While it is probably interesting to make our own predictions about what will happen in community management in 2011, we thought it would be more interesting and realistic to tell you what we heard from Community Roundtable members. We recently chatted with Len Devanna of EMC, Eran Barak of Thomson Reuters, and a group of members about their expectations for next year. Their focus will be on the following:
- Integrating the ‘1.0’ and ‘2.0’ tools and user experience. The social tools can no longer be a separate silo and complexities of content and communications channels need to be simplified for the user.
- Managing international social initiatives. Language is only one complex dimension to this and it also includes tools, regulatory environments, and culture. The combination makes it very challenging for large corporations that operate in many countries around the world. Social structures may mature into more localized or regionalized entities.
- Changing the 90-9-1 rule. It is no longer good enough to only have 1% of constituents actively participating so training and mainstreaming the use of social functionality will be a theme going forward.
- Creating a content supply chain and managing it with the same discipline as physical product supply chains.
- Ensuring that social functionality does not just become another silo of technology. There are and will be more hybrid technologies that work to add in social features but which may not keep social information in a horizontally available data layer.
- Putting theory and vision into action. 2011 will be a year of social strategy and social business execution for a vast swath of mainstream businesses.
- Mobile accessibility and engagement. Content and communications channels increasingly need to be available on smart phones, regardless of purpose or context.
- Simplifying. Both in consolidating the management of multiple channels for individuals but also consolidating and rationalizing organizational identities online.
- Standardization of metrics internally so that progress can be provided consistently at various levels of the organization
- Scaling social in repeatable ways across the enterprise with tool kits, templates, and guidelines
Interestingly, two things I have been thinking about – behavioral analysis and better dashboards for community managers didn’t make anyone’s list. Are you a community manager? What are the top 3 trends you see for 2011?
