Community Management: how it works and why it’s so important

It's nothing new that companies and brands present on social media have direct and precious contact with their customers. This relationship is powerful and capable of amplifying, scaling and reaching more and more people, since, on the internet, everything is shareable, easier to reach and also to go viral – for better or for worse. Precisely for this reason, it is essential to be aware of everything that happens in your company's online world to build and cultivate a digital community. The secret is in managing this community or Community Management.

Here at SmartPR, we do Community Management for several companies, and we have some interesting stories to share. One of them is the case of an insurance client who, through monitoring their social networks, our community manager is able to resolve emergencies, especially on roads, even before the person opens a ticket on the company's official channels (phone , site). Thanks to monitoring, we resolve quickly via WhatsApp or direct.

This is how we help brands develop a community of engaged customers, who become true fans of the brand, who talk to other customers, make suggestions, answer questions and seek solutions to their problems. But to reach this point and maintain an open dialogue with customers, the first step is to understand and apply the concept of Community Management.

In such a connected universe, brands have the challenge of building their own communities and, above all, nurturing them so that they continually gain strength. And this is where the work of community management comes in, responsible for strengthening the relationship between customer and brand.

It is worth noting that a community can go far beyond a Facebook group, for example. This is because the sense of community is something very old and long before the internet. It is a group of people who have characteristics in common and connect through them, which creates collective sense.

Naturally, the rise of social networks has enhanced the formation of communities, as people can talk and exchange ideas about increasingly “niche” subjects. It is up to brands to do competent work to feed these conversations and insert their products and services in a natural and fluid way.

After all, what does community management consist of? A community manager may be responsible for the following activities:

• Creation of content for websites, social networks, blogs, newsletters, releases, among others;

• Strategic content planning: type and frequency of posting, times and social networks adopted;

• Monitoring of publications on social networks through metrics available on the platforms themselves;

• Analysis of competition and monitoring of news in your segment, in Brazil and around the world;

• Planning virtual and in-person events;

• Building and maintaining relationships with followers;

• Crisis management between community participants and people in relation to the brand.

Community management is here to stay

Although it is a relatively new role in the job market, data from LinkedIn shows that 4.6 million people already work as community managers in the world, 300 thousand in Latin America.

Have companies already understood the importance of community management?

Companies that have experience with this model realize it's advantages. This is what a report from CMX Hub, an international center for encouraging community managers, shows. According to the survey, carried out in 64 countries, 79% of companies believe that communities have had positive impacts on their objectives.

The same research reveals that technology companies have been pioneers in adopting community managers in their workforce. Sectors such as education, NGOs and finance also appear relatively prominently.

The work of community management in practice

Community management is work that involves a series of challenges, tasks and a lot of data to support decisions.

“At SmartPR, we work on community management under three pillars: monitoring, customer service and content production. According to the needs of each client, we direct communication efforts”, explains Hugo Klemar, director of Planning and Digital Marketing at Smart Group. “This work is very important for companies. It goes far beyond answering people’s questions or complaints. With each interaction and each choice of language and content, there is a construction of reputation”, he adds.

For community management to work well, it is recommended to have a professional fully dedicated to the client. With this, he begins to master the language and challenges of the brand in its relationship with its community.

A customer-focused community manager also allows for constant updates to profiles and information made available to users. Currently, social networks work like a business card. People find the information in the bio, and when they feel confidence and clarity, they can move forward on the path to becoming a customer. On Instagram, for example, it is important to have a complete bio and highlights that introduce the brand to the public.

Examples of success in community management

For community management to be successful, it is essential to understand the problem the brand has, the channels to be used, the opportunities and risks involved.

The community management work developed by SmartPR is guided by humanization in interactions and the use of data to improve deliveries. We use automation and monitoring tools, which involve various sentiment indicators and metrics to evaluate interactions with users.

One of the success stories is customer service for the insurance company mentioned at the beginning, which involves specific challenges and a lot of flexibility to quickly resolve customer issues.

The way to have more agility was to adopt an integrated management tool. With this, the community manager now has access to calls in real time to resolve problems via inbox, without the need to fill out a request link and other bureaucratic steps and with closer and more human service.

“Community management is a service that should make consumers’ lives easier. When the work is done well, it helps to shorten service steps”, points out Hugo Klemar.

Is the community manager role  the same as a social media manager?

Success in community management begins with understanding the concept. A very common confusion in the definition of community manager is to place it as a synonym for social media manager. There are some common points, especially when it comes to engagement work on social media and the importance of a creative and disruptive approach.

Although they are similar functions, we must point out two major differences:

• The community manager is responsible for a specific community or platform, while the social media manager takes care of the brand's presence on various networks;
• The community manager attends forums, groups, in-person events and other possible points of contact with the brand's audience, while the social media manager focuses on online.
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Many companies choose to only have a social media manager because they do not see the need for broader community management, which can even involve physical interactions that go beyond the digital world.

Community management can work well in B2B

From the point of view of companies operating in B2B (business-to-business), the community manager is certainly a fundamental figure, as relationships with suppliers and customers have a strong offline characteristic. The community manager can be decisive in nurturing good relationships and contributing to closing good deals.

One of the strengths of cultivating communities in B2B is strengthening customer retention and strengthening ties with suppliers and partners so that they become brand advocates.

In B2B, communities can be hubs for sharing knowledge about the sector, as well as presenting the company's expertise to potential partners and reflecting its values within the segment. It is also possible to develop events through communities and work on publicizing them so that they are even more successful.

3 great virtues of the community manager

Acting as a community manager is not a simple task. It requires a lot of responsibility in managing large groups of people and directing the perception they will build regarding your brand.

Some virtues are very welcome for anyone who wants to work as a community manager:

• Emotional intelligence: awkward responses and impolite messages can arise on a daily basis, which is why it is essential that the community manager has the wisdom to deal with delicacy and minimize noise.
• Leadership: more than presenting institutional messages, the community manager must guide that group of people and behave as a leader, who the community respects and listens to carefully.
• Proactivity: testing new formats and anticipating possible fires helps a lot in the work dynamics of a community manager.

Community Management is one of SmartPR's specialties

Planting, watering and seeing a community flourish is an extremely fruitful process for brands that embrace the strategy. We must always be aware that companies only exist because there are people who’re willing to give a vote of confidence and buy the products and services they offer.

Community management is a daily job involving a lot of dedication, creativity and energy. At SmartPR, we are honored to serve dozens of clients in different areas of their communication, including community management.

We have more than 20 years of experience in press relations and digital marketing. We work based on transparency in our relationships with clients and customized strategic planning.

We invite your brand to join SmartPR to become increasingly relevant to your audience. Let's talk? Discover our work!