Managing your social media communities can be a lot of fun and it can be a great way to get the word out about your business. But just like any other aspect of your business, it takes time and effort to develop your social media presence. If you’re not sure where to start, here are a few tips to help you out.
Maintain your brand’s voice
When managing a social media community, it is important to maintain your brand’s voice. You can do this through content marketing. This includes web pages, videos, e-books, and even social media posts.
A style guide is a critical component of a social media campaign. It should include a glossary of vocabulary and visual elements. If possible, it should be distributed to all social media employees.
Developing a style guide is not an overnight project. Rather, it is a continuous effort that should be carried out on a regular basis. Ideally, this will be done at least once a year. Keeping the document updated is important to avoid inconsistencies.
One of the first steps to developing a style guide is to define the company’s goals. The goal should be to establish a brand voice that reflects the core values of the company. By doing this, you will create a strong impression on consumers.
You should also be aware of your competitors’ communication styles. This can provide inspiration for your own style. For example, if your competitor has a fun, friendly tone, you may want to consider using that same style. Also, be sure to note any areas of improvement.
Creating a style guide should be a collaborative effort. Invite your content creators from across the organization to discuss their styles and best practices. As you can imagine, a collaborative process will help ensure that you are writing in a way that represents the brand.
Another important step in defining your brand’s voice is to come up with a mascot. This can be a fictional character based on the demographics of your target audience.
You should also evaluate the performance of your social media content and engage with customers in order to measure your brand’s impact. However, you should not let this distract you from maintaining your brand’s voice. To do this, you should create a social media customer service strategy that defines how your brand will respond to its audience on social media.
Lastly, it’s a good idea to incorporate humor into your social media campaigns. Humorous content can be a huge hit with audiences.
Show appreciation for your members
It’s no secret that your community members are your most loyal customers and supporters. However, it’s important to show them that you appreciate their contributions. In the social media age, the best way to do this is through meaningful interactions. One such way to do this is by offering exclusive content. Another is through an effective social media strategy. This includes keeping your social profiles free of spam and by keeping track of the biggest contributors. These are the people you want to engage in the first place.
You may also want to consider hosting an annual awards ceremony for your best performers. Such a ceremony will not only recognize the best of the best, but also showcase your company’s most committed fans. For instance, a special thank you letter may be in order for a member who has been volunteering to help your business. Likewise, it’s not a bad idea to reward those who’ve been doing the heavy lifting for a long time.
Aside from these, there are several other ways to show your community members you appreciate them. Whether it’s a gift voucher, a personal note from your CEO, or a shout out on your favorite community forum, showing appreciation goes a long way in the social media age. Of course, the best way to show your appreciation is to be a good community manager. By providing your members with a fun and engaging environment, you’ll be in the running for the title of the best online community to be on. Lastly, a little creativity can go a long way. Those who see your organization as a pillar of the community will be more likely to support your mission than those who do not.
Monitor conversations around your brand
If you are trying to establish a positive reputation for your brand online, it is essential to monitor conversations around your brand. Not only does this allow you to understand what people are saying about you, it also gives you an insight into the sentiment of your target audience. You can use this data to improve your products or services.
The first step in social listening is to identify strategic keywords that relate to your business. Then you can use those keywords to filter social media conversations. These keywords can be industry-specific or related to your products or services.
Once you have your list of keywords, you can use these words to track your brand’s performance. This can help you understand how your competitors are performing. It can also help you gauge your own performance.
TrackMyHashtag is an AI-enabled tool that helps you keep up with social media conversations about your brand. Just enter your query keyword, and it will track all conversations around your brand.
Mentionlytics is another social listening tool that can help you discover discussions about your brand. They can even identify trending topics and hot keywords.
Using this tool, you can track any hashtag campaign or event. For example, if you are a restaurant, you may want to know what customers are talking about when they post a photo of a cream cheese bun. That way, you can respond to their comments and see what new ideas you might have for your next featured product.
Depending on your needs, you can also track the reach of your messages. This helps you measure how well your marketing campaigns are performing.
Sprout’s Listening tools can also be used to determine the sentiment of your target audience. They include built-in templates and deep sentiment analysis. By analyzing these data, you can better understand why your audience is saying the things they are saying.
In addition to gauging how customers feel about your brand, you can use social listening to find out what they are saying about your competitors. This can help you strengthen your existing relationships.
Track success
When you are building and managing a social media community, it is important to track success. This can help you make sure you are achieving your objectives and bringing in the most traffic.
The first step is to identify your goal. Once you know your primary objective, you can start setting KPIs that will measure your progress. These key performance indicators should be aligned with your overall business goals. You should also take into account your individual audience. For example, your objectives might be to increase engagement, create a new content strategy or drive a higher retention rate.
Next, you need to determine the most active channels. These are the channels that will be most likely to satisfy your main objectives. In addition, you should identify the most active member cohort. If your team can find the most active contributors, they will be able to track their success.
Lastly, you need to monitor the sentiment of your brand. You can do this through social listening. Social listening is a way to find conversations about your brand and analyze them for insights. It will allow you to see what resonates with your audience and will provide you with a good idea of what content they want.
As you continue to monitor your community’s performance, you will learn more about its needs and the best approach for meeting those needs. Your team can use this information to help improve your content strategy.
Ultimately, you will be able to measure the impact of your community on your overall organization’s goals. Using community metrics, you can determine which articles, polls, and social channels have been the most successful. By doing so, you can help guide your team towards creating more relevant content.
Community management is an essential activity for brands that rely on social media. It requires an ongoing effort to monitor discussions, listen to feedback, and address comments efficiently. Investing time in your community can help improve your company’s ROI and lead to increased conversions.
To track success, you will need to invest in a variety of tools. Some of these include social listening, analytics, and tools to prioritize communications and manage your social platforms.