Much has been written and talked about what companies in the profile of the Community Manager need to have an organized presence in social networks. However, little or nothing has been said about what this fundamental piece of the puzzle needs to do its job correctly.

In my presentation on “The role of the Community Manager in companies” in the Second Week of Social Networks of Castilla y León, I forced an analogy between the 4 P of traditional marketing and the new 4 P of the Community Manager that today I want to explain.

The 4 P’s are: planning, budget, power and pasta

Planning

Without planning there is no possible success. Not even knowing if I am succeeding is possible without planning. Before putting a CM to work, the company must be very clear about its objectives and what the KPIs will be and the strategies it will carry out to achieve them.
But in addition, the planning must include the publication schedule, the flow of internal communication, the definition of responsibilities, and everything that may be susceptible to be part of the company’s comprehensive plan in social networks.

Budget

So many times we talk about social networks are not free, that even laziness have to mention it. But it seems incredible, there are still people who believe that the presence of companies in social networks has no cost.

Well, I’ll tell you one thing. At a minimum, they will take time. Which is the most expensive resource that a company can consume.

But in addition to time, depending on the speed with which you want to achieve your goals, you will need to allocate budget to develop your campaigns. You will need money for special graphics, for Facebook ads, for AdWords campaigns, for professional monitoring tools and applications, and a long list that you will have to evaluate according to your possibilities.

Power

Once the social media team is formed, you must establish the functions that each protagonist will have and respect them to the letter.

If you delegate to a person (or group of people) the publication of the contents and the answers, nobody can skip this norm. Not even the owner of the company.

I have seen countless cases of two people answering the same question as a client. And what is worse, giving two completely contradictory arguments.

Pasta

Obviously, the Community Manager does not live on air or bits. You need to charge for your work. How much? What the company can pay and what the Community Manager accepts to charge.

Pay no attention to these tables that show us the salaries of these profiles in the United States. It is a much more mature market and the return that companies are obtaining is greater than.

That is why it is repeated until the satiety that should not be a fellow. Not because a well-trained scholar can not fulfill these tasks, but because he has to have general knowledge about general marketing and an involvement with the company, that we have to pay them well if we want to ensure a good result.

I am a confessed defender of this new figure within companies. I think that, although now they are not essential, it would be necessary for all companies to start studying the possibility of implementing it. Either by training someone internal, like hiring someone from the outside. When you have decided to have it in your ranks, keep in mind these 4 P’s to make your job easier.