Community management is key for social media success

What are the big benefits of having skilled community managers looking after YOUR social media channels? Firstly, they get to learn about the customers in depth and discover what they want, expect, and need in terms of content, products, services, and support.

Video features Elena Cazacu

The Value of Good Community Managers

Community managers often develop a deep knowledge of who does what within the companies that employ them. Therefore they can quickly assign enquirers to product experts in the social media tool. 

SME (Subject Matter Expert) lists are essential and must be updated regularly to ensure that these are passed onto the right people.

Good community managers are essential during times of crisis, managing the “go dark” protocol and using the appropriate tone of voice. They capture insights as to how the crisis is developing. They can provide the first indications of the crisis coming to an end.

Community managers can build relationships that lead to new business opportunities. They can pass sales leads on via the social media tool which often can be interfaced with a CRM application.

Metrics to Measure Good Community Management

What metrics can be used to measure the performance of community management? The “social devoted” metrics listed by Socialbakers is a good start:

• Response Time
• Response Rate
• Answered Minus Ignored Questions
• Positive Sentiment

Skills of Good Community Managers

What about the skills needed? One of my favorite posts on this subject is by Lindsay Kolowich Cox for HubSpot. She describes the required skills as:

• Strong Communication
• Adaptability
• Calmness
• Desire to Solve Others’ Problems
• Ability to Troubleshoot
• Knows @here to Pass Complex Questions,
• Knowledge of the Company, Products, and Services

I can agree with this list after having done the role of a community manager in my past. I now add two of my own attributes. The first is simply “Energy”. That energetic enthusiasm that a good community manager has can often shine right through their words and actions. You can probably recall a social media account where you encountered this with fondness. Customers and clients will often look forward to having dialogue with accounts run by community managers that are “love dealing with people”.

I also find that a good sense of humor adds another dimension, as shown in this example.

What type of community managers do you have?

Do they have the right skills?