Connie Bensen Interview

Hi Connie, tell us something about you. How is an average day in the life of  Connie Bensen like?

I’m an ambitious person with strong leadership skills.

My day starts with personal email & checking on my social media monitoring. I monitor for mention s of community managers, my own name & my company.

Then I review work email & that dictates how the day goes. Does it start with replying to requests? If there are appointments, those get priority. I try to do phone calls in the afternoon. I’m a morning person & get the most done.

I tend to work from 8 am to 9 pm or so, 7 days a week. That is to work on my jobs, my professional work & my blog.

You have huge experience with ACDSee. How did you launch ACDSee? What did you do to grow the community?

I started with them as an evangelist. I really enjoyed working with the customers who included ladies who enjoy taking digital photos.

My sister & I created a community. We had a blog, forums & resources that included tutorials. We had an affiliate on it so that we received 15% of all sales. We found that people love getting excellent customer service & support. They will become very loyal followers then.

What is the importance of online communities when building a brand? Why companies should establish their own communities when building their brands?

Whether you have a blog, a personal brand or a company brand, it’s imperative to build brand. (very important!). Otherwise people won’t know about you or your products. I don’t think that companies should necessarily always build their own community though. If people are happy somewhere else, then join them there & support them. Building a community requires a strategy & isn’t as easy or as cheap as people think.

What is the difference between offline brands’ online communities and website’s online communities? How can you define them?

If you mean a brand’s offline community & their online community then the offline community has the traditional face to face interaction. The online community offers some challenges that one has to overcome though. Companies need to realize that it’s more than technology. Just putting out a platform doesn’t create a community. For me the definition of a community is where a group of people with the same interests exchange ideas.

What are your suggestions to community managers? What steps should they follow to succeed?

A community manager needs to be patient and an excellent communicator. Having excellent people skills is important. It’s also important to be a lifelong learner. This is a fast changing world online & it’s important to keep up with the new trends. It’s also important to understand measurement so that you can show progress of your community.

What are the most difficult things about community management?

Sometimes the hours get long. Sometimes it feels like it’s the same problems over & over. Sometimes it’s challenging working with other departments in the company. When the company isn’t interested in listening then it get difficult.

How can community managers use  word of mouth marketing effectively to spread the word about  an online community?

There are many ways. The most effective way is to identify who your advocates are (the ones that are promoting your brand & most active in your community). Engage them & get them involved. Once you do that you multiply your own effectiveness.

A community manager needs to manage community’s policy and member’s attitudes. Do you think they should  have  psychologist background?

There is certainly a socialogical nature to this. I think that it’s important for community managers to be empathetic to the human spirit. Understanding people’s basic needs is important because that explains why they are acting as they are. And it also provides direction on how to deal with the issues.

As you know, people build forums as their hobbies and some of them grows very quickly. However as their owners are inexperienced, they are not aware of the potential lying behind. What would you suggest them so that they can convert their hobbies into business?

My advice is to read about ideas for improving & building their community. And it’s very important to be involved in your community.

What would you suggest web startups about building their own communities?

Get a good community manager  J If the majority of the focus is online then they want to focus on building brand & the community immediately. A community manager can assist with marketing, PR, product development & so many things. I see many young exec’s trying to do it all, but I think that they should bring in their own help.

Lastly, are you planning to build your own web startup?

I don’t really view it as a startup but it is an entrepreunerial venture. My sister & I  created a site & that was very successful. My next venture is my community manager training course. I believe that people should have training. And it fits in with the information on my blog which I hope that people find educational also. So I am in the process of creating a platform that will include my blog, forums for the training & the general public as well as a home page. It will be more like a website…