Krista Neher
Nov 29 2022
What are the Goals of Community Management?
Community management can take place in several places – on your website, on social networks, on YouTube, on discussion forums, and even in comment sections of articles or news sites. Community management happens wherever people talk about you or your industry.
Most community managers have set objectives including:
- Managing complaints and compliments
- Turning customers into loyal fans
- Driving brand advocacy
- Developing relationships with influencers
- Building relationships with potential partners
- Networking with other brands or associations
- Generating product feedback
- Providing helpful information
- Responding to positive and negative reviews or comments
- Becoming an industry-recognized expert
What is involved in Community Management?
Community management usually involves four core activities: Monitoring, Engaging, Moderating, and Measuring. The amount of time and energy invested in each will depend on how big your business is, how many customers you have, how many people are already talking about you, and your business goals.
- Monitoring – The first step is to monitor and track conversations online related to your brand, competitors, and industry. Most businesses should invest in this step to understand their customers and how they are perceived.
- Engaging – Engaging involves joining in conversations, initiating conversations, and proactively participating in conversations that relate to your business. The aim of this is to build the reputation of your business and build stronger relationships with customers.
- Moderating – If you have your own social media profiles or other places where you encourage conversations, you’ll need to moderate the discussions. This involves determining which comments or discussions add value and which need to be removed or modified. For example, many groups have to maintain strict rules about self-promotion to ensure that the group continues to be valuable.
- Measuring – To know if your efforts are driving impact, analyzing your performance is important. Consider the goals of your community management efforts upfront and measure what matters based on your goal. Consider both quantitative and qualitative metrics. For example, the number of mentions is good to track, but also the sentiment and impact.
The amount of time or resources to invest in community management depends on your business characteristics, your industry, and the results you want.
Big Idea: Set KPIs
It is helpful to set clear KPIs for community management upfront so you have clear targets and expectations. This will also allow your community manager to focus their efforts on the metrics that are most important to your business’s success.
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