With over a third of adults globally
experiencing loneliness, companies are tapping into the power of online
communities to build genuine connections with their customers. Enter community
management platforms – the new frontier in audience engagement.
Despite living in an increasingly connected
world with a global social media usage rate hovering around 50%, many still
feel isolated and lacking a sense of belonging. This disconnection doesn't just
impact personal relationships, but also the way customers relate to brands.
Which is why a growing number of businesses are turning to community management
strategies to facilitate real relationships and engagement.
What
exactly is community management?
In essence, it's about leveraging
opportunities across digital and real-life channels to create an interactive
network where a company's customers, partners, and fans can communicate, share
experiences, and cultivate feelings of membership.
The benefits of fostering a engaged brand
community are vast, including the ability to crowdsource ideas and feedback,
offer rapid customer service, amplify brand awareness, understand audience
needs and preferences, connect customers to facilitating valuable networks, and
ultimately boost customer satisfaction, loyalty, and referrals.
While community management and social media
marketing may seem similar on the surface, they each require unique strategies
to succeed. Social media managers tend to focus solely on organic and paid
campaigns on each social channel, mapping out content strategies and analyzing
performance metrics.
In contrast, a community manager's number one
priority is interacting directly with members through comments, direct
messages, and designated community spaces. They gather insights from these
one-on-one touchpoints to share back with the wider team and shape future
engagement.
Perhaps the most significant differentiator?
Social media managers act and post as the faceless brand, while community
leaders operate as approachable individuals, allowing for more intimate, human
connections with followers.
Rather than sidelining customer service
requests through social media, the focus of community management is providing
real-time assistance, maximizing each personal interaction to truly understand
customers and build long-lasting relationships.
Building
an Effective Community Management Strategy
Choose
your channel thoughtfully
Think about your audience demographics and
behaviors to select the most fitting communication method. Options include
Facebook Groups, Twitter Communities, Discord, Slack, product feedback
platforms like Geneva, and more. This is an emerging space without hard
conventions, so feel empowered to experiment with creative approaches like
hosting a community on Discord. What matters most is understanding where your
customers prefer to engage.
Clarify
how you'll define success
Depending on your company's goals, determine
how you'll track performance. Possible metrics include community size and
growth rate, number of participating members, engagement indicators like
likes/comments/shares, social mentions, improvements in brand sentiment,
website traffic sources, customer retention rates, and revenue/conversions
influenced by community activity. At times, success criteria like an increased
sense of fellowship can be challenging to quantify – track both tangible data
points and qualitative indicators.
Engage
thoughtfully and consistently
Building a thriving community requires
consistent interactive effort beyond just broadcasting information. Proactively
encourage user-generated content, respond promptly to comments, leverage polls
and surveys, and find creative ways to spotlight community members - like
highlighting remote worker home offices in a community newsletter.
Measure
performance and adapt based on feedback
There's no one-size-fits-all approach to
community measurement, so monitor various engagement, sentiment, and survey
metrics to understand member behaviors and satisfaction. Share metrics and
insights across teams, and conduct period pulse checks with the community
itself on future wants/needs.
Define
clear guidelines
A code of conduct and behavior standards will
help preserve your community as an inclusive, productive space that
authentically represents your brand. Clearly outline respectful treatment,
spam/harassment policies, any rules around promotional sharing, etc. Share
guidelines prominently and reference them regularly.
The rise of brand communities signals a
craving for digital spaces that offer belonging and connection on a human
level. And with innovation in the community management space, there's exciting
potential to foster meaningful relationships and engagement between companies
and customers. By investing in thoughtful community strategy powered by
dedicated team members, brands have an opportunity to turn loneliness into
lasting bonds.