The Essentials of Community Management

Table of Contents 

1. Overview 
2. What is community management? 
3. Essential requirements while setting up a community.
4. Challenges faced while managing a community.
5. How does Community360 solves the problem? 

Overview

According to a recent study, over 33% of adults suffer from loneliness worldwide. Conversely, the global social media usage rate stands at 49%. It means even with all the digital connectivity; most people are still feeling alone and isolated than ever before. Loneliness stretches not only to personal life but also how people are in relation to brands. That is where online communities come into play. The brand’s community is not going to eliminate loneliness, completely; but it will give one an extremely good feeling of belonging and a chance to connect with other souls who have like-minded values and interests. Businesses set up communities or use effective community management strategies to achieve real connections with customers, fans, and audiences. This blog will walk you through the meaning of community management, essential requirements to create a thriving community and challenges faced while building and managing a community that really resonates with your audience.

What is community management?

Community management refers to the act of building and managing communities in which online conversations happen, based on a brand, product, or cause. The idea behind this is the facilitation of real conversations within the members, attending to questions or issues that can arise and, above all, making them feel welcome so that every single voice is respected. It is how a business discovers opportunities to connect with its audience in both online and offline settings through making a network where one can chat, share, and even feel part of the belonging.

More and more brands are turning towards community management as a key strategy across brand-building, but many still get a bit confused about what it really is. For a brand to truly build a community, it needs to invest in a dedicated community manager who nurtures relationships with past, present, and future customers. Such a person should interactively engage with customers online, collect insights, and inspire meaningful conversations.

Some of the benefits of community creation and management are:

1. Developing brand loyalty: A well-managed community will develop a deep relationship between a brand and its community, which further leads to consumer loyalty and further word-of-mouth for the brand. 
2. Gathers valuable feedback: One of the simplest ways to gather valuable feedback from community members is engaging with them on a regular basis. Members may comment on the experience, ideas, or concerns related to a product or service through polls, surveys, events, etc. 
3. Better brand image: The reason why the brand needs to be active in terms of community management is because with one negative feedback posted by a consumer, the brand can quickly reply to it in an open manner that really helps with their reputation. 
4. User to user support: Often, through communities, users find support in other users, thus, minimising the workload on formal support teams. 

Essential requirements while setting up a community.

To set up a community, you may consider the following things:

1. Shared goal: There must be a common aim that all members of the community should share.  
2. Frequent interaction: The community members should often talk to each other.  
3. Supportive space: The members should support each other.  
4. Sustainable: Design your community model as self-sustaining as possible. . 
5. Selection of platform: Select a suitable platform that can highlight all the functionalities you want to provide. Looking for a platform that nurtures your community just like you? Then Community 360 is the way to go. It’s a super innovative all-in-one platform designed to revolutionise how communities connect and expand. Schedule a demo today. 
6. Audience analysis: Be aware about the age, gender, income, education, interests, values, and attitudes of your intended audience. 
7. Incentives: Reward members with incentives in order to engage them and get them to participate. 
8. Rules: Prevent communities from turning into havens for trolls, spammers, and abusers by maintaining well-defined community guidelines. 
9. Marketing: Promote your community and ensure more people join the wagon. 
10. Cooperation: Close working collaboration with other teams and stakeholders toward achieving mutual objectives. 

Challenges faced while managing a community

1. Conflict management
   Conflicts are bound to come up among any community. However, the way you handle them gives rise to problems as opportunities for growth. To that end, community managers should conflicts as opportunities for growth. Defining clear and strict guidelines of behaviour, dealing head-on with problems, and having solutions in mind while mediating can turn complaints into something worthwhile. Preparation is part of any crisis management plan; therefore, all your communication moves must come out smoothly.
2. Engagement
   Community engagement is essential for a successful community, and inspiring engagement requires some strategic moves. Community managers can create community management strategies to generate engagement by posting regularly with engaging content, creating discussions, and requesting member feedback. Awareness and rewarding for activity can create a virtuous cycle to motivate others. Just start the conversations-don’t just start it-but participate, support your members, and help keep the conversation flowing.
3. Strike the right balance with moderation
   Community moderation is more about that sweet spot between free expression and maintaining a nice atmosphere. If it is too strict, it will kill creativity and allow people to drift away. On the other hand, if it is too lenient, it is out of order. Establish clear rules, inform members of what to expect, and apply the guidelines in a fair and open manner to establish a welcoming environment.
4. Change
   In the digital world, something is always changing. A community manager must keep learning in order to stay ahead. Learn latest technology, changes in industry, and what the members look for. Engaging and exciting things will keep coming up with new additions and refreshing community features regularly.
5. Negative behaviour control
   Handling negativity is one of the general challenge community managers faces. In dealing with this, ensure you implement transparent anti-harassment policies, address issues promptly, and make reporting hassle-free. This way, you are striving for a culture that gives respect as a rule, maintained by positive proactive efforts to stop trolls and troublesome behavior.
6. Be inclusive
   Inclusivity needs to be consistent persistence. Foster diversity and make different perspectives link with each other through the use of inclusive language and display various perspectives. Engage this aspect of inclusivity into every one of your engagements with the community and your content. Continuously review your community to catch up on the representation gaps before things get out of hand.

Community management might not always get the spotlight it deserves, but it’s super important for creating long-term connections between brands and their community members. By encouraging genuine conversations, gathering useful feedback, and boosting brand loyalty, good community management can really take a brand’s success to the next level in today’s digital world.

How does Community360 solves the problem?

Building a community is tough but keeping it running smoothly is even tougher. That’s where Community 360 steps in. This cutting-edge, all-in-one platform is designed to revolutionise how communities connect and grow. Tailored for both leaders and members, it makes managing projects, memberships, workflows, events, social media, and communications a breeze, all from one easy-to-use interface. It’s one-of-a-kind in uniting everything a group needs to stay engaged and flourish, helping organisations lighten their administrative load while boosting the overall experience for members. Whether you’re part of a sports club, church, association, government body, business, or social group, Community 360 has the tools to strengthen connections and build lasting relationships.
Request a free demo today