Nowadays, social media marketing is an inevitable part of business growth and even PR. While companies can focus heavily on sharing engaging content, being responsive, and being active on social platforms, building an active community is one of the essential pieces of the puzzle. Some business owners may ask why they must also create and manage a community if they’re already successfully running a social media campaign. Moreover, they may also have email marketing or similar strategies in line. It allows them to build better relationships with their audience, discuss different topics, and be in direct touch.
Three main stages of managing a social media community
The importance of running a social media community is that it helps build a long-lasting brand, reach out to customers in a more simplified way, etc. Later, you can leverage your community to increase sales and improve marketing strategies.
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Acquiring customers
The social media community you create can help take your prospects and potential customers through the buyer’s journey. This refers to the acquisition stage as well. When people see a Facebook group or another platform where they can gather and discuss different topics and common issues, they are more likely to join such platforms. If this happens, you must have already labelled your acquired customers into groups or categories. Make sure to understand where they come from, how they find you, and what their next step is likely to be. Maybe they will prefer getting support from a healthcare chatbot if that’s your industry.
In the meantime, consider that you can also leverage your created community for gathering feedback, so you should also define your goals. This will help get more organised about owning and managing a social media community.
1. Customer care through social media
Customer support has changed and reshaped due to events like COVID-19 and the rise of remote work. Most businesses now have integrated social media and website chatbots, phone systems, and other means of automated communication. Therefore, with the use of artificial intelligence and technology advancement, some small tasks have been automated.
However, people still need to interact with other people, in this case, your customer service team. So, besides using smart tools to simplify many customer support tasks, it’s still essential to also have a team within your company. Managing a social media community also includes providing excellent customer support, which will help build stronger relationships through CRM software to your community and plan everything successfully.
2. Prepare for critical situations
Regardless of how perfect your social strategy and approach are, you will face issues and obstacles during this process. Before things get out of control and your customers get frustrated, you need to have a plan. First, it’s important to understand that nothing will be excellent, even if you try your hardest. Instead, make sure to focus on creating alternative solutions for various situations. If you run a restaurant, and your employee wants to become a chef, increase their skills, and interact with customers more, make sure you give them the right training so that your community won’t get frustrated.
One of the most fundamental things is building a collaborative team. If your employees don’t care about your company’s reputation, it’s time to improve things. Organize training, if needed, and ensure your team has a good experience with your company, so they are willing to take control of problematic situations.
Conclusion
Building an effective social media community has challenges you can’t avoid as a business. Managing your community is even more complex, including keeping in great touch with your audience, engaging them, and ensuring an excellent experience. The basic steps mentioned above can help you start running your community efficiently.
