The Community Manager is the professional responsible for building, managing and administering the online community around an internet brand, creating and maintaining stable and lasting relationships with its clients, its fans and, in general, any user interested in the brand.
How do we know if we need a community manager for our brands?
Let’s start with the following diagnosis:
Do we have a good brand and with it, a product or a service that draws the attention of users and satisfies them?
If not
By meeting the public’s expectations, does our business begin to demand new levels of communication from us?
If not
Is the public beginning to show interest and concern in finding new channels for promoting and selling our businesses?
If not
If the majority of the answers are yes, it indicates that we are ready to:
- Consolidate our presence in social networks , if we do not have them yet;
- Get a Community Manager, that is, become the best
What is a community manager?
Well, there is a belief around in which it is said that working with social networks is as simple as creating an account on Facebook or Twitter to share some content and respond to the brand’s chat.
And it is not like that!
Because of this thinking, many companies are suspicious of opening this job profile.
Many even feel the ability to carry out such work, without taking the care that it really requires.
When … in fact, the community manager has become, in recent times, one of the most important figures in the digital media , who in addition to being in charge of the success of a brand, becomes the main spokesperson to which each and every one of the clients or users, they are directed.
If you are not yet very familiar with the subject, we suggest you continue reading. In this way you will realize if you have the wood to be one or if you really convince yourself to find the best person to represent your brand on the Internet .
What is not a Community Manager?
A Community Manager is not a professional webmaster, even the profile of this specialist has nothing to do with that of a brand community manager. Thus, it may not be an interesting idea to delegate that position to a webmaster.
The professional in question is not a person to whom brand management in social networks is designated as an additional task in their daily lives.
It is essential to have a specialist in the areas of knowledge previously mentioned in the text, this allows the most specific and results-oriented work.
The community manager is not a simple communicator or journalist who is successful in physical media. Many times, these professionals are not able to be successful in the virtual environment, either because they do not have sufficient knowledge or because they do not have aptitude or skills for such work.
What does Community Management mean?
Community management could be defined as the planning and execution of tasks that make a company have a presence on the internet , especially on social networks.
These activities are carried out by a professional who has different skills, including communication and design , who is called a community manager .
We know that, due to the constant changes of the internet, it is not possible, many times, for the entrepreneur to execute all the tasks.
It is important to invest in a professional who is totally dedicated to accompanying everything and keeping the site always updated.
This text is for those who want to know how this job works: the community manager . What is it? That makes? What are your tools? If you want to discover everything about this universe, you are in the right text!
What does a Community Manager do?
This name in English seems different to us in a first reading, but knowing it is something very simple.
Companies of all kinds already realize that it is not possible to continue without having someone who only takes care of the management of their respective brands on the internet.
The internet is a particular and rapidly updated world, therefore, investing in this professional is not a waste of time or money, but a great gesture of broad vision for the future.
The Community Manager is the professional responsible for building, managing and administering the online community around a brand on the internet, creating and maintaining stable and lasting relationships with its customers, its fans and, in general, any user interested in the brand.
And, contrary to what you may think, the job is not that simple and it is not for everyone.
Brand management on the internet requires a different knowledge, in addition to a set of skills, techniques and qualities that must be worked on.
Although there is a set of intrinsic qualities, such as empathy and a good dose of creativity and ingenuity, that help you carry out the functions of the Community Manager.
What are the functions of a Community manager
To the surprise of all of us, a community manager is not only aware of social networks, but also usually manages the corporate blog of the company and among this, he must take on the task of creating attractive and quality content .
In addition, you must have knowledge of the different programming tools to systematize the publications. Not to mention, you need to know the best times to advertise according to the brand and the person you are targeting.
1. Pay attention to the corporate landscape
The community manager acts as the eyes of the company on social networks. This is because it must be aware of the opportunities in the environment and the threats that the brand may face.
Also, it is attentive to the contents of the competition and the business industry in general, in order to provide information and add value to both the company and the users themselves.
2. Communicate relevant information to the company
Once the information is obtained, the community manager transmits the information to the different departments of the company, to integrate the different strategies of: marketing, sales, design, among others, and to be able to carry out a good action plan.
Well, it should be noted, in turn, that the information is obtained not only by listening to the outside of the company, but also by listening to the company as such. This way you know what data is required.
3. Respond to the online community
The community manager, being the voice of the brand on the Internet, is the one who assumes and faces any situation that arises.
On the other hand, it is responsible for attracting visitors through various digital tactics, for example, the dissemination of content . Although of course, always based on the information you have about what the public expects to receive from the brand.
In this sense, its main objective is to create a brand community. That is, to form a large group of people who know the brand and support it both in consumption and in monitoring its actions.
4. Identify opinion leaders
For a community manager it is important to identify and create links with people or groups of people capable of promoting dissemination strategies.
5. Convert users into ambassadors
The community manager must always be aware of the total movement of the brand on the internet. Therefore, it has the ability to identify the users who interact the most:
- Which users comment the most
- Who shares the most followed content
- Who “likes” daily
- Among others
In order to establish a network of collaboration with them and that they become ambassadors of the brand.
6. Follow routines according to a marketing team
Routines are essential for a community manager to ensure the success of any strategy that he implements:
5 Essential characteristics of a community manager
As we are already seeing, Community Management is both a complex and dynamic discipline. There are many tasks that must be carried out in this position, but they are all of vital importance for a brand.
Therefore, it is necessary that the person who carries out the function has training, experience and a profile according to the circumstances.
See below the characteristics that a community manager should have, in a more specific way:
Communication
The community manager must have the ability to transmit the values, emotions and tone of voice of the brand through the content that is disseminated and shared with the community.
Also, it must have the ability to respond correctly and appropriately to questions, comments, criticisms and other issues that arise among the people who interact with the brand.
Well, in addition to the above, your spelling and grammar skills must be impeccable. Errors here are not welcome .
Training
It is not an impossible practice, however, to ensure that it is successful and fulfills the marketing objectives, it would be best if the community manager is trained in areas such as:
- Marketing
- Communications
- Advertising
- Public relations
Also known as the Social Media Profession, the degree covers various areas of action and different professional practices, both in terms of democratization of production and access to media channels as an essential nature of new communication platforms and technologies.
But, who begins to work with social media without having a proper graduation course, usually has difficulty in identifying all types of practices within that universe.
There are several optimal rankings for those who want to work with social media such as Marketing. Knowing strategies and having knowledge in the area is essential for the professional to be able to interact correctly with the audience.
The Marketing specialist knows how to understand the needs of the target audience in question, as a consequence, he can offer exactly what the audience needs.
Another interesting area is that of communications. Those who master communication manage to interact with consumers in a much more effective way.
There is no doubt that, by undertaking adequate communication (with a message, tone and meaning oriented to the characteristics of the public), you are able to obtain a much more efficient contact.
Advertising is a more specific field of marketing and such knowledge promotes the creation of much more attractive advertisements. You know what happens as a result, right?
In general terms, having an advertising idea allows the ads to reach the public with a more expressive intensity, mainly because the professional knows how to present the proposal. That is, he knows more effective techniques and methodologies for this function.
Multitasking
The number of tasks varies depending on the size of the company. However, in general, the community manager is immersed in tasks that must be carried out simultaneously, such as:
- Conversations with the company
- Conversations with users
- Text editing
- Content curation
- Content production
- CTA’s
- Copys
- Design
- Image editing, sometimes video
- And that’s just to mention some of the basic features
The evolution of communications and information technology has an irreversible impact on people’s daily lives.
The way of working has changed and even the fixed hours of work are no longer the same.
This is because, by managing different technological devices and systems, people can bring work tasks home and come into contact with their work colleagues.
Just as the way of carrying out work has undergone changes over the years, the professional profile has also been modified.
Connectivity has made people learn to do several activities at the same time.
Multitasking professionals can (and like!) Do more than one task at the same time and can switch between them quickly.
Connected and attentive to market developments, they are considered a fundamental resource in companies, mainly in organizations that operate in the technology, marketing and business segments.
Multitaskers are agile people to initiate tasks, handle technologies and improvise when things seem not to be giving the expected results.
About the multitasking feature in the daily life of a Community Manager professional, it can be said that it is indispensable.
This is because a person who works with social media has to face roles such as monitoring the internet and networks, knowing the target audience and listening to criticisms, conflicts and complaints related to the brand or the products / services it offers.
Apart from these roles, the professional exercises several others and these will be mentioned shortly.
Flexibility
For many reasons, the community manager must have the willingness to serve the brand even outside the established normal hours.
This happens most of all on special dates both on the calendar of the countries or cities, and of the company itself.
Passion
The daily work of a community manager requires that they be passionate about communication.
His work consists mainly of being in permanent contact with the public and being a bridge between external people with the company and vice versa, so he must have energy and passion for what he does at all times.
Objectives of a Community Manager in a company
The Community Manager must have as professional orientation the following objectives:
- optimize brand visibility in the virtual environment. This will have a direct impact on the way people will see the brand, that is, it influences the perception of the audience;
- seek the quality of its actions, always paying attention to the needs of consumers without ceasing to think about the interests of the company;
- generate qualified web traffic that enhances conversions;
- establish and record the number of visits to the landing page or corporate site as a result of network management;
- establish relationships with clients and influencers in the sector;
- provide customer support.
Methodologies used by the Community Manager
The successful management of social networks also depends on the methods used by the Community Manager in the search audience. The correct implementation requires considering:
Ethics
This means being judgmental, not acting in bad faith, maintaining a professional posture without the intention of harming another company or person.
An example of little or lack of ethics is attacking the competition by humiliating and weighing down their reputation. False accusations and lies are also other cases of lack of ethics.
Good practices
Keeping a document (manual) of good practices and following it properly is essential.
This guide is related to ethical criteria, but it is also a way to keep a calendar up to date. As a result, the professional’s work will be much more reliable, safe and transparent.
Tools
Programming profiles on social networks, enriching content, shortening URLs, measuring the reputation of the brand or the company’s profile on social networks, are examples of powerful tools used by great Community Managers.
Style guide
Having such a guide allows the brand to have its own tone. That is, do not assume the tone of the Community in your posts.
It would be a disaster if brands “spoke” to the audience with their manager’s way of communicating. Imagine what would happen when the company changed the responsible professional!
Roles assumed by a community manager in a company
In addition to the characteristics and responsibilities mentioned, a community manager must assume certain roles to fulfill the communication objectives:
The detective
A community manager must monitor networks and the internet at all times. This monitoring implies that you become a kind of detective, since your investigation must transcend spaces, even outside the community.
You must know what is being said not only about the brand but about others, as well as the products that are emerging on the market.
Therapist
You must have a great empathy to be able to respond to criticism, claims and conflicts related to the brand: products / services, in order to provide adequate solutions.
Listening carefully like a therapist and responding cautiously, is precisely to prevent problems from spreading among other users.
Tamer
People with bad intentions will always emerge who will arrive only to annoy the brand and leave the company in an uncomfortable situation.
Therefore, the community manager must pay close attention to detect them and keep them at bay. And although it is very difficult, you must also take on the challenge of converting these people into followers of the brand.
Fan number 1
Enthusiasm is contagious. If the community manager is the first face that users will meet, they are expected to have a very high level of enthusiasm and show their affection for the brand with their sympathy.
When a community manages to spread its good vibes, it encourages users to be part of the community and constantly enjoy both the content and the promotions it broadcasts.
Analyst
Every action carried out by the community manager is not free. It is necessary that each of the steps is accompanied by the analysis of the results produced by the contents, the interaction, the promotions, the communications among others.
With the metrics you obtain, you will be able to make reports that serve to suggest new actions or ideas that are in accordance with the planned objectives.
Diplomatic
Problems will not be lacking, however, the idea is that the community manager has the ability to channel situations to prevent setbacks from arising and turning into crises.
Editor
In addition to communication skills, there must be an innate but prepared writer within the person.
A community manager requires constantly writing on the networks, blog, etc., always being alert to needs and without abandoning creativity.
3 mistakes to avoid in the daily life of a Community Management professional
It is true that we all want to be successful in the race, but there are times when mistakes happen and we cannot ignore them.
When the professional is wrong, it is best to learn and consider experience in similar situations.
Take a look at some of the worst mistakes made by Community Managers and try to avoid them:
Exaggerate in tone
When a person makes a negative review on a social network and refers to the company with a depreciable whole, it is possible that the professional responds and refers to the brand with the same expression.
This is a very big mistake! Pass the idea that the brand is making fun of the consumer. The consequences can be dire.
Unknown tools
Sometimes, the professional is wrong, such as saying that to send a direct message on Twitter you necessarily need to follow the brand on that social network. Before demonstrating and speaking in a “proprietary” tone, make sure you are correct about the tool.
Misspellings
Spelling mistakes are the terror of social media professionals . Try Googling the correct spelling and consider Word’s spell checker an interesting resource.
What professional tools should the community manager use?
1. Trello
Trello is a very useful application, which you can obtain for free, that helps in the organization of tasks, plans and actions, in the creation of calendars and allows to establish those responsible for carrying out the planned task.
2. Hootsuite
This is one of the tools most used to schedule posts on social networks, keep track of mentions, direct messages, among others.
It also has a section where you can find statistics and check the evolution of the general metrics of social networks.
3. Slack
Slack is an application for cell phones and computers that acts as an integrating chat in a company. Group the communication of the work teams so that you can focus on your work.
It has support channels such as private conversations and integrates with external services such as Google Drive, Trello, among others.
4. Buffer
This tool acts as a content manager and in it you can both share and schedule entries on social networks such as Facebook , LinkedIn and Twitter .
Similarly, with it you can access statistics on the interaction and monitoring of managed accounts.
5. Marketing calendar kit
This kit is a compilation of editorial calendars that includes the calendar for social networks.
By downloading it, you will be able to edit it and organize the order of your publications and you will be able to see important dates in time to react with highly valuable content:
6. Brand 24
Brand 24 is a tool that allows you to control the information and content that is published about a company or brand. With it you can also get information about the competition. It is a paid tool, however, it has a 14-day trial.
7. Crimson Hexagon
This tool allows monitoring and analysis of all social networks. Produces brand data and provides information on consumer sentiment.
8. BuzzBundle
Being a tool very similar to Crimson Hexagon, BuzzBundle is used to find conversations in the networks in which the brand, the company, the product or any matter of interest appears.
Analyze the data and provide the possibility to participate in conversations from the creation of users.
9. Google alerts
The Google Alerts can be used to monitor a specific topic you are tracking or also to send, through the use of keywords , an alert whenever news is generated on the subject sought or released.
10. Canva
When we need agility and don’t have very extensive knowledge about design tools , Canvas becomes essential for website and social media image editing.
It is a very intuitive tool, easy to use and offers templates with varied and very professional designs.
11. Easelly
The infographics are the strong point of this communication and of course, also Easelly.
If you are interested in creating infographics to explain the various contexts in social networks, this tool will allow you to do them in a very simple way.
12. Picktochart
Being a site very similar to Canva, it has more resources to do image editing. For example, it has more forms of titles, icons, images, backgrounds, among others.
13. Headline Analyzer
Writing titles will never be an easy task.
There are those who have their secrets and skills to get them out fast and very good, but it will never be an easy task. Headline Analyzer is a tool that helps us, precisely, with titles.
Not in creation, but it does help us review their relevance, assess the keywords in there, length, and emotional value. It is a very easy to use tool, and while it does not believe us the titles, it does let us know if they work or not!
14. Tagboard
Hashtags have become the daily bread not only of Twitter but also of the rest of social networks!
Well, although it happens that with hashtags we are not always sure of their impact nor will we know if they will be discovered by the public on social networks.
With Tagboard we can see the pages and profiles that use a certain hashtag that we want to analyze, as well as to see how much it is used, the context in which it is implemented and who uses it.
With this information, it is easier for us to design strategies to reach the audiences we want.
15. Bit.ly
The URL finder par excellence. It serves to make the links we share on the web shorter and more aesthetic.
16. Google Trends
What to write in the next post? With this tool we can investigate global search trends on Google .
To end
Are you able to gauge the importance of this professional profile a bit?
In the digital age that invades us, a community manager is the one to guide us on the path to success with our brands and businesses
However, it is worth mentioning that since it is a profession that consolidates every day, there is still much to say, many sections to go and many methods to understand.
Stay tuned to our blog, here soon we will be publishing more information about the tools, some tips and the challenges that are coming for these professionals.
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