Summarize this article with:
The community manager holds a central place in communication agencies because they cover both social media and customer engagement in the 100% digital era.
Platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok give users a 24/7 way to connect with brands, which means agencies must rely on professionals dedicated to managing these new online communities.
In this article, we invite you to discover the definition of community management and its role within a communication agency in Abidjan.
TL;DR
🎯 The community manager is at the heart of the agency: they manage social media and customer engagement in the all-digital era.
✅ Facebook, Instagram, TikTok: customers expect a presence and answers 24/7.
💡 Their missions: content, engagement, moderation, monitoring and reporting for client brands.
01Definition
Within an agency, the community manager bridges social media and customer support. They are the go-to person for customer engagement and are available to answer any questions members of an online community have.
The main goal of a community manager is to build a community around an agency and its various clients, whether on social media platforms, by email, on a blog or on other digital communication channels. They are expected to know all kinds of marketing materials well and to master social channels.
02The difference between a community manager and a social media manager
The social media manager focuses solely on social media efforts. They are in charge of defining a social media strategy for each active communication channel and monitor the results of organic campaigns and ads within an agency and for its clients.
The main task of a community manager is to interact with the community through direct messages, blog comments or the comments on social media posts. They are required to share the information they gather with the rest of their agency's team.
03What are the roles of a community manager within a communication agency?
The community manager can have several roles within a communication agency, including:
- Replying to comments under the various posts
- Interacting with internal clients
- Sharing resources to answer customers' questions
- Collecting feedback from online followers
- Adapting content to the brand's needs
- Tracking KPIs
- Planning online events
- Connecting brands and influencers
- Managing the community in times of crisis (bad buzz)
1/ Replying to comments on social media posts
The community manager must make sure prospects and customers get the right information while keeping the brand's tone consistent across all platforms. The community manager is also in charge of identifying new followers and growing an agency's social channels through conversations with potential prospects.
2/ Interacting with clients internally
Interacting with clients internally can include responding to current client requests and helping to draft key client-facing documents, such as onboarding packs and proposals.
3/ Sharing resources to answer customers' questions
The community manager's job includes sharing useful content directly with potential customers. The aim is to do everything possible to avoid sending the consumer to customer support, which can include sending guides on how to make a booking, for example.
4/ Collecting feedback from the target audience
Community managers work on the front line with customers. They get first-hand information about customers' wishes and needs through direct messages and post comment sections, so they hold insights into customers' concerns. They are required to pass this information on to internal teams so they can act on it.
5/ Adapting content to customer needs
Community managers can draw on their in-depth knowledge of community members and help create powerful social proof content. Although content creation is not usually part of community management, community managers help social media managers adapt content to the target community's needs.
6/ Tracking social media KPIs
The community manager is required to monitor and measure the level of engagement on every channel, not just social media. Community managers must regularly note the KPIs across the different communication channels and identify emerging trends and patterns.
Community managers measure information such as mentions, number of comments, direct messages and trending topics, while social media managers track click-through rate, reach, engagement rate, likes and shares. Both track engagement, but in different ways.
7/ Planning events
The Covid-19 pandemic led community managers to become familiar with planning and organising live events, which means the CM must be able to find a way to bring their community together using digital tools specific to the different platforms, depending on the macroeconomic context.
8/ Building relationships with influencers
One of the CM's roles is to identify relevant influencers and bloggers, initiate partnerships and generally get heard by the right people in the right industries. This also extends to forming partnerships with similar brands for collaboration and awareness for the agency and its clients. Their most important task is to engage with the influencer's audience and attract new customers.
9/ Managing the community in times of crisis
The pandemic showed that community managers had to be flexible in the face of potential crises. But it is not only global pandemics they have to deal with; small events can also give a brand a bad reputation.
The community manager within a communication agency is an integral part of the agency's digital marketing team, and of its clients' teams too. Being a community manager means creating and nurturing an online community by offering it an excellent experience in order to attract prospects and new customers.
