Last week I revisited a debate we opened months ago about the community manager’s spokesperson role on the Internet.
Every week we come across crisis cases—issues, “at best”—as well as different situations that must be addressed with an online strategy and with a response that is neither anonymous nor corporate.
After outlining a crisis response strategy, we move on to discuss something far more tactical for the company, yet highly strategic for the person who will not only put their face to it, but will also put their personal and professional identity and reputation at the service of a company, brand…
In every class I have taught, a student has asked me what to do about this issue, because:
…
– the company hired me for the contacts I had and my training in communication…
– I am a community manager because I have a good image among digital natives…
or… doubts arise…
– the thing is, today I am at this “company”, but tomorrow I may be at another, and of course I am not interested in “burning my image”.
This is where I wanted to get to: what happens when we are overexposed and, moreover, it is not entirely controlled. Long before we reach this situation is when we need to consider what to do.
Building a personal and professional reputation takes a great deal of time, effort, and dedication; it is based on actions, recommendations, experiences, relationships… when we add to this identity a brand to represent… with its different values, its past, its public opinion, and the rest of the perceptions coming from different audiences… we ask ourselves… can both “brands” coexist without stepping on each other or coming into conflict.
Sometimes it will be very positive for both brands: on the one hand, for the personal brand, if the brand is approachable and its values fit perfectly, it could provide visibility and recognition. For the commercial brand, if the person is a digital native with many contacts and experience in communication… the brand could be strengthened, and it would be a good way to enter social media.
But what happens when that is not the case? When the commercial brand has values that are very different from the personal brand, or when the personal brand has a past that, in some respects, clashes head-on with the brand they must represent.
The question, as a student asked it in the AERCO course, was Should a community manager represent the brand with their full name? What should they respond to publicly? Should a brand have corporate or personal profiles and identities? Why are there brands that use avatars?
I have opened a debate in AERCO’s LinkedIn discussion forum so that we can discuss this topic openly.
