Community Management - That's what matters
What are the biggest misconceptions about community management?
- is only available on social media.
- can be done in 5 minutes
- and you stop because everyone is doing it.
There is now almost no project in which the term community management is not mentioned. But what is really behind community management? What are the responsibilities of community management? And above all: What measures are available for a successful start in community management?
Communities are as diverse as projects, topics and products: What unites them all is a common interest or a common topic. The Chefkoch recipe forum, the social media channel of Deutsche Bahn or the neighborhood help nebenan.de are well-known digital communities. But the community horizon goes further: the local football club, the reading circle that always meets on Wednesday evenings, and Fridays for Future are also part of it. So you can't get past communities. This diversity makes it easy to assume: the panacea, the only true 6-point plan for success or the one measure that will bring success do not exist. But don't worry, we can provide orientation points that you can transfer individually to your community and make it easier to get started in the exciting and lively world of communities.
How do I keep my community enthusiastic?
Through a community you can retain existing users of products and services or reach new target groups. The following applies to both goals: The best way to keep them enthusiastic is through integration and interaction. Through interaction, you will find out which topics and wishes are on your mind, what worries you have and how you can support them. This makes it easier for you to further develop your own products in a target group-oriented manner. The target group itself notices that you are listening and taking them seriously. With integration you can build closeness and a sense of belonging, a "we". How can you integrate the target group? Eg by involving the target group in product development or transferring responsibility to the target group. Authenticity is important for both aspects: if the target group is included, there must also be the will to implement it accordingly. Otherwise, the community will notice this immediately and the activity will have a negative effect ⎼ similar to green washing, in this case community washing.
How do I start a community?
All beginnings are difficult, aren't they? No, because with this tip your successful entry into community management is guaranteed. To do this, let's take a step-by-step look at the definition of a community again: "Group of people with a common point of reference and common values".
The human:
Who is actually my target group? What are you passionate about, what do you do professionally and in your free time? What are typical quotes and how do they use social media? In this context we work with the persona method and jointly develop a representative in the target group.
The common reference point:
Here we deal with what the People connects: Does geography (region, city/country), demographics (age, gender), topic (interests, hobbies, job, products, people) or an activity (music, sports, volunteering, shopping) play a connecting role Role?
Common values:
Now it gets more detailed and we touch on the exciting field of psychology: What are the values behind the reference point? What does the target group stand for? And just as important: What do you or your product stand for? Which emotion is aroused?
You want support with
building your community? Give us a call!
What are the responsibilities of community management?
The beginning has now been made, we have got to know the community. So one now from community management can speak, we bring in structure in a next step. It is important to know which tasks will or can arise:
Dialogue
- Contact person
- Tone of voice
- At eye level
- Crisis communication
- Interface function in the company
Support
- Contact person
- Tone of voice
- At eye level
- Crisis communication
- Interface function in the company
Hosts
- Netiquette
- Guidelines
- Consistent
- Enforcement
- Transparency
- Neutrality
Engagement
- Member Activation
- Identification of the main actors
- Motivation
- needs
- set interaction impulses
- Event management
- Compliance
Monitoring
- Highly current
- Medium & long term
- platform inherent
- Cross-platform
- Quality control
- Reporting
Building
- Construction & expansion
- increase in membership
- increase in contributions
- Strategic development
- Feature requirements
- own activity
And who doesn't love the 6-point plan that tells you which steps to take? And that's why we don't want to withhold such a 6-point plan from you - of course under the premise that it can always be individually adapted and is not a miracle cure.
- Research & analyze target group:
- Determine who to reach.
- Identify the needs and wants of the target groups.
- Develop strategy:
- Find out what values people share.
- Identify the added value of the community.
- activate people:
- Find pioneers.
- Establish a continuous testing structure
- Start community:
- Develop a communication campaign
- Define the community onboarding process
- Develop content:
- Make a content plan.
- Create content in different formats.
- Shaping dialogue:
- Give responsibility to the community.
- Inspire user-generated content.
- Use gamification.
How do I establish a community?
We could write so much more now: We live the work for and with communities. Just to name a few terms: How do we bring community and project/product goals together? How do you not only get the community informed, but also get them activated? Why are emotions such an important tool? And how do I establish community management in internal processes (resources, interfaces, etc.)? So all the aspects that make a communication channel a lively community. At the beginning of the community strategy, we often use the community canvas to visualize the three pillars of every community: identity, experiences and structure.
We live and love these communities:
