We live in a time when the success in the collaboration between an agency that manages Social Media and its customer, is judged by the successful campaigns and of course, by creating and promoting exceptional content. Where a lot of cooperation frameworks «fail» is in the most critical point of the communication process, the management of the community.
A comprehensive community management plan is what will retain your brand ‘s reputation, fascinate and attract your audience. At the same time, it can attract an audience coming from competitive brands.
An agency exec who manages social media for a brand account, nowadays needs much more than scheduling the content and viewing it. You’ll have to be responding to the comments and messages quickly, giving thanks to the members of the Community, try to serve any request, even if it’s a matter more suited to a technical support dpt – and in general be more as someone that members will feel to be their friend, rather than a faceless representative of the company.
Best Practices
Rewarding community members – every online community to remain faithful to a brand, needs recognition. For this reason a brand should reward its members. A contest is a good idea whether the gift is large or smaller. Another good idea for a reward in the community, is the recognition of members in various ways, such as thanks, sharing their content or service when needed.
Quality versus Quantity – It is necessary to be reminded once again how important quality content plays against the quantity, as users seem to prefer to emphasize the type of content from that in quantity. Of course, we don’t need to mention that frequent content renewal is a success factor in social networking platforms. But if the content that goes up is simply there just to exist, then the goal of the brand will not be achieved, and the community will not be active.
Recognition of members – Recently, Facebook launched a new feature where under the name of a follower of a page, it is mentioned whether they’re a top fan. The top fan badge is given to users who Interact more with a page in Facebook. It is especially important that the top fans (but of course the other followers of a page as well) feel that there is recognition in their efforts and feel that the brand is by their side. Some ways to achieve this is to immediately service (the quality of service should be as high as possible for each customer), to acknowledge who they are in every interaction, and thank them for their comments and contributions.
Interaction with the community – It is particularly important for every presence on a social networking platform, to have frequent communication and interaction with the public, in any form and any means available from the respective platform. Responses to comments, frequent call to action that encourages participation, and initiatives for live chats via YouTube, IGTV, Periscope e.tc, with AMA (“Ask Me Anything”) sessions, brings the audience closer to the representatives of our brand. Social Media is a first-class opportunity to catch the pulse of the community, with tools such as polls, a useful tool that is provided by platforms such as Twitter.
The most common mistakes
Wrong style – every social networking platform has a different style. One of the most common mistakes in community management is the use of wrong speaking style. For example, you can’t talk to LinkedIn in a very direct and friendly way, like on Facebook or with abbreviations as you do in Twitter. If a company that appeals to a younger base, uses Facebook in the same way as using LinkedIn, undoubtedly they will not be able to reach the expected amount of target audience.
Wrong focus – one of the most common mistakes for a brand, is to focus on the numbers rather than the satisfaction of the community. For example, they will be happy to show that they have a large community of followers in Instagram. But If the members of the community do not affect each other or are not satisfied with the content that they see, then the high numbers, will soon start to diminish.
Wrong reaction – a community administrator must always take upon the responsibility that corresponds to the brand they represent. Even if they want to react to a negative comment, message or review, they must maintain the necessary composure, maintain their professionalism, talk with evidence and be polite.
Wrong division of tasks – the division of work is a trap that many companies fall into, as they do not give due diligence. Sometimes, a community administrator does not do just that, but works in various other projects. At the same time, little attention is given to a specific role, leading to people who do not have the necessary experience or training.
Wrong platform selection – another common mistake is the choice of wrong platform. Many brands consider it a great idea to have accounts everywhere, considering that they will cover all potential audiences and have great results. This is one of the most erroneous strategies for a number of reasons. If this decision was taken after a strategic examination of the platforms, it might be the correct one. But rarely does a brand need to have a presence on all social media platforms. Most of the time, a brand shall decide without prior examination, to expend to multiple platforms, and because of lack of time, restricted resources and human capital, ends up stretching very thin, with poor results. It is preferable to focus our efforts on less platforms, and achieve a robust presence, than to try to spread to multiple outlets, with worse results.
More resources – better planning
Having already covered the first half of 2019, we don’t need to explain the importance of communication in social media for any brand. However it is necessary to emphasize that social media management entails know-how, targeting, systematization and consistency. On the agency side this requires a much larger support team and full knowledge of the corporate strategy. In BRILLIANTPR we respond to all the above needs and will be glad to discuss yours.
