El 12 de abril Charlene Li, una de las mayores expertas mundiales en redes sociales y su impacto en el mundo empresarial visitará nuestro país para impartir un seminario.

Charlene es co-autora de uno de los libros esenciales para entender el fenómeno de los medios sociales, Groundswell. Es también autora de “Open Leadership”, y fundadora de la empresa de analistas Altimeter Group.

De manera previa a su visita a España nos ha concedido esta entrevista en la que desde la Aerco le hemos formulado algunas de las preguntas que más nos interesan , referentes a nuevos perfiles profesionales, formación y evolución de los medios sociales.

Si quieres asistir a su seminario en Madrid del día 12 de abril, puedes informarte aquí o llamar al teléfono: 902 528 777

Nota: si eres socio de Aerco puedes conseguir un descuento un 10% de descuento en tu entrada utilizando el código “AERCO” en www.hsmglobal.com/es/redes

Entrevista (en inglés):

Pregunta: What would you recommend to someone who wants to work with online community management?

Charlene Li: There is simply no substitute for experience. The best thing you can do is to participate in existing, well-run communities and see how those community managers nurture and support the community. In many instances, there will be opportunities for you to step up and help run the community on a volunteer basis – there is no shortage of need for community managers! As you grow your experience, you’ll be able to apply for paid positions.
Pregunta: What companies would you present as examples of best practices in their use of social media?

Charlene Li: KLM has done a fantastic job at using social media to build a deeper relationship with its customers. Travel is filled with problems – there are weather delays, cancelled flights. And then there are ash clouds and union stoppages! KLM uses social media to quickly identify when there are problems by monitoring what is going wrong or right – and they then tell travellers where there are delays. This was extremely helpful during the ash cloud grounding, as KLM passengers could get frequent updates.
Pregunta: What job profiles do you think will be most relevant in the next few years?

Charlene Li:There will be an explosion of social data and also sensor and geolocation data available. So anyone with a strong analytics background will do well.

Pregunta: What are the main difficulties social media professionals faces in their daily work?

Charlene Li: The biggest is that there are so many things to pay attention to! So people working in social media must prioritize what is most important to their organizations. There is simply no way to do everything, to respond to all of the messages and requests out there.

Pregunta: What would you say to companies that are still “scared” of using social media or that are not considering them as strategic in their communications or marketing plans?

Charlene Li: I ask them which relationships are most important to their success as an organization, and where those relationships are somehow lacking or could use development. The key is to center the conversation about social media around relationships, not the technologies. Otherwise, it’s easy to ignore Twitter and Facebook because it’s hard to see how they are relevant. But if you focus on the relationships that are important to the organization, you can then see if and how social media can help strengthen and deepen those relationships.

Pregunta: Which education or professional experience a Community manager should have?

Charlene Li: I don’t think it’s any particular education that matters, or even what department they have worked in in the past. Many come from customer support, others come from marketing and PR. The most important is the mindset – that you be passionate, almost obsessed with creating relationships and dialog with the people in the community. That mindset can’t be taught.

Pregunta: Do you think social media will bring the creation of new roles? Which ones?

Charlene Li: There will definitely be new roles and jobs created by social media. For example, search created search engine marketing and optimization jobs. Social media marketing is a specialized area, especially because it is much more than just planning a campaign – you have to create dialog, sharing, and relationships. Customer service will also take a new approach in social media, as the real time nature means a much more agile support function. And then there is the need for someone to understand all of the new relationships being created, and to craft strategies from them. Customer Relationship Management has mostly been about pipeline and transaction tracking – that entire area is changing to becoming truly relationship management of a lifetime customer.

Pregunta: What impact social media has had in our society?

Charlene Li: The biggest is that we are much more connected now. We know more about what people who matter to us are doing. And we share a great deal more.

Pregunta: How do you explain the quick growth/expansion of Facebook and Twitter?

Charlene Li:Facebook in particular grew because of the network effect – when your friends are there, you want to be there as well. Twitter’s growth has been more because it’s an easy way to get and share information, and it’s growth has come mostly at the expense of blogging.

Pregunta: What companies should take into account before “going social”?

Charlene Li:There are two parts to “going social”. The first is to make sure that you are doing a very good job listening to the conversations that people are already having. From that listening and learning, figure out where your first point of engagement will be. It’s best to find a connection point to start the relationship where your audience wants to start, not necessarily where YOU want to start.

Pregunta: Should all companies use social media?

Charlene Li:At a minimum, all companies should at least liten to what is being said in social media. It’s simply irresponsible for you not to do so. I think it’s fine to decide to not to engage because your organization is not ready yet to take on that responsibility. But make it an active decision to do this, not a default state because you just don’t think it’s worth while.

Pregunta: Do you consider Twitter a social network?

Charlene Li:I do. There are three components of a social network. It most provide a profile for people, relationships must be made between those profiles, and the network should provide purpose. Twitter doesn’t look or act like a “traditional” social network like Facebook, but it is still at the core a social network.

Pregunta: Which tools do you recommend to all Community managers?

Charlene Li: The first essential tools are a set of good monitoring tools. You will likely need more than one solution. The second is a good publishing tool to manage all of your social media efforts. As you get more and more into social media, it will become more complex and harder to manage. Make sure you have good management tools from the start, so that you develop good processes and systems.