5 Tips on Becoming a Successful Community Manager is 2020 as Told by Gordon Ramsay
Being a community manager in 2020 is a multifaceted position. A specialized skillset and certain personal attributes are crucial to being successful in the role. To grow an engaging community, managers of these audiences keep the following in mind to have the best opportunity for not only success, but an opportunity for growth within the communities they manage.
1. Motivation
If your heart isn’t in the task, you will not succeed. A successful community manager will not only be motivated to communicate with their audience, but motivate their audience to engage and interact, too. This position requires a lot of planning and hard work with full effort, if not more, needed. By being a motivated leader in your community, the other members will soon follow with organic content. When discussing community managers Pundir quoted, “…he/she should be engaging, motivating and a torchbearer too to inspire others in the community towards a valuable goal.” If the leader is so disconnected that it’s not apparent they’re in charge, the members will be unmotivated, too.
2. Positivity
Now more than ever a positive environment is key to a successful community. Always engage with members in a positive tone and keep the communication constructive, even if discussing heavier topics. Many upsetting topics have been up for discussion this year amongst the COVID-19 pandemic and your community doesn’t need to a place for them. A successful community manager can create an environment built on purpose and positivity to create a safe space for their members to feel comfortable engaging in. Positive environments help with stress management and a healthy lifestyle, and that’s exactly what you want your audience to do: relax. Members will not participate in a community that makes them feel unhappy.
3. Purpose and Commonality
A community needs to provide a purpose or fulfill a need for its members. Though not always clearly stated, all successful communities have a purpose. Community mangers should provide content, interaction and engagement that all build on achieving said purpose. By reaching potential members that fit your niche common interest, you will grow with members that want to add value to the community. Be passionate about the common interest of your platform and re-enforce it as the community manager.
4. Communication Skillset
Community managers need a communication skillset that’s buildable, as social media is always evolving. Community managers need to know not only how to reach their audience, but how to craft a message and purpose that resonates with them. Community managers acquire:
· Ability to curate content
· PR know-how
· Tech savvy
· Adaptable
· Educated on social media
5. Personality
Avoid sounding robotic and unauthentic. Of course, it can be nerve wracking not knowing if your audience will receive your message the right way. Catering your content to what you think your audience will like versus content you are passionate about is a grave mistake. The goal is to create a community of like-minded individuals. You cannot reach members that feel the way you do if you’re not communicating how you actually feel. When trying too hard, we often come off as unauthentic. Being the face of a community or company is meant to give human characteristics and a face to the platform, so act human! While running an Instagram account as a social media manager at a past internship, I once had someone message the account simply asking who was behind the account out of curiosity. If in a community manager role instead, this should have never happened as members should know exactly who you are, how you engage and what you represent.
Successful community managers foster positive, safe spaces for their members that make them want to add value to the group and build relationships with others. These attributes, in addition to many others, are essential in building and maintaining a growing community as a community manager in 2020.
