Should businesses appoint a Chief Community Officer (CCO) to manage social networking initiatives?

The world of marketing is changing rapidly to keep up with technology developments, such as the rise in social networking. Brands are now facing challenges about how best to engage customers and build on their reputation to keep them coming back for more. Social networking initiatives have allowed them to do this, but as this relatively new marketing tool grows in popularity, many brands are starting to question what else their initiatives can do for them.

Chat Moderators believes that companies should start to think about employing a chief community officer (CCO) to maximise the chance of their social networking initiative becoming a success. This can mean employing someone to fill the role of the CCO, or using an outsourced community management service to take the role of the CCO. With social networking, brands are no longer controlling the message, as they would an advert or a brochure. However, this could be a good thing as where a few consumers may stop to read an advert, a good blog or forum post can resonate with thousands. The role of the CCO is to help manage what is being said about the brand.

Rob Marcus, director of Chat Moderators, comments, “Social networking can do wonders for a brand, but only if it invests time in getting the initiative off the ground. Many brands make the mistake of believing that users will flood in to use their newly launched social network, but without the brand “attending” itself until others join and begin interacting and forming friendships, why would anyone else want to be there? For example, you wouldn’t invite people to join your party and then leave them alone in your house with no host. As a host, you can ensure that people are having a nice time until other guests arrive. It is the same with social networks, and a community manager will form the role of a host.”

As well as helping to launch a social networking initiative, a CCO’s role can be crucial in understanding the brands community, obtaining feedback and using it to develop new products and services. Chuck Brymer, DDB Worldwide President and CEO, in his book “The Nature of Marketing”, stated that the role of the CCO is to “oversee the relationship between brands and their communities, not just in the narrow confines of how a consumer interacts with a product at point of purchase but also in how consumers interact with each other.” He points out that the role of the CCO is to influence consumer relationships and interactions and to understand all other patterns that influence the brands community including studying their wants, needs, and lifestyles, and using these insights to inform your marketing efforts. Its other role is for CCO’s to monitor and respond to the community and serve as a community agent. The role includes:

• Making sure consumers have a real voice in the process of developing products
•  Working to build a community around the brand, using multiple channels
• Taking great interest in what consumers are telling the company and each other
• Making sure the brand is “living” its message
• Viewing the entire community as a new consumer

Many brands now understand the value of capitalising on the free feedback they are receiving from customers and potential customers every day through their online chat rooms and forums. Marcus comments, “it is a big job for some brands to capture what visitors are saying about them (positive or negative), package it in a way that can be easily understood and present it to the marketing or product development team for them to develop their products and services. The role of a chief community officer is helpful for this feedback reporting to be effective because it is their job to understand the community and to filter out those comments that can be ignored and those which should be reported back.”

However, Chat Moderators believes that many brands do not know how to handle negative comments, and when they are faced with them; the majority do nothing about it. The role of the CCO is to think from the mind of the consumer and react to comments from the community – positive or negative. It is obvious that no brand likes receiving negative comments, but what makes the problem worse is not responding to them. Posting a reply to either explain the company’s side of the story, or just to apologise will look much better from a consumer’s point of view and means that the company is less likely to lose a valued customer.

“I believe that the role of the chief community officer will be crucial for some companies. It raises the awareness of a brands digital reputation and the power that social networking communities have. Companies need to realise that they are being talked about in all kinds of ways and they might want to measure and manage this,” concludes Marcus.