Who are they – those “answer” people?

In my previous blog post I said that companies have to find ways to locate those amazing people who spend hours every day helping others in solving problems. In their spare time. And without pay! Yes companies, find those people, make them feel very special – they are saving you money, ok?

So who are they – these highly valuable, hard to find “answer” people?

Why do we need to worry about characteristics of these “answer” people? Because if we know what we are looking for we might be able to find them. And we know by now that we need to find them. We need to help them if needed, support them, reward them, and make sure people know about them.

Here is my sample list of “answer” people attributes:

-         on Twitter – lots of replies; less posts and RT;

-         consistent presence – few hours a day;

-         consistent level of responses;

-         typically associated with very few areas – on Twitter – limited number of hashtags, everywhere else – tags, key words, etc…

Source: Marc Smith

Source: Marc Smith

You can see now “answer” people specific patterns you need to watch for doing your social networks analysis.

Your community will never be successful without these absolutely amazing dedicated “answer people”! Be nice to them!