You may have noticed a small trend that appears to be growing within the corridors of corporations small and large.  Companies are worried about how their brand is falling into the hands of complete strangers.  The reality is that a community is being built around you whether you are one of the architects or not. 

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Let’s face it, the conventional public relations model is becoming outdated.  Social media is starting to replace traditional methods of communicating with customers and doing it more effectively.  Corporations need to participate in the conversations about their brand and not outsource it to a third party.   

Each of us has hired PR agencies to help gain access to traditional media. With social media that need is not as important.  You can confidently reach and target thousands of the right people by joining the right communities and becoming an influential voice.  Why outsource a source of competitive advantage?

There are many advantages of hiring a CCO especially with all of the rapid changes occurring in the social media space.  CCO’s that create internal “digital agencies” with external communication integration as a primary objective will find a high ROI over a relatively short amount of time.  And, justification for the position is becoming less and less difficult.  A knowledgeable CCO is as or more important that a Chief Marketing Officer, and with easier metrics to gauge ROI. 

Yet before you hire a CCO a careful examination and development of the job description and corporate goals are necessary. According to Impact Interactions; “…you have to understand and like business for business sake. Because Social Media is not all about playing with the latest cool technology, it’s about getting results. No results equals no budget.”

Additionally CCO’s must be understand that; “success in Social Media requires a focus on results, thinking strategically and executing tactics that achieve tangible results like additional sales, reduced marketing costs, faster velocity of sales, reduced lead generation costs, reduced support costs, etc.”

Until now finding ROI for community building was difficult.  Enter Forrester analyst Natalie Petouhoff who recently developed a data-driven framework that systematically measures business-oriented ROI in collaboration communities. In Natalie’s report, The ROI of Online Customer Service Communities, she presents an ROI model, discusses the business value and benefits, offers concrete examples, and raises a host of implementation obstacles and success factors.

When asked about the benefits of community building and social media to transform relationships with customers, Natalie responded;

“Not only does social media provide the necessary information to transform customer service, it is the first tool/application that I’ve seen in all my years of being in the business world that -instantly melts away the resistance, the politics and the lack of interdepartmental collaboration required to transform the whole company. Not only do I see social media as a major business transformation tool, but it brings out the very best in human nature.”

Now that ROI models for community building are emerging from reputable sources, companies can no longer use college interns to fill the role of community manager.  The role is too important. 

For a CCO’s social media group, I break the resources needed into three groups. Customer facing Community Managers (CM), Product or service focused Community Managers (see Best Buy IdeaX example), and Exec/Strategy. The Customer CM develops customer acquisition communities and educates prospects on the company product/solution. I’m personally hiring an A-Player for this role now.  The Product or Service oriented CM helps the company connect with customers to develop new products, make existing products better and customer service related issues.   Finally, Exec/Strategy is responsible for setting objectives, positioning the brand and message, and strategically executing the plan. 

It’s time companies take a serious look at replacing their PR agencies with internal community building teams. You may not be ready to ditch the PR team now and hire a CCO now, but sooner or later you’ll find that you control less and less of your brand because you didn’t have a community advocate.  It is vital to remember how quickly even a single event can go viral in social media. People value honesty, being upfront, and listening to others, but if your voice is absent you lose.  If that happens, someone usually loses their job. 

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