How To Get Your Community To Engage With You.

Welcome back to where we fill you in on the latest topics at The Attention Seeker (ATTN).

This Newsletter was brought to you by Ashley, the Editor of ATTN Newsletter and Internal Brand Exec.

This week we are discussing how to get people to engage with you online.

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This Week

Is all about Community Management. Who best to tell us what Community Management is and how to use it in your social media plan? One of our very own community management specialists - Melinda Wong.

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What Is Community Management?

Community management is the process of building an authentic community among a business's customers, employees, and partners through various types of interaction.

It's how a brand uses opportunities (in person and online) to interact with their audience to create a network in which they can connect, share, and grow.

Through community management, a business can:

• Gather feedback and ideas from customers through real conversations.
• Offer support to audience members, fans, and customers whenever they need assistance.
• Increase brand and product awareness within the target audience.
• Understand customers' desires, expectations, and needs for content, products, services, and support.
• Establish personal and group connections between audience members and the brand.
• Enhance customer interactions, conversions, and sales.
• Deliver value to customers that goes beyond just products or services.

Baseline question to ask yourself before engaging in community management:

• What's the company's main function?
• How does the brand express itself?
• Who are their customers?
• How do they want to be perceived by their customers? You can consider brand archetypes for insight.
• Why are they focusing on community management? What's the intended outcome?
• When should client/customer service get involved?

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Where And How To Begin

When it's about your business, you naturally want everything to reflect your brand accurately and positively.

This holds true for your community as well. That's why it's important to establish clear community rules and guidelines for everyone involved, including your team responsible for community management.

The approach to creating these guidelines can vary depending on your community type, but here are some ways to start:

• Develop a written document outlining communication, behaviour, and contribution expectations for all members. Share this document with both your team and new community members upon joining.
• If you have a forum, FAQ, or community website, keep this document readily accessible there. For in-person communities, discuss these details face-to-face and consider distributing printed copies to set expectations.
• Create a process for your team to escalate significant issues within the community to the appropriate person in your company for proper handling.
• Remember to update your rules and guidelines as needed, especially as your community evolves and grows.

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How To Measure Community Engagement

This depends on the client's or business's goals.

Before you start testing and experimenting, you need to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve with your social media efforts.

For example:

In April, for One New Zealand, our focus was brand awareness. As we learnt the brand's tone and needs, this gradually shifted to increasing brand advocacy and love.

With this, we saw a positive sentiment change from 51% to 80%!

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What Separates Good From?Great

What distinguishes average community management from exceptional community management?

Average community management is centred around addressing customer inquiries and issues, which is vital but not sufficient for cultivating a thriving community.

Exceptional community management transcends this by prioritizing relationship-building, offering customer value, and nurturing a sense of belonging.

Several factors set apart average from exceptional community management for a brand:

1. Proactivity: Average management reacts to customer queries and complaints, while exceptional management anticipates needs, engaging customers before questions or problems arise.
2. Engagement: Exceptional management surpasses basic problem-solving, creating content that stimulates interaction, posing questions, and prompting customers to share insights and experiences.
3. Personalization: Outstanding management recognizes individuality, tailoring experiences through personalized messages, custom recommendations, and content tailored to specific audience segments.
4. Empathy: Exceptional management demonstrates empathy by actively listening to feedback, acknowledging concerns, and seeking to comprehend customer viewpoints.
5. Creativity: Outstanding management embraces creativity, experimenting with novel concepts, producing innovative content, and discovering fresh methods to engage clientele.
6. Data-driven: Exceptional management relies on data, utilizing metrics to gauge success. This involves tracking engagement rates, analyzing sentiment, and employing data to make informed decisions.

In essence, remarkable community management extends beyond mere troubleshooting. It emphasizes relationship cultivation, delivering value, and fostering belonging. This approach can foster customer loyalty and drive business achievement.

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Stansplaining Podcast

In this podcast episode, we have Michelle Morfett. Michelle Morfett and Stanley engage in a dynamic discussion delving into Michelle's remarkable venture of launching a bakehouse and cake store at the young age of 22. Driven by an unwavering passion for business, Michelle's ceaseless dedication shines as she manages her cake store's operations while venturing into book authorship. Her relentless drive propels her forward at full throttle.

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