To continue from the subject matter expert post.
We turn down a lot of work because we won’t manage a community for a client.
We do plenty of other things, but hosts need to own those relationships.
The reason is simple.
When you build a community, you’re going to have a lot of people asking questions.
These are questions only people very familiar with the subject can answer. If you’re not an expert, you can spend the bulk of your time searching for answers to questions instead of proactively building communities.
This means pestering employees and hoping they give you a response.
This isn’t a good use of your time, so why handicap yourself?
In most sectors, it’s a lot easier to take a subject expert and teach them great community skills than teach someone with great community skills about the topic.
You can now spend the bulk of your time building the community instead of fishing for answers to questions.
There’s some nuance here, but the principle remains intact. Find someone smart and connected within your field. Check they have the attitude to help a community of people like themselves. Then teach them community skills.
p.s. your customer support team is a good place to look for talent.
