Need a sign that communities are in the spotlight? Look at where communities fit into organizations.
In the State of Community Management 2017, we asked more than 300 community professionals where their communities fit in the structures of their organization.
Communities today can be housed in almost any department in an organization, but consistently, they are being supported, connected and answering to the top levels of the organization. One way to look at this is to look at the titles and reporting levels of the people in charge of community.
We found that while the heads of community programs held a number of different titles, more than a third were Directors, Vice Presidents or higher. And those community leads reported even higher. Fifty-nine percent of them report to Vice Presidents, Senior VPs or members of the C-suite. And 92% reported to Directors or higher.
Another way? Look at where their budget is approved.
Nearly three-quarters of communities get budget approval from Vice Presidents or higher in the organization.
And then look at who is paying attention to performance – we asked the respondents the highest level of executives to receive community reports – and 80% said those reports went to a VP or higher. For best-in-class communities, that number rose to 88%, with a 58% of communities getting reports into the C-suite.
In the State of Community Management 2016 report, Rachel Happe noted that communities were gaining the executive spotlight. This data suggests that spotlight is intensifying – and if you aren’t getting your results into executive offices, you may be missing a powerful opportunity to demonstrate your impact.
