FeverBee as a whole)

[David Spinks]

Really interesting post Rich. I haven't really thought of the side of representing the community that much. Definitely seems like it could be an effective approach.

I feel like in general (can't say for every case) its important to represent your company. One of the greatest value that the community manager brings is connecting the company and the community. They're there to take care of the community from within the company. At least that's how I've always looked at it.

I do tend to agree with AW's comment. I feel that you can represent your company while still allowing your community to feel like you're representing them as well. As community manager for Scribnia, I build the community for our site but also engage and stay active within community. I am essentially a really enthusiastic, really active community members, but at the same time I am the community's connection to the company.

There's a bit of a gray area, but that's my really unclear description of the community manager's role. Hope I was sufficiently confusing.

Dave

ps (Really like the blog. Subscribed...look forward to connecting more)

[Krist]

Can you do both? YES!

Don't pick the side you think will win. Pick the side that's right.

As a Community Manager you ARE the community's representative to the company. If the company is screwing over the user and they're rightfully pissed, you have a duty to stand up for them and let the company know before they have no community left.

And likewise, when the community is getting itself into a tizzy over nothing, or a necessary evil, or whatnot, you back up your company.

Community Managers do walk the line between both sides.

[Richard Millington]

Provocative post this, thanks for the comments Kirsten, AW, Stuart, David and Krist.

You're right that a community manager is the go-between. To the community he's the company rep, to the company he's the community rep. That's representing each side to the other - that's easy enough and what your comments identified.

It gets murky in the mindset and language you use. If the community wants something the company can't offer do you say "sorry, the company can't do it for us" or "sorry, we can't do it for you"?

You have to pick 'us' or 'you' in your language and stick to it.

Krist: What's "right"? Does your community decide what's right or does your community?