Key Ingredients To Being A Community Manager

Social Media 101

I’ve had several request from would be Community Managers who want to learn the in’s and out’s of the job. Most people have an idea of how the job functions but do you really know what it takes to be a community manager? It’s not just about being a hardcore gamer or product enthusiast. This job requires a great deal of varied skills. I’ve seen people who are hardcore fans of video games actively participate in communities that want to be CM’s but lack some of the most important components.

Community Manager - Building an online Community

What you need to know to be a good Community Manager:

It’s Public Relations: You represent a company and really need to remember that. You are required to know the product that you are representing like the back of your hand. You are the 1st line of defense when it comes to online issues. Not only that but you’ll need to be presenting solutions to potential problems. It’s your job to bring enlighten the company on the community & consumer sentiment (what people think about the product online).

It’s dealing with the online consumer, the community: You are responsible for communicating with consumers online. This can be VERY challenging because at times the online community can be harsh & they will get on your last nerve. You can’t lose your cool & go off on the community. It’s irresponsible and it can get you into a lot of trouble. A good community manager is strategic about their community communication. This will allow you to make your community work for you not against you.

You need to know your audience by being an expert on what they respond to on all the social media channels because it does differ.

It’s part researcher: You’ll need to consistently keep an eye on what the competition is doing good & bad. This help you stay in tune and at time ahead of the game. It can even help you discover new things that could work for your community.

You also need to be constantly keep your community engage with content. Doing your research can part ideas for keywords and relevant content to tie into your product. This can increase the amount of active users on your social networks.

It’s being an analyst & optimizer: Knowing how to read social networking and website analytics (insights) can help you to see how well your hard work is paying off & can also help you build a case within the company to get more money for a campaign or to create more content that the community wants. This is the most important thing for companies. They want to see growth and progress. This is also known as your Key Performance Indicators (KPI). It’s going to be up to you to show it via “Likes”, “Views”, “Unique Visitors”, “Weekly Active Users”, “Followers”, “Replies”, “ReTweets” etc. The most important and difficult process is to make sense of all the data.

Once you’ve got a grasp on those skills you’ve created a great foundation for a career in Community Management. Working together with other people within the company to help craft a plan is key. They can help you extend your reach to help build your community while you work to engage them and turn them into your own army of promoters. Listen to them, talk to them, & work hard to keep them happy.

Got any questions? Looking for more information on this topic? Let me know by leaving me a comment!

Renelly aka Nelly Morel

Social Media Pro Tip #1 – Keep it Simple

Social Media 101

I felt the need to write a blog about the number 1 rule of online marketing (in my opinion) after seeing a few of my friends break it. That rule is keep it simple. When you are anxious to promote a campaign or a piece of content you want as many people as possible to Like it, Comment it, Tweet it, Share it, Post it, etc. You want it all & you ask for it all. This can cause confusion and can decrease the amount of interactions on your social media channel. The reason it’s actually hurting you is because you are asking your audience to do too many things at once. This creates what we online marketers like to call a “high barrier of entry”. The more you ask people to do at once online, the less likely that they will do it.

Think about the average person that surfs the web. Their attention span is pretty short and they will only take the time to go through several hoops if they are passionate about something or if they are going to get a reward after the fact. The less call to actions or requests you have, the better. The lower the barrier to entry, the more likely it is that they will interact with your content or campaigns.

The moral of this story is, when you are putting something out there just ask your audience to do one thing. “Comment below to give us your opinion” OR “Reply to this tweet telling us why you love social media” etc. This applies to all the social media channels out there. Twitter, Facebook, Google +, and more.

One simple call to action. That’s all.

Got any questions or comments? Let me know! I’d love to hear from you.

Renelly Morel aka Nelly

How to: Begin Crafting Your Social Media Plan

Social Media 101

how to start your social media plan

I’ve noticed recently that a handful of my friends have began creating social networking channels to promote their very own products and custom services. They’re on the right track but might be going about it the wrong way. Using Facebook, Twitter, and other online social sites can really help boost your online awareness and help you aggregate a community around your service or product. At the same time, it can be pretty overwhelming. Think about it. Once you take the time to create a Facebook page, YouTube channel, or a Twitter account, what’s your strategy? Just giving people updates here and there isn’t going to cut it. For companies, a lot of thought goes into populating each of these channels & they are all not created equally.

Here are some things I’ve learned along the way that you might or might not know:

Before creating your social networking channel, take the time to ask yourself a few questions. This will ensure that you start off with a game plan.

Who am I trying to reach out to? Figuring out your target demographic can help you craft your audience message to make sure you’re speaking to them in on their terms. If you are planning on targeting males 18-24 you want to talk to them about what they’re interested in while keeping your product or service top of mind.
What are my overall objectives? Creating objectives will help you hyper focus on what you are trying to accomplish. Don’t make it too generic or else your find it hard to get it done. Try figuring out what your brand or service needs. (ex. “Create awareness around my product & encourage the spread of information”)
What are others who offer similar products and services doing? Don’t try reinventing the wheel. Take the time to see what others are doing online. See what works, what doesn’t work, etc. It will give you tons of great ideas for your own plan. This is a common practice so don’t be afraid to do your research.
What sets me aside from the competition? Figure out what makes you different and what your edge is. This will come in handy when you are working on setting yourself aside from the pack.
What are my goals? Have you seen Facebook insights ,YouTube insights, & Twitter analytics tools? There is so much information in their and it can be overwhelming! Take the time to figure out what you goals are & what is important to you. Getting thousands of fans & views is not realistic. Start small and work your way up but don’t setting for tiny goals. Remember engagement is also important. Don’t just focus on growth.

Once you have really taken the time to answer those questions you can begin to build you social media plan. *YAY*

Upcoming social media 101 blogs: Breaking down the social networking channels, Standard Social Media Tactics, How to communicate to your audience online?

Got any questions, comments or blog requests? Let me know! I’m all ears.

– Renelly aka Nelly