Head to Head: Should community management be executed by an agency?
In this series, Mumbrella invites senior PR professionals to share their opposing views on the industry’s biggest issues. This week, Red Havas’ Amaury Treguer and Andrew Siwka, managing partner at The Royals, go head to head on whether community management should be outsourced to an agency.
Community management is a tricky game for brands to play. Brands that are quick to react to customers, reply with sass, refer to current affairs and interact with other brands can be rewarded with widespread praise across digital and social media.
But, deliver automated responses or show it is out of touch with its consumer base and brands can face swift condemnation.
Attention everyone. This isn’t real, but we wish it was. So we’re tweeting it now. https://t.co/7fM7ofA23C
— Telstra (@Telstra) May 21, 2020
No.
An interesting debate, and one we’ve been having for many years across multiple practices.
It’s important to point out that the work described here isn’t community management, but social media management, marketing, and audience engagement – distinct both strategically and practically.
I’ve led social departments and community departments internally and delivered specialist support agency side. Either can shine, or flame out. Hybrid models are often successful for the reasons laid out here – ideally, no one knows the brand like those who inhabit it, but social media management (spanning strategy, content, risk management, analysis, and much more) is a specialist discipline for a reason. Collaborating to meet immediate need and coach internal capability is great… but it needs a shared commitment to invest in the process, the learning, and the inevitable disruption to operational habits.
If you’re marketing on social media platforms without consistent, proactive, and informed management of those audiences, you’re opening yourself up to commercial, reputational, and legal risks. Experts can be lifesavers here.
Work with agency experts to get you going, add tangible value, and grow your own skill sets over time. (And if you want to build strategic community, talk to a community specialist).