Managing your social communities is the key to greater engagement, higher customer conversions and repeat sales. It’s no wonder so many community managers are on a perpetual hunt for new ideas, tips and tricks on the subject! Today, I’m bringing you the 10 most exceptional community management tips, to use in your upcoming social strategy.
Courtesy of flatclassroom10-2.flatclassroomproject.com
#1: Be an Evangelist, Not a Salesman
Sales people sell directly to their communities, evangelists are so passionate about what they do – their customers ask them about their products and services. Make people want to ask you about your niche and focus on likeability.
#2: Be an Information Station
Give freely of your advice, and by freely – I mean ‘free.’ Offer all the help you can to your communities, and be their niche oracle. When it comes time for them to buy, you can bet they’ll want to buy from the person that has been helping them all along.
#3: Be a Real Person
While it’s a standard practice to create an online ‘persona,’ you also need to be a real person. People can sense when you’re being fake, so don’t be afraid to throw in some real world stories, advice and know-how.
#4: Be Approachable
We’re constantly told to have authority and to teach, but sometimes this makes us aloof and unapproachable. You want your communities to feel like they can say anything to you, and that you’ll love whatever they have to say.
#5: Be a Zen Chicken
It’s easy to get defensive when negative comments rear their ugly head, but you need to adopt a ‘zen chicken’ approach to these attacks. Be cool, calm and assertive and address your problems with a friendly, eager-to-assist tone of voice.
#6: Don’t Be a Number Cruncher
Number crunchers are obsessed with getting more community members, which is exactly how they alienate the community members they already have! Let the numbers rise naturally, and concentrate on engagement instead.
#7: Admit When You’re Wrong
Sometimes even the most educated authorities get something terribly wrong. You have 2 choices here – apologize in good humor, or end up looking like a child who has just dropped their ice cream cone. Make the right choice!
#8: Get Your Fans Involved
When you get to know your fans fairly well, you can encourage them to contribute to your communities, with new content. Reward them for the effort, and you will create a whole new stream of user engagement.
#9: Measure Your Content
Delve into the world of testing content, and use your analytics insights to discover what content works best. What makes people respond to your questions? What do they love to talk about? Analytics is an engagement goldmine waiting to be tapped.
#10: Put a Face To The Words
It’s not fair that you can see your fan’s faces, and they can’t see yours. Talking to a logo is not as much fun as talking to a real person. Use your face wherever you can, and populate your sites with personal, business-based photos!
Do you like our list of community management tips? Which one was your favorite and why?
Hi
I do consulting assignments through freelancer and some of my clients have become regulars dealing with me directly as we have developed good trust and working relationship. I believe they have found value in working with me. I also do assignments for MBA students in universities in UK, USA, Australia. I started through studentoffortune.com, where students have liked my work resulting in several repeat students and repeat purchases of my tutorials posted. Then I started doing on my own thro my above site, whoch has received fair amount fo response, but i feel I should really move fast on this. Honestly haven’t done any campaign. I want to reach the MBA student community through social networking sites to get them to buy my tutorials posted on my site and still doing so. Please tell me which are the best sites to reach this audience as well as potential clients for consulting work
Thanks
@Subramanian – your best bet, as usual – is to focus on Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube. You can target your specific demographic by using social ads that are targeted – they’ll attract the right community members to your pages. Look into student groups on Facebook and Twitter, and participate. Otherwise you’ll have to focus on SEO, and get your website attracting large volume traffic to achieve the sales you want. Look into SEO, and the social sales funnel. – John.
Great advice for social media or just face to face customer interaction
@Paul – appreciated, thanks Paul. – John