G: What are your top resources for community management?

L: The community itself should never be underestimated as a resource. From motivation to content, no one knows more than the people who take part. What can I say? I’m a purist!

G: Who are your favourite community managers or community management case studies?

L: I quite fond of the chap who tweets about Monster Munch – but that could just be because I like those little crunchy monster paws.

G: Where is the best place to build the community?

L: I love this question! Social platforms such as Twitter and Facebook are a great way to build a closer relationship with your audience and customers. The definition of community however, is common ownership; on Facebook brand pages (not including purpose built apps), Google+ and Twitter, it’s difficult to create this. Posted content generates a reaction, which can be anything from a comment to a retweet. I can’t define this engagement as a manifestation of common ownership; it’s merely reactive. Saying that – I am not ruling out these platforms as a useful tool to engage with your fans, I just find the functionality is limited on them and the strict guidelines take away the freedom, creativity and ownership enjoyed by a community’s members.

I have worked on a variety of social projects; the most successful have always been on stand-alone purpose built sites. That does not mean “Build it and they will come” should be your attitude. I would seed a community on other social platforms and encourage my community members to share on these networks. It also doesn’t mean I wouldn’t search for an experienced Community Manager to curate this activity on these platforms.

G: What do you have to provide the community to make it work?

L: Ownership. As the any community you’ll find varying levels of user, you have to enable and reward behaviour from your members to generate an environment in which new members can join and other can become more active. Giving users ownership gives them a sense of pride and will work to your advantage. Every social group has its super users – the prolific faces that you associate with that community – this is not the paid community manager, these are the blood bumping around, generating content and excitement and magnifying the work that a Community Manager does. It is these users you need to recruit and nurture.

G: How do you attract new community members?

L: I’m old school when it comes to Community Management. I believe in face-to-face recruitment and word of mouth. No amount of money you throw at advertising will grow your community; it might grow the number of Fans or Followers, but not the people using your space for a common goal. That comes from recruiting believers, super users if you will, that help make the community a place that people want to go.

But how do you get these super users? With time and effort. Being a Community Manager is a lifestyle job – like leading a church or being a head mistress. Just because you’re in Sainsbury’s doing your shopping does not mean that you ignore community member Jason S. who wants to tell you about his cat’s funky breath. Every user is special and unique. The more time you spend getting to know them and communicating with them, the better your community will get – for you and your members.  Oh and the great thing about these super users… they recruit new community members for you, because they believe in the common goal of the group.

G: What are the best ways to spark a discussion among your community members?

L: Look to other well established communities and forums for inspirational content and ideas. Using a RSS reader and Tweetdeck following trends and topics of interest is key to staying on top of things. I would recommend networking with influential people around your topic/genre remembering not to get too hung up on being shunned. This does happen, and the bigger you grow your community, the more industry “professionals” will start to take you seriously. Part of your job as a Community Manager is as a trend watcher.

G: What kinds of content do you share and post most often on the community platform?

L: Think about your users. How many super users do you have? How many dippers? How many floaters? How many skimmers?  You goal as a community manager is to be there for the community. This means replying to question, encouraging UGC and giving them something to engage with. If you have a site full off skimmers, there is no point is reaching out for a level of engagement, which is beyond their grasp or desire. If you’ve got a greater percentage of super users and dipper, they’ll need challenges and the ability to add value to your content.
Every community platform will have varying levels of engagement from a simple up vote or like to something more demanding like writing a review or comment. Different users will use this functionality to suit them, which will give you a greater understanding of your audience and the content they like.

G: How do you reward your community stars?

L: This all depends on which community you’re talking about. What throws newbies about the social industry is the fact that there are people out there that are willing to spend hours producing brilliant content, inspiring new members and being a spokes person for a brand, seemingly unpaid. To understand this, it’s important not to forget that just because it’s online and out of the usual social environment, it does still fit into the Cost Of Social Norms theory. Simply put, the same way you will give time and energy to your friends and family, for the reward of friendship, respect, support and acknowledgement, many super users give above and beyond to their communities. Once you’ve grasped this concept, you’ll understand exactly how to reward your own community super stars and stop worrying about other peoples!

G: Does the size matter?

L: How long is a piece of string? (Apparently if you’re American, you might have to Google that phrase) Yes, it’s all rather wonderful that there are communities popping up all over the Web, but don’t be fooled; these all have a purpose. Grow brand awareness, build a customer relationship, insight into users behaviour and interests, and possibly the simplest of the all, drive traffic. Take a look at Reddit for example – this community of internet super supers have now split into sub-Reddits. This makes the community more useful to its members who use it for pure entertainment. It’s evolved though it’s member’s ownership and dedication into an internet phenomena that baffles and terrifies even the most cocky “Social Media Guru”.

G: What are the most common mistakes in community management?

 L: Imagine this conversation:

Brand: Lets build a community

Community Manager: Why?

Brand: Everyone else is doing it.

Community Manger: Okay

And…

Brand: Someone said something negative about us!

Community Manager: Let me delete that for you

G: How do you measure the ROI of your community?

L: I want to scream that this is a stupid question. What the ROI of friendship – wow that sounded cheesy. But seriously, what’s your goal or motivation? Communities are valuable to brands. When they are well, run they enable you to have an open conversation with your consumers. They are your Social Media PR force, word-of-mouth marketers and your market researchers; they are your cheerleaders and your most valuable teachers.  The insights you gain from the conversations you have within your communities will be the life or death of your brand – it just depends if you’re listening to them.

G: How did you build your experience as community manager/strategist?

P: I started at an early age (16), first as a member of forums and then rapidly moving on to contributing content and managing environments. Special interest fan sites and smaller communities with a core following were the order of the day for several years. I did however take a break to focus on the strategy side rather than the management for a 2 year period and spent that time as a consultant / strategist before diving back in to community management. I think this mix of experience; working from small sites to big communities and with a period of consultancy / strategy has enabled me to develop a reasonably strong grasp of community management and what’s involved.

G: What are your top resources for community management?

P: There are lots of great resources out there but some of the main ones I keep track of are the #cmgr and #cmgrchat hashtags on twitter and Rich Millington’s blog at Feverbee.

G: Where is the best place to build the community?

P: From my experience I’ve got a jaded view of this. If you are looking to build a “community” then your own branded and dedicated space is the best option, Facebook and Twitter build audiences rather than communities (there are a few exceptions). The type and structure of a community will vary from place to place but the biggest thing is ownership, if you are beholden to a 3^rd party provider then you start on the back foot in terms of providing for your members.

G: What do you have to provide the community to make it work?

P: You have to provide a space for members to connect with the brand/community and with each other. It has to be easy to converse, consume any content, navigate and have the option for members to interact in both public and private settings.

G: How do you attract new community members?

P: There are two main routes for this; create an environment that members buy in to and an experience they want to share, this word-of-mouth promotion will drip-feed new members in to your community. The other way is external promotion. For a business that may be hitting your mailing list and making them aware that a community exists, it could be Facebook advertising if you are trying to build on Facebook. Essentially it’s about promotion to those people that aren’t yet members.

G: What are the best ways to spark a discussion among your community members?

P: This largely depends on the nature of your community and the common thread that’s their reason for being there. Finding common ground that you know will always have differing opinions is always the best way to spark a discussion.

G: How do you reward your community stars?

P: Whilst at EA (Electronic Arts) I created a group labelled “GameChangers”, this was a mix of the most vocal and influential members of the community sprinkled with outsiders; those who didn’t frequent the branded community that often but had their own communities to manage. Their reward was the opportunity to get information early, be part of the decision making process, to come in to the office to see things first-hand and generally take a step closer to the brand and product. A number of them were flown from the UK over to Vancouver to meet the product development team and exchange ideas.

G: Does the size matter?

P: Size doesn’t matter. The aim for a branded community is to ensure anyone that uses the space builds stronger relationships with the brand and with other users.

G: What are the most common mistakes in community management?

P: Some of the most common mistakes I’ve noticed can be split in to the following; wrong internal department trying to create and manage a community, lack of resources and support for the Community Manager, lack of understanding of the value of a Community. To avoid them they need to do the due diligence (like any marketing project, acquisition or costly activity) before launching one.

G: Do you have any social media crisis management experience?

P: The best way to approach the problem is to plan well in advance, create a strategy of how to deal with a situation, who should manage it and what the likely scenarios are for a crisis. They can’t always be avoided but you can prepare and put processes and support mechanisms in place to deal with them.

Morgan is a Community and Social Media producer with Channel 4 who also works on community and social media strategies at Mondo Management  who represent talents like Orbital, David Gray, Lisa Hannigan, Ruarri Joseph and Pixie Carnation. Previously he was Assistant Communities Editor at Associated Northcliffe Digital. You can follow Morgan on Twitter and Linkedin. 

G: How did you build your experience as community manager?

M: It was a lot of trial and error. I was put in a job where all of a sudden I was dealing with quite a vocal community which needed calming down, diplomacy and tact. I ultimately dealt with the community as I would any face-face situation. I wouldn’t say there is a magic key to gaining experience other than just getting in amongst the people within your site, treat them fairly and they will treat you and your organisation with respect. Like a lot of community managers I fell into this position, it wasn’t a big job at the time but it is now.

G: What are you top resources for community management?

M: E-mint, linkedin, colleagues, ex-colleagues.

G: Where is the best place to build the community?

M: Facebook is great to grow numbers, but to have value I believe it is back on your own website. Facebook is the bar where you meet people and can decide if you like them/not like them and if they are worthy of your product (vice-versa), your site is your house where you invite the good people back to your place where you treat them like real friends.

G: What do you have to provide the community to make it work?

M: A reason for being there, value, importance and comfort.

G: How do you attract new community members?

M: Offer something that no other site is doing. Don’t be patronising, be real and invite advocacy. Make your community work for you.

G: What are the best ways to spark a discussion among your community members?

M: Topical, relevance and importance. Don’t ask your community a simple question like how is the weather where you are? What did you have for breakfast? Boring, irrelevant and no direction of conversation.

G: What kinds of content do you share and post most often on the community platform?

M: Mostly clips, updates, breaking news, an offer of free content only available to fans like a song, etc

G: How do you reward your community stars?

M: Something nobody else can get their hands on. If it’s a preview ticket that is not for sale, an old record that was never released, give it to your fans and people who promote your content not in the hope of one day being reward but because they have been an ambassador to your product for some time.

G: Does the size matter?

M: Not at all. Everyone goes on about having the most numbers for a Facebook page, but unless that Facebook page is active it means jack. I would rather have a community that is small and active where the community is active and likes to get involved rather than a massive community that doesn’t do anything and there are no innovators within. Sadly though that doesn’t translate so much to Directors of some organisations, it’s a numbers game where it should be value.

G: What are the most common mistakes in community management?

M: Be a person, not a brand. Don’t let the intern do the communication. Value the people in your communities. They invest in you, invest in them. Keep your cool with difficult contributors. Speak to people as people, be irreverent and don’t scream from the hilltops how great you think your brand is.

G: How do you recommend to manage social media crisis?

M: Deal with it immediately, don’t let time get ahead of you before it reaches the Daily Mail. Be open and honest about your mistake and mostly be transparent.

G: How do you measure the ROI of your community?

M: Advocacy, interaction, repeat visitors, and yes – numbers (positive growth).

Ben Bateman is community manager from Square Enix. An energetic and highly talented gaming specialist interested in all aspects of game development. A Currently Community Manager for Codemasters, supporting all boxed titles including DiRT 3, Operation Flashpoint Red River, F1 2011, and Bodycount. You can follow Ben on Twitter, Linkedin or Facebook.com

G: How did you build your experience as community manager?

B: I was fortunate to have some inspirational mentors but ultimately I gained my experience through practice and experimenting.

G: What are your top resources for community management (websites and people)?

B: I work in the games industry and many of the community managers tend to be quite tight knit and regularly talk with each other. I often find out new strategies or ideas through what they’re tweeting about. Similarly, I can voice my ideas and questions and people more often than not chime in with their thoughts. If I were to pick one website that I read a lot then it would be mashable.com. It’s always up to date with the latest social media, SEO and general geek news.

G: Who are your favourite community managers and community management case studies?

B: There’s so many to choose from. I admire a lot of the community and social media work done by the Xbox team. Particularly Larry Hryb (@majornelson), Dan Maher (@MrPointyHead) and Graeme Boyd (@aceybongos).

G: Where is the best place to build the community?

 B: Building a place for a community is not as simple as just creating a facebook and twitter accounts, or starting a new blog. It’s important to think about the product you’re trying to build around and the audience that you’re trying to interact with. Each community you build needs to be approached separately and considered independently of any existing communities you’ve built. Does the lifespan of the product warrant a full website? Are you going to provide enough regular, unique and engaging content to warrant a blog, or will facebook suffice? Are you building a franchise? These are the kind of questions you need to be asking yourself. A bit of market research and competitor analysis can often support you in any decisions you make.

G: What do you have to provide the community to make it work?

B: Your time and dedication. If you don’t put the effort in then your community will wither and die. Providing an open dialogue with your community should always be your priority. It doesn’t matter whether you put one new asset or ten, if you don’t listen to what people are saying. Interact with them, discuss openly what they think about your brand, what you’re doing, and feed it back into your company so that you can build better content and products. The community wants to be able to trust you and if they do they will stay loyal.

G: How do you attract new community members?

B: Sometimes it’s easy to get stuck up on the idea that you need to attract new community members. While acquisition is very important you shouldn’t let it cloud your judgement. Always concentrate on of quality over quantity. Why use a marketing gimmick to generate lots of sign-up if the retention rate is diabolical? Focus on creating interesting and engaging content. Build it and they will come (and stay!).

G: What are the best ways to spark a discussion among your community members?

B: How would you start a discussion with anyone? Just start talking. It doesn’t matter whether it’s about your company or brand. If they say “This looks cool” then say “thanks, we’ve got some more cool stuff on its way”. The important thing is that you’re engaging with them. If they’ve got a question for you they’ll ask it. Just make sure you respect everyone’s opinions and as a representative, that you don’t display any strong opinions that might offend anyone or conflict with your employers. You may have “These are my opinions not my employers” on your twitter account but don’t fool yourself, you represent the brand at all times.

G: What kinds of content do you share and post most often on the community platform?

B: This really varies. In my line of work I follow the cue of PR beats and asset drops but I also have to fill the gaps. Video and audio content tends to work the best with my audience but ultimately you need to think about who you’re talking to. Are you talking to the hardcore fans and evangelists, or the broader mainstream audience? The important thing is to strike a balance between the different audiences you answer to, but don’t feel scared about mixing the content up once in a while. It’s good to experiment with your community and see what works best for them.

G: How do you reward your community stars?

B: As I work in the games industry I try to build up a community before the game is out. This can be months, sometimes even years before they get to buy it in the shops. So obviously allowing evangelists access to the game throughout development and treating them like press is a great reward. Aside from the usual material things that we can give them it’s also important to make celebrities out of them. If some user generated content stands out then why not highlight it on facebook, twitter, or your website?

G: Does the size matter?

B: You should have realistic targets set up based on any market research you’ve done. Have them in the back of your mind but concentrate on good engaging content. Your community could be slow to grow or grow beyond anyone’s anticipations. Just make sure that you have enough resources to support them properly.

G: What are the most common mistakes in community management?

B: There are always a few, but the one I see the most is deleting content. If a forum on a thread gets out of hand then close it and explain why (unless in extreme cases). You can’t educate people or expect your community to support themselves if you delete their content. Similarly if you screw up then own up to it. Trying to hide the evidence just makes you look bad, and on the internet nothing is ever hidden.

G: How do you manage social media crisis?

B: Every situation is different. Take a step back, think it through and get the key stakeholders on board. You’ll need different perspectives to decide on the best cause of action.

G: How do you measure the ROI of your community?

B: There are a lot of ways, but I think that it’s generally bad to believe that community activity can be summed up in one ROI figure. You’re building a brand, and the power of word of mouth can’t always be summed up in a number. Having said that there are basic stats tracking that can help you gain an idea of how you’re doing. Most social media networks have in-depth insights track. Try to compare previous product campaigns and timelines. Compare reach with CTR, and some basic Google Analytics. As a Community Manager don’t forget your in-built ‘sentiment meter’. Try to gauge how people perceive the content you’ve put out. You might have X thousand people viewing your website, but what are they saying about it?

Joel is Community Manager at Brandwatch, Europe’s leading social media monitoring tool. As well as spending much of his time in the social media sphere, Joel’s background has been in the computer games industry, spanning development, usability, marketing, journalism and community management. He is currently based in Brighton, UK. You can follow Joel on  Twitter or LinkedIn.

G: How did you build your experience as community manager?

J: I think much of the learning of community management comes from skills gained outside the job itself. Fostering relationships, developing writing skills and learning about industries are all things that are learnt as you progress generally, rather than skills that you can learn on a course.

I personally gained a lot of experience when dealing with large numbers of community members, each with different needs and particular interests that had to be catered for. Having a team to work with is extremely useful, but the hardest lessons are learnt when you’re on your own.

G: What is the best place to build the community?

J: Well, working for a social media monitoring company, my primary focuses are on Twitter and relevant social media websites. There’s always something appropriate on LinkedIn and Quora, regardless of industry; it’s down to you to find the groups and communities that are most relevant to you. We use our own tool, Brandwatch, too determine exactly where the best conversation is having by using our own name as query, as well as searching for keywords about SMM.

It’s important to have a central hub for your content. Having a branded company blog that is then distributed through the other channels is often a good method to employ. Facebook is excellent for business-to-customer community managers, though for companies that only deal with b2b relationships, the value of a like can be less useful. I would say Twitter is currently the best place for building a community, though not necessarily managing one.  It’s also very important to stay on top of upcoming platforms, such as Google+, so that you are always one step ahead.

G: What do you have to provide the community to make it work?

J: Communities are not just broadcasting platforms; they must be places in which both the company and the consumers are engaging in two-way discussion. High quality content is always going to be a useful draw to new members and a focal point for discussion for your existing members, though you should be mindful to include interesting things your competitors, customers and other stakeholders produce too. What you should be trying to provide is a forum for people to engage with a certain business, brand or industry, not just trying to make a place for people to hear you shout about how great your employers are.

G: How do you attract new community members?

J: There are different ways to incentivise new community members. Again, it is more applicable with companies that sell directly to the consumer, as mass-audience tactics can be used to generate new members. Novelties such as social media site incentives (quizzes, competitions, games) that are only unlocked through subscription, follows or likes are a fundamental technique when it comes to increasing the size of your communities, but maintaining your existing ones can be just as important.

G: What kinds of content do you share and post most often on the community platform?

J: We try to balance thought-leadership pieces that are at the cutting edge of industry discussion with more fun, traffic-generating articles. By having a content plan, posts and features can be carefully structured to align with wider company targets.

G: Does the size matter?

J: It largely depends on the industry. For specialised industries such as ours, there is little point to working towards generating 100k likes on our Facebook page for example. We foster a small community of influential and vocal individuals in the social media industry. We try to make sure we are involved in the right discussions at the top level of current thought in our sector through our community connections.  Mass-market companies such as retail chains should be less interested in this niche content and aim to establish a widely-spread community, in order to identify advocates and maintain as large a customer base as possible.

G: How do you manage a social media crisis?

J: Whilst working for a games research company, we provoked quite a lot of negative feedback after publishing some of our results. Gamers are one of the most vocal types of users on the internet and are often the first to complain or dissent.  Despite knowing this, it can be difficult not to take such comments to heart, and trying to engage with ‘trolls’ and irrational commenters can actually end up in more negative feedback than if left untouched. We found that establishing a unified company message helped us all when dealing with these issues: something that all staff members can refer to when approaching the topic.

G: How do you measure the ROI of your community?

J: Simple metrics can be used to measure community ROI, depending on the objectives. We use lead conversions, click throughs, RTs, traffic and plenty of other metrics when measuring our ROI.

G: Where is the best place to build the community?

S: This greatly depends on what your objectives are. We had the Tips & Projects Center – which was a treasure trove of educational and inspiration content around photography. We had our 1000words and PluggedIn blogs. What we did not have was a platform where our customers could share their ideas and engage with one another. Thus was born the Tips & Projects Exchange – Kodak’s branded online community. It has become a great place for us to interact with our consumers directly, learn from them, and for them to learn and inspire each other.

I would recommend having a branded community site or blog as the home base and use the content from those to feed Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and other social media platforms. Wall posts and tweets disappear into oblivion whereas bog posts and community articles live forever.

G: What do you have to provide the community to make it work?

S: Passion, subject matter expertise, thought leadership, encouragement, transparency and a platform.

G: How do you attract new community members? 

S: Spreading the word amongst current customers, reaching out to active passionate within your area (photography, scrapbooking, videography and memory keeping in our case), establishing a dialogue via twitter, SEO, word of mouth and more.

G: What are the best ways to spark a discussion among your community members?

S: Staying ahead of the curve on new and emerging trends within your area, tracking your metrics and insights, and seeing what works and what doesn’t. We have seen great success when we share personal stories or humanize the brand – as in bringing out our product managers – making them accessible to the community. Spotlighting members, their passion and their stories has been extremely valuable as well – on many levels – for community members as well us for driving innovation within our products.

G: What kinds of content do you share and post most often on the community platforms?  

S: Anything related to imaging – from photography tips and techniques to product how-to’s, to printing tricks and innovative video material.

G: How do you reward your community stars?

S: In a lot of small and big ways: Firstly, I maintain an ongoing dialogue with my power users. I look to them for advise in shaping the community, tracking trends and any other feedback they may have. When we recently redesigned the community site I got great input from my power users and incorporated their suggestion into the redesign. I provided a sneak peek walk-through of the new site before we went live to them as well as a few others.

When we’re planning a contest or activation (for TPX, and within broader Kodak) I reach out to some of my stars and ask them if they have photos, videos or projects they would allow me to use for promoting the same. Some of them have created special content just to be used in these instances. This gives them great airtime and coverage, for example: inclusion in Kodak’s ‘Picture This newsletter’ which goes out to about 3M people a month, or being featured on the Kodak.com homepage, or on the Kodak Times Square billboard which is seen by millions weekly.

When my super star scrapbooker Anke Turco, crossed the 100 project mark, I interviewed her for the 1000words blog post. If we’re doing product trials or give-aways and other opportunities, our power users are often our first port of call.

Active members within the community are spotlighted in several different ways, for example: On our Member Spotlights – interview members page, where they share their story and some of their (and mine) favorite works. Kodak Pick of the Week – these are blogged in our Community Corner, tweeted, and get included in the monthly community newsletter.We’re also constantly tweeting (@kodakcommunity) about projects and ideas submitted by the members. I’m currently working on giving some of my super users a more official standing and getting them involved in authoring content, challenges and such things for the community.

G: Does the size matter?

S: I strongly believe in quality over quantity. If you have thousands of members but little active participation and engagement, it’s of little value. A true community is when the members are invested and participate regularly.

G: What are the most common mistakes in community management? What should companies do to avoid them?

Communities are spaces to build one-to-one relationships. They are not spaces for mass marketing. One size does not fit all. Before you launch a community it is very important to have established goals and guidelines, and dedicate resources towards the same. There needs to be a process for interaction, support, escalation and constant TLC. A full-time community manager is a MUST. A couple of part timers would be great as well. Do not outsource the management of your community – that’s like outsourcing your social life – that is just not natural.

G: Do you have any social media crisis management experience? If yes, what is the best way to approach the problem?

S: Crisis management – is anticipating that something is going to go wrong, and then being prepared for it. Set up an escalation process, build a support channel, and be available when something goes wrong – whether it’s late in the evening or over the weekend. Not addressing an issue is the worst thing one can do. If the Community Manager is going to be away – a proxy needs to be set up in advance, and you have to let the community know of this change… which brings us back to transparency and authenticity.

G: How do you measure the ROI of your community?

S: Membership, participation, engagement, return visits, social sharing, and direct sales.

G: How did you build your experience as community manager?

S: Moving from being the Content Manager of the Kodak’s Tips & Projects Center to the Community Manager of the Tips & Projects Exchange (Kodak’s branded online community http://exchange.kodak.com) when we integrated the Community features was a natural extension for me. I read up a couple of books and several blogs on launching and managing communities. At that time I found FeverBee’s ‘How to Build An Online Community: The Ultimate List Of Resources” and “The Art of Community” by Jono Bacon to be very helpful. My personal experience as a host and event planner and passion for the topic greatly helped in preparing for the role.

G: What platforms are you most active on?

S: Tips & Projects Exchange, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Flickr

G: What are you top resources for community management?

S: My top resources are:

http://Mashable.com

http://community-roundtable.com

http://www.feverbee.com

http://www.chrisbrogan.com/

All kinds of Blogs – they are very creative about content, interaction and keeping ‘em coming back.

G: How did you build your experience as community manager? 

E: I first gained experience when community managing a variety of P&G household UK Facebook pages, responsible for the online monitoring and drafting of monthly editorial calendars. I love reading and sharing the news which lead to me to discover how much I enjoy managing communities, finding fun and relevant information I can apply to the fan page, joining in with the conversation and delivering engaging ongoing content. Now I manage a global Facebook page, liaising with local markets across 31 different countries, working as one team to assist the brand in global social media engagement.

G: What platforms are you most active on? 

E: Either Twitter or WordPress.

G: What are you top resources for community management?

E: Behind every good online community is a good community manager. The best resources can be found by looking simply around online and seeing what other brands are doing with their communities. Independent bloggers such as LibertyLdnGirl are good examples of self-made brands that are successful at securing the communities they have created themselves from scratch, creating fun ways to deliver constantly engaging content for the community. Equally, fashion outlets on Twitter such as @ASOS and @Forever21 are successful at engaging with their communities, mainly by always asking their fans questions such as: ‘What would you like to see more of?’ and directing their fans to discounts, offers, and latest fashion news. The fashion industry constantly changes depending on popular opinion, the season, what’s hot and what’s not. This is where social media really steps in by helping brands notice trends in real-time and subsequently be ahead of the curve as well as gaining organic consumer insight. These Twitter accounts are also very active over the weekend, which is very important.

G: Who are your favourite community managers or community management case studies? 

E: My favourite example of community management still has to be Scott Monty, the social voice and face of Ford Motor Company. He truly exemplifies the fact that CM is about a person/or people wholly representing the brand, through personable and human interactions online. Ford also have @focusjohn and @focusdoug who, through Twitter, are currently giving online updates on the all-new 2012 Ford Focus, which includes Youtube clips and answering motor-related queries to the die-hard Ford fans in real-time. I think it is genius.

G: Where is the best place to build the community? (Company website/Facebook/Twitter and etc)

E: Each brand is very different; therefore it depends on the audience they are trying to reach and where their fans are living online already. For example, a brand that lacks video content would not try and launch a Youtube channel.  It can be more damaging to a brand to ‘jump on the social media bandwagon’ without thinking about the strategy behind it first.

G: What do you have to provide the community to make it work?

E: You have to be on the ball, upbeat and creative. It is so important to have a strong editorial calendar and posting schedule. It is okay to pilot test new ideas to see if they work before permanently implementing them. Being consistent in timing is important as fans will return to the page with expectations. If there has been a bulk of content delivered and then nothing for a few days, fans will get bored quickly and drop off. It is also important not to concentrate too much on the mechanic of attracting fans, but to make sure the focus is on retaining and engaging with current fans. Community managers should also make sure that posts are scheduled over weekends as there is always a high engagement rate at this time (and of course all sorts of different times in the day if it is a global page). It really is 24/7.

G: How do you attract new community members?  

E: By being human, friendly and helpful. As community managers we are here to serve and support the community, not directly sell anything.

G: What kinds of content do you share and post most often on the community platforms?   

E: It is important to keep posts short and sweet and most of all, engaging. Buddy media sapplets are a great idea for a Facebook page allowing fans to spend time interacting and navigating around page as if it was a microsite. Having an inviting landing tab is also very important if you need to drive traffic to a particular tab where you might be hosting particular campaign material. Embedding photos and Youtube links can also add value to 2D status updates. I like to not restrict the fan response by asking limiting questions, as the page is a forum for expression and this way we gather real insights from consumers which can be used as ongoing content.

G: Does the size matter? 

E: Communities are not just about the numbers, (and this is why I also believe it to be a big no-no to send out invites for people to join your community. It should always be organic). A small community can be just as influential as a big one, often more so. Every conversation starts with one person, so community size is irrelevant, it’s important to put 100% effort into every community, regardless of size.

G: Do you have any social media crisis management experience? If yes, what is the best way to approach the problem?

E: From my experience and learning’s, it is important to be timely and not hide away from an online crisis. It is definitely a case of the sooner the better:

a)      Embrace transparency.  Directly respond to an issue, even if it means admitting mistakes.

b)     Do not delete anything!!

c)      If possible, take the conversation offline. If serious, release a statement on brand’s own website. That way, the conversation is happening in one controlled space, as opposed to comments hiding in the dark corners of the Internet.

d)     Monitor all streams, all brand channels, set up Google alerts of any key words surrounding the issue. Heavily monitor the situation for as long as needs be.

Dan Schawbel, recognized as a “personal branding guru” by The New York Times, is the Managing Partner of Millennial Branding, LLC, and the author of the #1 international bestselling book, Me 2.0: 4 Steps to Building Your Future. Dan is the founder of the Personal Branding Blog, the publisher of Personal Branding Magazine, the youngest columnist at BusinessWeek, and has been featured in over 350 media outlets, such as The New York Times and ELLE Magazine. He’s spoken at Harvard Business School, MIT, Time Warner, IBM, and CitiGroup. Dan was named to the Inc. Magazine 30 Under 30 List in 2010. You can  follow Dan on Twitter or Linkedin.

G: How would you define a social media “influencer”?

D: A social media influencer is someone who people pay attention to, keep up with, and do business with because of their message, ideas and expertise.

G: How do you measure the influence?

D: Your influence is comprised of how many people you touch, who those people are (how influential they are), and how many of them would make a purchase based on your recommendation.

G: Who/What is influencing you on Social Media Properties?

D: I learn a lot from Steve Rubel and David Meerman Scott, who are my favorite advocates, experts and influencers in the social media world. They are honest, transparent and come up with good conclusions about what’s going on in this industry.

G: What are the key mistakes when targeting influencers and how to avoid them?

D: Most people are selfish when it comes to networking. They email influencers asking them to promote their products in services, without helping them with their needs first. Also, you should try and impress them by doing something creative to catch their attention. Then, when they’ve already heard about you, they will be interested in what you have to say.

G: Do you think targeting influencers is overrated (examples of failed campaigns) or is it an important part of Social Media Strategy? Why?

D: Targeting influencers is a great strategy because it saves you time from trying to get in front of hundreds of people. If an influencer recommends you, it typically turns into multiple press opportunities, more products being sold, and more awareness and brand equity being built.

G: What are the trends that you are following at the moment and feel most passionate about? Why?

D: I’m spending a lot of time on Google+ right now because I see it as a tool that will reinvent how small companies collaborate and do business, among other applications. I’m also very interested in millennials and the workplace, as they will become half of the entire workforce by 2025. My value is in the connection between social media tools, the workplace, and career/business success.

G: How the growth of social commerce and location based services will affect marketers? Why is it important?

D: Data is the key to unlocking a better future. When companies know where you are, they can give you more targeted offerings around you. There’s a lot of value there and it will help consumers, as long as they are willing to give up their privacy. Social commerce has affected all industries because relationships matter, and social media has a major impact on search.

G: How the growth of new media platforms (mobile, tablets) will affect marketers?

D: Marketers have to get their content and message seen across all forms of media, from mobile phones to tablets. If your website can’t be seen on every platform, then it will hurt your business. Consumers expect your brand to be everywhere now.

G: Is social media integration becoming a quality standard of successful company?

D: Yes, you need to integrate your social media tools into one succinct strategy so that they can re-emphasize everything you do, build your brand consistently, and support one another. They are all part of the new marketing paradigm.

G: How and why did you get into social media?

D: I got into social media after I started a blog in 2006, which became the Personal Branding Blog in 2007. The blog was my way of sharing my passion and expertise around the topic of personal branding and all the social networks feed into it. I saw the potential and bet that it would matter.

G: What are your favourite social media hang-out sites? (Other than FB, Twitter and LinkedIn)

D: Google+, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. There’s no point in investing your time anywhere else at this point.

G: Do you read everything that you share or RT? Is sharing becoming a form of showing gratitude to your peers?

D:  It’s a mix between supporting my peers and just adding value. I won’t share something, for the most part, that has nothing to do with personal branding because my audience is looking for that type of information.

G: How would you define a social media “influencer”?

GC: I define influence as being able to change other people’s behaviour or thoughts. Influencers in Social Media need not have thousands upon thousands of followers or fans, but should be able to use their connections to change behaviour and create conversations with them. Real influence also means that these actions are spread onwards to stimulate conversations in the wider community.

And of course brands can be influenced themselves, not by single powerful influencers but by many influencers speaking as one in the ‘crowd’. Look at how companies like Starbucks use consumers to influence products and services via mystarbucksidea

G: How do you measure the influence?

GC: Funnily enough I look at the whole spread of a person’s footprint. So not just the number of Twitter followers, ’Likes’ or Klout Score, but also what the first page of a Google search on them looks like, to see how else they are influencing people by speaking or sharing their thoughts

And although it may seem a little old fashioned, the icing on the cake is to meet people socially in real life. As I get to speak at conferences and events across Europe, it’s great to meet the person behind the tweets and blog posts. I remember a quote from Lyndon B. Johnson the American President who used to say that a handshake is worth 250 votes.

G: Who/What is influencing you on Social Media Properties?

GC: That can vary depending on what I am focussing on at the time. At the moment the integration of Social, Mobile and Email is important for many of my clients so anything coming from the Email Service Providers, Mobile Operators is useful as well organisations such as eConsultancy, Mashable, Mobile Commerce Daily

G: What are the key mistakes when targeting influencers and how to avoid them?

GC: The biggest mistake is not fully understanding the impact of the influencers – positive or negative. Brands can’t assume that they can exert undue influence themselves on the influencers. As a result, they must be satisfied that they can deal with the possible not so positive comments that might appear when the Brand is out there without being controlled from the desk of a marketing exec.

But also don’t forget the role of the unexpected influencer. Influencers could also be just normal people who get to use your product for real and then become influencers to an already captive audience that is being influenced directly by the brand itself.

G: Do you think targeting influencers is overrated (examples of failed campaigns) or is it an important part of Social Media Strategy? Why?

GC: I think it has a part to play. If played out correctly influencers can make up for the lack of inherent trust many people have for marketing messages direct from a brand itself

G: What are the trends that you are following at the moment and feel most passionate about? Why?

GC: Social Media going local. I’ve been playing around with Foursquare a lot in the last few weeks to try and figure out how the overall move towards moving being local can work. Everything we do is about making it personal for consumers. Personal to me is about Relevance and Context, so adding a local dimension to social activities has to be the ultimate real time personalisation

G: How the growth of social commerce and location based services will affect marketers? Why is it important?

GC: Well I guess this leads nicely from my previous answer. We have to remember that Social Commerce is still in its early days and that actually the majority of commerce still takes place in a bricks and mortar environment. So Location Based Services should be on everyone’s agenda. This is particularly pertinent for off line retailers who want to capture the sale from someone in store before they go online and find the same product at a cheaper price.

I was recently very disappointed in the Social Commerce deployed by Heinz Ketchup on Facebook recently. The actual platform itself worked very well when I bought my limited edition Balsamic Vinegar Ketchup but the follow up through any other channel was non-existent despite the fact that they had an email address and my home address

G: How the growth of new media platforms (mobile, tablets) will affect marketers?

GC: Again context becomes important for marketers. As we take our ‘desktop’ with us almost 24/7, marketers need to be aware of how and why consumers are interacting with messages. Consumers are using these devices to combine a multitude of tasks, communicating, seeking advice, hunting for offers, replacing cash and credit cards for payments.

Consumers will be happy for us to still ‘push’ messages out to them as long as we respect the boundaries of Permission that they have given us. It will become even more important for us not to sell to consumers but to help them buy

G: Is social media integration becoming a quality standard of successful company?

Only if it is seen as part of the solution based on consumer needs rather than being the answer to whatever the question was in the first place. I’m not convinced that the real purpose of Social Media is always thought about before setting out and doing it.

G: How and why did you get into social media?

GC: Not exactly by design, in particular when you consider that my first degree was in Astrophysics and first paying job was as a second hand cars salesman.

Recently, I spent a year working primarily in email and obviously the integration with Social became more and more pressing, and of course starting to hook up with Social Media Citizens like your good self,@conversionation , @chrisgomedia has further stimulated the immersion.

I ended up here via Direct Marketing Data and CRM which is why I’m fascinated about Social Media can work alongside, support or be supported by the other channels that todays connected consumer uses.

G: What are your favourite social media hang-out sites? (Other than FB, Twitter and LinkedIn)

GC: Well if it is possible to hang out in foursquare then recently that’s certainly taken up some of my time recently. From a business perspective then I certainly still use my inbox to get my daily fix of updates, news whitepapers and research.

G: Do you read everything that you share or RT? Is sharing becoming a form of showing gratitude to your peers?

GC: Definitely read everything I RT but I certainly don’t share just for the sake of gratification. I’m not a guaranteed follower of followers either. And I don’t expect it in return. Again, perhaps a little old fashioned, but I show gratitude by just saying thank you.

Maggie Fox is the Founder and CEO of

G: How and why did you get into social media?

M: I’ve worked in the web business for over a decade, but started blogging personally in 2004. It was a great outlet and I really enjoyed the closeness of that community in the early days – I still remember meeting my very first Internet friend!

G: What is it like to be a real Social Media Citizen?

M: I tend and feed my network, which largely centres around Twitter these days, several times a day. On busy days, not as often. That means sharing what I’m doing, reading, and thinking, as well as connecting with people I know and find really interesting. I also often upload pictures to both Twitter and Facebook. I also make an effort to comment on posts that link to us and connect with people who find our work interesting.

G: What are your favourite social media hang out sites?

M: Generally Facebook and Twitter, but I am also finding Tumblr very interesting and also make an effort to check out new and emerging platforms as I can. Internally, we use Yammer, which is also great for sharing content and connecting with the folks I work with.

G: How are you keeping up-to-date with social media environment ?

M: Ugh. I never seem to be able to read as much as I should, and I get inputs in two ways – “human RSS” via Twitter (links people share) and actually via email, of all things – I really need to rely on other people to curate content for me since my time is so limited!

G: How would you define a  Social Media Citizen?

M: Someone who connects and engages on social platform – a member of our social community!

G: What are your favourite Social Media Citizens?

M: My favourites are:

• Mathew Ingram,
• Jeremiah Owyang,
• Aaron Strout,
• Sarah Prevette.

G: What are your Top 3 secrets of social media marketing?

M: My Top 3:

• Be yourself
• Deliver value
• Think differently

G: What do you see in the future for the social media?

M: Everything is social.

G: What don’t you like about social media?

M: It can be a time suck – it’s true!

G: What is the funniest/most unexpected thing that happened due to social media?

M: Being able to start a business and do ground breaking work year after year; it’s been amazing.

G: How did social media change your life?

M: I have never met so many new people, or had such a diverse group of friends. Social has changed my life by allowing me to.

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A big Thank You to Maggie for her great insights!! You can find the rest of the interviews with the Social Media Citizens at SMC List or Social Media interviews category.