The Community Roundtable

Empowering global community leaders with research-backed resources, training, and tools.

  • About Us
    • Our Values
    • Our Team
    • Our Clients
      • Client Success Stories
    • Community Leadership Awards
      • Community Leadership Awards 2024
      • Community Leadership Awards 2023
      • Community Leadership Awards 2022
      • Community Leadership Awards 2021
  • Services
    • Benchmarking and Audits
      • Community Performance Benchmark
      • Community Readiness Audits
      • Community ROI Calculator
      • The Community Score
    • Models and Frameworks
      • Community Maturity Model™
      • Community Engagement Framework™
      • Community Skills Framework™
      • Community Technology Framework™
      • The Social Executive
  • Research
    • The State of Community Management
      • SOCM 2024
      • SOCM 2023
      • SOCM 2022
      • SOCM 2021
      • SOCM 2020
    • Community Careers and Compensation
    • The Community Manager Handbook
      • 2022 Edition
      • 2015 Edition
    • The Social Executive
    • Special Reports
    • Case Studies
  • Events
    • Connect
      • Connect 2024
      • Connect 2023
      • Connect 2022
    • Community Technology Summit
    • Professional Development
    • Resource Bundles
    • Upcoming Events
    • Community Manager Appreciation Day
      • Community Manager Appreciation Day 2025
      • Community Manager Appreciation Day 2024
  • I’m looking for…
    • Community Engagement Resources
    • Executive Support Resources
    • Community Reporting Resources
    • Platform and Technology Resources
    • Community Strategy Resources
    • Community Programming Resources
    • Community Career Resources
    • Something Else
      • Vendor Resource Center
      • Community FAQs
      • Community Management Podcasts
        • Community Conversations
        • Lessons From The NEW Community Manager Handbook
      • Community 101
        • Community Management Glossary
        • Community Management FAQs
      • Case Studies
      • Community Webinars
  • Community
    • The Network
      • Member Login
      • Join The Network
      • Roundtable Call Library
    • The Library
      • Subscriber Login
      • Subscribe to The Library
  • Blog

Inside TheCR Network: Outsourcing Community Management

January 31, 2012 By Leanne Chase

Today we welcome Rick Allen who will be a frequent contributor to The Community Roundtable blog.  With a background in writing, publishing, and technology innovation—and a passion for the web—Rick strives to improve online user experiences through content strategy. He writes and speaks often on web publishing topics and is a member of TheCR Network.

Last month, The Community Roundtable held a member roundtable discussion with Jeremiah Owyang of Altimeter Group on outsourcing community management. Owyang had published an article in August discussing trends and options for outsourcing community management activities. The blog post launched a vigorous debate about how to determine when—if at all—it’s appropriate to entrust a third-party company with managing your community. Members of  TheCR Network had a lot to say on the topic:

The outsourcing dilemma

Outsourcing community management is becoming an increasingly hot topic as organizations try to figure out how to scale their online communities. When a community demands more than internal resources can provide, it makes sense to consider outside help. And help there is! Many marketing and communications agencies have stepped up to the plate offering services to fill this gap—Owyang mentioned several in his post, including Cap Gemini, Liveworld, Ant’s Eye View, and Dachis Group. However, the question remains: will these services solve your community problems?

Community and your brand

Perhaps the biggest concern of those who were vocal on the call was brand management. One member asked the question, “When outsourcing, how big is the risk of losing corporate brand and authenticity in community management?” Indeed, by outsourcing community management, are we outsourcing our brand? How can we trust external community managers to adequately represent the values of our organization?

Many members of TheCR Network agreed that outsourcing the voice and tone of a community is risky. Community management relies on sustaining a common voice that supports your brand and values. It’s hard to mange that externally.

Some folks suggested that outsourcing content development is less risky than outsourcing the community management. However, if we can trust agencies to create on-brand content, perhaps there’s an opportunity to trust them with the ensuing conversations as well. This slippery slope is what fuels the outsourcing debate. Where should the line be drawn?

Everything in moderation

The option of outsourcing community management is not an all-or-nothing prospect. While your brand and community strategy may not be appropriate to outsource, there may be other responsibilities that are. Owyang suggested four possible levels of community management to consider for outsourcing:

1. Strategy

2. Brand representation

3. Member response

4. Moderation, curation, and analytics

By evaluating your business and community objectives as well as social platforms, you may find that member responses, moderation, curation, or analytics can be adequately managed externally. Or, if you manage a young community and need guidance for development, perhaps outsourcing strategy is an appropriate option after all.

Train the trainers

Just as agencies can train internal staff on community management best practices, internal staff can train agencies on their brand.  Community management must be a partnership—and while it becomes more challenging to collaborate with agencies than your own staff, it can be done.

The limitations on training agencies to represent your brand likely depend upon your business and community goals. As TheCR co-founder Rachel Happe mentioned, “The more you want to drive innovation from community interactions, [the more difficult it is] to outsource.”

Is it time to “skill up”?

In regard to the four levels of community management, Jim Storer, co-founder of TheCR, suggests organizations take a close look at their goals before outsourcing anything beyond the “moderation” level:  “When we talk with our members it’s clear that they evolve their view of the community/social opportunities for their business based on a 360-view of the current initiatives. I’m not sure this would happen if they weren’t as plugged into the day-to-day activities.”

One of the trends Owyang identified was that community managers are learning to “skill up” in order to take ownership of the strategy and high-level activities that guide community management. If this trend continues, more organizations will be better prepared to tackle the community management challenges that currently lead us to consider outsourcing options.

Have you considered outsourcing community management activities in your organization? Do you consider outsourcing a viable option?

————————————————————————————–

TheCR Network is an annual membership-based peer network of community, social media, and social business practitioners. We run strategic, tactical, and professional development programming and events as well as an online community for discussions and making connections.  Join today.

About Leanne Chase

comments powered by Disqus
Community best practices

Resources for the people who build online communities.

ABOUT US
Our Values
Our Team
Our Clients
Careers

RESOURCES
Vendor Resource Center
Podcasts 
Community 101
Case Studies
Webinars

PRODUCTS AND SERVICES
Benchmarking and Audits
Models and Frameworks
Research
Professional Development

QUICK LINKS
Blog
Newsletter
About The Network
About The Library
About The Academy

LOGIN
The Network
The Library
The Academy

Contact
Support
Partnership
Inquiries
Subscribe to
Our Newsletter