Most people don’t realise how much work goes into community management and building a great online community. Some may think that community managers just moderate comments, respond to customers and script some feedback, but that’s just the tip of a very big iceberg. It’s not all fun, games, and cute puppies online. We’ve listed the most common misconceptions built around community management and why you should give your community managers a whole lotta love today.
Community management is the same as social media marketing
The biggest misconception about community management is that it’s the same as social media marketing. Both can use the same channels but not for the same purposes.
Social Media Marketing gets people in the door. While social media can be used for building a community, it is more about getting the brand message out there and making it attractive to target audiences via social networks.
Community Management is honing the customer experience after they get through the door. It’s giving people a sense of belonging to a community and building relationships between them. It’s about gaining interactions and working to build relationships between the organisation and their audience, creating channels that potentially allow for more effective communication.
It can be done by one person
For companies starting out with community management, there will be a time at the beginning when one person would be capable of doing the job. But as the company grows and scales up for success, the work will soon require a lot more help, input and collaboration with other stakeholders. As the community grows, members will inevitably discuss topics and ask questions that will need input from other departments such as sales, marketing, customer support, etc. It is integral that all internal and external communication between all parties involved is seamless to be able to provide the best customer experience possible.
It’s easy to create a community
When you see thriving and engaged communities, it may look easy and simple to replicate what they’ve done – to just create a page and people will automatically follow and create discussions. The reality is that it takes careful planning and strategic techniques to build a community that serves both the business and its community members.
It doesn’t require a full-time position
One of the biggest mistakes and misconceptions is that business owners can just hire someone from sales or marketing to spend their spare time, an hour or two, to build their community presence. Building an engaged community needs time, attention, and laser focus. Community managers don’t just moderate and answer simple questions. They need to have a specific skill set, and work hard to create community culture, set the tone, and sustain meaningful discussions that build an engaged community that will resonate with the company goals and values.
The community manager is in complete control of what happens in their community
To build a successful community, there must be a working collaboration between internal and external participants. Company stakeholders should clearly communicate their ground rules and make known what they hope to achieve from community engagement. Since community engagement is always fluid, all new information and process updates should be clear for all parties involved as well.
The community managers and business also need to hold an ear out and pay attention to what their audience is saying, no matter how negative their point of view may be. It would help everyone understand the audience sentiments better and would help companies in constantly improving their communication initiatives.
It’s not a tough job
Community management has a lot more to it than the eye can see. Imagine adopting a different tone of voice 8 times a day or more, and addressing customer concerns for several orders. Sometimes people ask complex questions and it’s not as simple as looking at a company document for the right answer. This is where the time and investment add up to being a community manager. A good community manager is someone who can look at the big picture in terms of the business objectives while balancing their role to empower and engage with the community.
It’s all about getting sales
Community management is not only about promoting goods and services and trying to push people into your sales funnel – that becomes a marketing message. Community management is about initiating meaningful conversations and interactions that add value to your audience, to then bring organic traffic, then sales. A successful community encourages the exchange of thoughts and ideas between internal and external parties. When the audience openly expresses their expectations and honest feedback, a community becomes a treasure trove of opportunities and insights for businesses.
What works for one community will work for all others
What’s successful for one company can’t be instantly applied to the next. Every community has its own tone of voice, needs, and values, among other things. It’s important to establish specific strategies and key messages at the get to to be able to build a strong community.
Still on the fringe about what you need from community management, or still unsure about what to expect? Chat with us and our team of community managers will help craft the perfect community management strategies that will best benefit your business and audience.