Being a community manager isn’t always easy. You’re constantly managing various responsibilities and we understand how — continue reading
Being a community manager isn’t always easy. You’re constantly managing various responsibilities and we understand how such a plethora of tasks can be tough to juggle. Moreover, community management is not only challenging but it’s still a relatively new practice within organizations. That’s why we’re here to help! We gathered three of the top community manager challenges and provided our solutions.
Community Manager Challenge 1: Attracting New Users
Community members are transient; some stay until they have fulfilled a goal, others leave and join different groups. Encouraging new membership is thus a vital tool for keeping your community alive. Use community metrics to keep track of new user behavior. For example, Open Social allows you to track behavior right down to who created topics/events or who commented on posts.
If you’re experiencing an influx of members leaving, here are some ways you can attract new users:
- Participate in online networking: Share news/events about your community on social media platforms and groups. You never know who you might reach online!
- Use your community ambassadors: Your ambassadors can drive new members to the community platform. According to research conducted by Salesforce, 90% of consumers trusts recommendations from people they know and only 33% trust an organization.
- Cross-promote with other communities: Raise awareness and attract new members by attending meetups or joining same-interest groups. LinkedIn search was recently enhanced, making it one of the best tools for the job. You can search for relevant groups and search for discussion topics within open groups!
Community Manager Challenge 2: Time Management
It seems like a community manager’s job is never done. It doesn’t matter what time or what day of the week it is, there’s always something to do. Our suggestion? Use your ambassadors! They’ve probably risen to the surface as the most active community members. They can be your eyes, ears, and a source of help for your members. Take these steps to set up an effective ambassador program:
- Find and gather your ambassadors. Reach out to your most active members with a personal request to become an ambassador. If you have a newer community, you can issue a call for volunteers.
- Set up an onboarding process. Set up an online/offline meetup to explain guidelines, gather ideas, and generate excitement.
- Make your ambassadors easy to find. The Open Social Profile Tag feature will become your new best friend. This tag will mark users as ambassadors, so your community knows who to reach out to.
Community Manager Challenge 3: Onboarding New Users
Onboarding new members is one of the most critical and time-exhausting responsibilities of a community manager. Although there is no hack to replace this completely, you will be surprised at what a proper set of community guidelines and onboarding process can do for you. Keep in mind that there are different kinds of members you have to take into consideration!
- Send new users a welcome message. Consider sending new users a personalized welcome email or posting a personalized message on their profile with a clear call-to-action. For example, encourage them to update their profile. Get people engaged right from the start!
- Set up your community moderation guidelines. Community guidelines can save time and effort by informing users how to interact with one another. They can be shared in the welcome email and will help smooth the onboarding process. Here’s how to set up your community guidelines.
- Follow-up with new members. Keep in regular contact with all new community members. You can send general community updates, videos, or webinars related to the community, or just check-in. On-going interaction will help users become more comfortable in the community.
Ready to take your community experience to the next level? Download the guide below:
