the community management spectrum

INTRODUCTIONAs the social media industry has grown from infancy into adolescence, the expectations from brands, customers, and industry peers have become more developed. The role of community managers has evolved; they’re no longer the guys who “just respond” on platforms.

THE CHALLENGETo understand why the role is seen so narrowly, it helps to think about the visible spectrum of light.

While we’re not able to see wavelengths such as ultraviolet, x-ray, infrared or microwave, we cannot deny their existance or importance. They are simply unseen.

THE PROBLEMThe problem is that reach and relevance are opposing forces. The more you make the content about the brand, the smaller the interested audience.  Reach is easy to achieve, just post cat pictures. Relevance is also easy to achieve, just post press releases. Achieving BOTH reach and relevance is difficult, and this is the crux of content marketing.

THE SPECTRUMPeople have a base understanding that community management is customer service and community moderation because that’s all they are able to see.

COMMUNITY MODERATIONThis, in relation to the Spectrum, is that part that outsiders can see. The four main areas of community moderation broken down in the eBook are:

• Reactive moderation• Proactive moderation• Live tweeting and second screen• Crisis Communications

COMMUNITY RESEARCHThe aim of community research is to better understand the individuals who make up brand communities or communities of interest for brands. Two different types of community research are:

• Passive research: Surface level insights based on conversation analysis.• Active research: Deep dive done through focus groups or full community immersion.

From these two types of research we are able to effectively build accurate archetypes or ‘personas’ for community members around:

• Motivations: Why they choose to be active participants.• Congregation: Where and when does the community meet and share.• Communication: What types of content / material is shared and which members produce it.• Habits: Which recurring practices do members participate in?• Needs: Understand what the community and its members need. What role could the brand

play in adding value?

Once your communities of interest have been identified, it’s time to start defining how you, or your brand, will make the right impression.

COMMUNITY RESEARCHBuilding and governance of communities can be achieved through three steps:

• Signals: These are the calls-to-action that you use to attract the attention of the right people

• Space: This is where the signal directs people whether physical or virtual• Structure: The boundaries and limitations set by the community manager that

benefit community stakeholders i.e. content frequency, community language, acceptable behaviour

IDENTIFYING AND BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS Community managers must ensure that, at the very least, they are aware of their most active and most influential community members. The impact of building stronger relationships is far-reaching and hopefully turns into advocacy.

DERIVING INSIGHT AND REPORTINGThe sign of a truly skilled brand community manager is their ability to derive insight in tactful ways. The ability to shape conversation in a mutually benficial way is an art form. Business intellegence around the following examples could prove invaluable:

• Which stores have the best / worst service, and why? • If there was one thing customers could change about the brand, what would it be? • Why did you choose our service over competitor brands?

MEASURING SUCCESSMeasuring success must be led by overarching strategic objectives (i.e. Growth, Engagement, Sentiment, Return). Within these objectives it is important to differentiate between:

• Vanity metrics: Surface level assessment of success and includes metrics such as reach, likes, subscribers and followers.

• Value metrics: Call centre deflection rates, advocacy, community impact.

MANAGING YOUR INTERNAL COMMUNITYInternal community is defined as the collection of individuals within the brand who are able to do something with the data. A community manager is obliged to represent the community’s best interests behind the corporate wall.

CONCLUSIONCommunity management is a complex and integral role in social media success for brands that is ever evolving. The more the industry matures, the more specialised this function becomes. It’s so much more than ‘just responding’.