Guides for budding Community Managers!

The Community Manager is a job that has appeared not too long ago. Because of this, the roles are not always clearly outlined, the skills needed may change, and businesses frequently seek the perfect candidate with various abilities.

As a community manager, set aside what you know about marketing. On social media, folks do not want to feel like they are being marketed to. Just be yourself! Your aim is to connect with potential clients and initiate a conversation with them.

The Community Manager chooses which social networks to use

You must decide, based on your company’s identity, the social networks you want to be on and create a unique method for each one. It is crucial to grasp the specifics of each platform and recognize what users are looking for, whether they seek fun, information, etc.

For instance, Facebook is great for storytelling. Twitter is better suited for sharing information (advice, special deals, emotional or funny posts). LinkedIn is the top professional network, it may be more valuable for B2B than B2C, but it can help showcase your abilities. ScoopIt is a favored platform for professional updates by many people.

3 types of content to position yourself as an expert

There are also forums, blogs, and various websites where you will not only keep an eye on things but also engage more or less regularly.

The Community Manager gives scale to your conversations

Social networks are ultimately just an extension of real life. Never forget that you are talking to real people, even if they are hidden behind the keyboard and screen. Put people at the center of all your work. Here are some rules of good practice that should help you:

1- Reply to each comment
It may seem boring but it really makes a difference. Admit that it is pleasant, when you intervene on the Facebook or Twitter profile of a brand or public figure you like, to get a personal response! Of course I put a warning on very large accounts that receive tens of thousands of comments per day.

2- Use the person’s name
Every person should feel unique. The more personal and unique you make the experience, the more you will get out of your work. Don’t hesitate to personalize your messages and even use a little humor, so that the person remembers your intervention. If you post a simple “thank you,” you won’t get much more than a “you’re welcome.” If you start a conversation, you’ll get more.

No, I won’t write for Google!

3- Like every comment
Again, this may seem repetitive but it’s not a lot of effort to make.

4- Show your fans you are listening
Show them that you listen to their requests. You can keep them informed when a project is born or your site evolves, for example, and this follows their request. Compliments or complaints, it’s a step forward in building a community of fans and evangelists for your brand.

The Community Manager is your customers’ advocate!

But be careful, if you count on your community to talk about you, to promote your services, to become some sort of ambassador, they will expect you to provide them in exchange with exclusive benefits and help with any difficulties they may encounter with your products or any of your company’s services.

Defend their rights internally, be their advocate and make your colleagues understand all the brand image benefits that the entire company can gain from it. It’s not even about responding to the most imaginative requests, but simply about speaking up, listening and doing everything you can to improve the customer experience.

Positioning is not easy: you are neither the after-sales service nor the marketing department of your company, but something in between, sometimes taking hits from both sides. Because even if you can reach out and create a community, you understand what it’s all abouta community based on individuals and that everyone is actually looking for something very personal (an answer to their problem). Most, once the problem is resolved, will not come back to you. But with patience, persistence and time, a percentage of grateful users will remain.

Create content

To spark and maintain a commuty, you have to make them want to come back. And this is where we overlook some aspects of the Community Manager! He’s not just this geek with glasses connected 24 hours a day on different networks, with one eye constantly glued to his smartphone. He is also a content creator.

This content can take on different aspects and it is your creativity that will find its limits. You can imagine contests, blog articles where you showcase your company’s expertise, applications integrated into Facebook (games, quizzes, etc.), there are many avenues to explore, everything is new and it is likely that you can give birth or rebirth new ways of interacting.

Create this content and distribute it so that as many people as possible can access it. It is certain that content takes time to write and design; on the contrary, once created, you can reuse it regularly.