18 Ways the Best Community Managers Succeed on Social

Originally published on nuksuite on February 26, 2015.

A Community Managers’ day-to-day demands an unending supply of creativity, iron-clad organisation and the dexterity to use multi social tools at once. Not to mention cupfuls of coffee… Here we’ve compiled a list of the best tips and tricks for effective Community Management to help you out…
1. Maximise Your Time on Twitter
Supercharge your Bio
Make sure people can find you as easily as possible by using keywords and even a hashtag in your bio.
Using a combination of your name and company name means you’ll increase your chances of being found when people are carrying out a search.
Productivity Tip: Keep your moral going with an anti-do list. Much more satisfying to check off what you’ve accomplished, than a List of Doom of all the things to be done.
Shortcuts to Finding New Fans, Thoughtfully
Twitter follows don’t fall from the sky (sadly). Actively crowdsourcing will be an essential, and yes, time-consuming part of your work, so make sure you take your time to do it right.
Carry out a Twitter search using keywords and #hashtags, for example; location, business keywords look for Tweets and people who have keywords in their bios.
Verify accounts on websites and positions on LinkedIn.
Be pragmatic and thoughtful in your adds: if you’re adding users willy nilly, people will assume you just want to grow your Twitter numbers.
Chat Your Way to a Wider Audience and an Improved e-Reputation
Join Industry Forums (we at Nuke Suite recommend MyCommunityManager on Facebook) and Twitter Chats that are relevant to your business. Join these conversations.
Or start your own Twitter chat about your subject this is also a great way to attract consumers. Start following some of your key influencers and engage with them.
Get your existing followers involved. Ask your followers questions, run polls / competitions, share photos and slides: be proactive, not reactive.
Be Tweet-Sensitive
As well as knowing what’s going on with your brand, audience and competitors – it pays to be aware of things outside of your realm.
If a global event is occurring or a particular hashtag is trending – check WHY and then take note.
Irrelevant and poorly scheduled Tweets can look insensitive when paired next to a global tragedy.
Read Next: How to Use Twitter Ads to Boost Your Business
2. Balancing Work and Play
One Phone, Two Accounts
Balancing your personal and work life can be tricky, even more so if you use your personal mobile for work.
Save confusion by switching to work-only accounts during the 9-5. It might not do too much harm in the long run but Tweeting something intended for your personal account won’t look too professional.
Likewise, keep in mind that any thoughts you share on your personal Twitter feed are associated with your brand. Save your rant for wine with your friends, and off Twitter… you’ll thank yourself later!
Productivity Tip: Turn off personal phone notifications to keep yourself focused on work projects.
Learn How to Log Off
We all know, social media doesn’t have an Off switch.
The best Community Managers say the key to achieving a successful work/life balance is to have rigorous ‘no phone’ periods. Facebook posts can be scheduled and Instagrams can wait (they call it #latergram for a reason) – you need some tech-free time to maximise your efficiency (and keep sanity) in the long run.
No one wants to be that person texting / Tweeting at a dinner table… Your friends, the offline ones, are valuable!
3. Finding Your Voice on Social
Think About Your Tone
You’re a real person, talking to real people – it’s a communal conversation.
A lot of brands will have specific guidelines about how to engage with fans, but try and speak to them the way they speak.
Some products won’t match the overly friendly BFF-chat, you’ll need to adopt a natural tone that fits with both your brand and your audience.
Do you sound human? No? Rewrite it.
Promote Your Brand in the Right Way
You’re representing a brand, and all the products that come with it.
Talk about them, engage your personal Twitter followers with them – but limit the marketing messages. It’s your job to be a brand ambassador on social – not an online salesman.
4. Getting the Most out of Your Content
Write for the Short-Term, with Eyes on the Future
While it’s important to have an iron-clad content marketing strategy, don’t plan content for more than one month in advance.
Your fans will know straight away if your posts have been sitting in drafts for weeks, so maximise on ‘of-the-moment’ issues or trends to keep your content fresh.
This will make your brand look current, relevant and timely.
This goes hand in hand with keeping an eye on all the key dates in the marketing calendar e.g. Black Friday, Thanksgiving, Father’s Day; and particularly those that might be relevant to your brand e.g. Valentine’s Day, school holidays, National Chocolate Week; or just the ones for funs.
Productivity Tip: Create a ‘Follow Up’ folder, to make sure emails don’t perish on the Gmail high seas.
Read Also: Top Free Tools for Community Managers
Crowdsource Content Across Platforms
Spread your content across social media channels, playing to each platform’s strength.
Post an Instagram photo to Facebook (hashtags included) – any brand product promotion is infinitely good value.
Don’t forget to thank anyone who features your content or any regrams. Your love will pay off.
Productivity Tip: Sounds naf but controlling the brightness on your screen will mean you can work headache free. And for longer.
Seamless Social Management
There aren’t enough hours in the day, but thankfully there are several social tools that can make life easier.
Using a social media marketing tool like Nuke Suite will organise, implement and analyse all your activity on social – in one convenient hub. No confusing-dashboards or umpteen tabs.
5. Nurturing Your Fans
Ask the Questions…
Part of being a Community Manager is finding out what your communities think – a chief part of your brand’s strategy for progression. And acquiring this information means you need to ask the important questions.
You can do this with a simple call for feedback, open-ended questions, or incentivise fans with a promotion e.g. which product do you prefer and the winner will get a discount off for 24hours.
Answer the Replies…
It’s really important to equal the effort a fan has made with a response. These exchanges are what make the brand your brand. If people care about you enough to comment, then reply (promptly enough) to show that you care too.
…But Let the Conversations Flourish
Implement the ten minute rule within your communities.
If a fan asks a question, wait to see if anyone else within the community responds or adds anything. This way you can see the natural development of a conversation.
From that point, you can add your own advice, talk directly to certain fans, and engage with a larger group.
It still pays to be responsive and timely, but if the Community Manager is the first to respond, the conversation will start and end with you.
Share the Love
The best way you can promote yourself is through great customer feedback (you’ll get this through your Customer Service channels too, see above!).
A glowing account from a fan speaks volumes about your brand, and it’s what future customers will pay attention to…
Focus on Quality, not Quantity
Spend your time and attention on your true brand advocates.
We all want those big, impressive stats for our communities, but the important members are the ones that will engage with and talk about your brand.
4. Utilise Your Internal Resources
Get to Know Your Customer Service Team
These are the people that will help you in problem solving.
Your interaction will not only help future customers, but you as well. Social media management and customer service are not the same things. Learn from each other to reach a common goal.
Know the Brand Back to Front
Answering questions and responding to complaints are part and parcel of your job.
Preparation ahead of time is key, especially if your brand’s social publishing has to go through approval systems before you post.
See Also: Growing Nuke Suite – Improved Content Validation System
Go over common questions with your product and customer service teams (the people who’ll know the most frequent problems) to make sure you have your answers (including your 140-character ones) accurate.
Create FAQs and step-by-step guides to link to on social – these will save you time and having to repeat questions.
Sources:
Mashable / SproutSocial / WeWork / Hubspot / TheCommunityManager