Digital Knowledge Manager: 5 Skills You Need to Succeed at the Newest Marketing Role
DKMs
use all the data a company has to determine what data it needs to solve
problems and drive strategy.
The
advent of today’s new intelligent services (Google Assistant/Home, Cortana,
Siri and others) has created an accelerated curve. Google, Bing, Apple, Yahoo,
Amazon and other increasingly intelligent services are driving a good deal of
change, with more expected in the future.
This evolution needn't be scary for search-engine optimization
(SEO) managers, brand managers, social media managers or chief marketing
officers. It’s actually an exciting opportunity that creates career options for
those willing to take on new responsibilities.
In
fact, today’s world of structured data needs professionals to provide context
for maps, info cards and specific answers. Customers and companies alike
increasingly demand the most accurate data from the most authoritative sources.
After all, how can an intelligent service be intelligent if it’s wrong?
Companies
are responding with a new role: Digital Knowledge Manager. Think of
“manager” here as an action, not a title. Real-life examples include Sam
Dresser, the Vice President of Knowledge Management and Engagement at School of Rock.
Glenn May's position at T-Mobile
is called Senior Category Manager - Local Marketing. Other
businesses actively are seeking to create similar positions. In a broad
sense, these new roles focus on five skills: investigation, negotiation,
communication, thought leadership and building.
Skill 1: Investigation.
A
Digital Knowledge Manager, or DKM, is first and foremost someone who can track
down all the authoritative sources of knowledge about your brand, people,
products, events and locations from within your organization. This could be an
easy job at a small company. But it could become a huge undertaking for large
corporations. It likely would require conversations with departments such
as Marketing, IT, Legal, Facilities, Store Operations and others. It's no
small feat to identify and find all the public facts about your business
that you want in customers' hands.
A
good DKM doesn’t simply settle for data the organization says it has. Instead,
the DKM investigates what consumers are demanding and then works to source the
data within the organization. For instance, Google reports that 70 percent of
hotel searches now include a specific type of amenity. A DKM digs into the
specifics. What amenities -- or granular details -- do consumers
seeking about your people, products, events and locations today? What will
they be tomorrow? An investigative DKM is critically important in this stage.
Skill 2: Negotiation.
Because
a DKM must work with many teams, he or she also needs to help arbitrate
conflicts among data sources and people within the organization. Digital
Knowledge Management is about boiling all of your data down to clear sources of
truth. And to do that, conflicts must be resolved in ways that promote
accuracy, stability, and efficiency.
Some
clients come to us at Yext
with multiple data sources across a wide variety of materials -- from their
Content Management System (CMS) to basic spreadsheets. These clients all
need someone to identify, vet and shepherd that data to best
effect.
Let’s
look at this in context. Think about the internal teams and even franchisees
that own the data for McDonald’s: locations, menus, nutritional information and
more. To deliver this structured data via today’s intelligent services, the DKM
must negotiate the twists and turns of internal and franchise politics to
ensure the consumer sees one brand, hears one voice and can rely on one
accurate data set to answer their needs in the moments that matter.
Skill 3: Communication.
As
technology evolves, so does a brand's responsibilities and opportunities
related to digital knowledge.
For
instance, the DKM should be the first in an organization to know about new
intelligent-services features that will require a robust set of digital
knowledge. Uber provides one example. At major air hubs such as Atlanta,
Chicago, Dallas and San Francisco, Uber customers can select multiple,
specific pick-up/drop-off points within the larger location. It’s the
DKM’s role to spot the opportunity and communicate it to appropriate teams.
This is how companies source information and fully leverage that data to
provide customer value. Uber recognized an opportunity and capitalized on that
gap.
Skill 4: Thought leadership.
A
DKM always must keep one eye on the future to monitor how intelligent services
are evolving. A true professional will spot what's new and develop a plan of
action. He or she will ask questions: What does this mean for our company? Our
customers? How does technology change our consumers' behaviors?
Believe it or not, one of Lego's partners has created a bot on the Alexa skills store. Brickbot will allow any Echo user to ask questions and get detailed answers about new and old Lego sets, themes and other products. With 20 percent of Google searches already run via voice command, it's smart to be thinking how to prepare all that digital knowledge to interface with voice search.
Skill 5: Building.
Ultimately,
the Digital Knowledge Manager must structure the people, processes, and
technologies that will ensure the accurate and timely creation, distribution and
ongoing maintenance of a company’s digital knowledge base.
While
platforms such as ours can help with technology, the people and processes
pieces rest with individual clients. Done right, digital knowledge becomes a
competitive brand differentiator. It can help attract more customers
through an ever-increasing array of intelligent services.
Bringing all 5 skills together.
It
doesn’t take superhero strength to be a DKM. In fact, the core skills look
similar to those needed in many positions. But the DKM role is bigger. It
has a broader impact on a company, works across more teams and focuses on
goals beyond simply attracting searchers or social-media shares.
The
DKM protects a company by making certain its digital knowledge is developed and
deployed in the best ways possible -- both internally and externally -- to
serve the business. Within an organization, the positioning of such a role may
be more or less senior, with tasks, goals and responsibilities aligned as such.
Here's a mocked-up job
description that helps define the DKM's scope.
This
substantial shift is really a change of focus, mindset and
investment. Leaders who realize they're closer to this outcome than they'd
believed have the potential to become DKMs and own their space in the
market.
Regards
Pralhad
Jadhav
Senior Manager @
Knowledge Repository
Khaitan &
Co
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