Quick on their feet and multi-tasking all day long, great community managers are always connected to your brand’s audience. They have become one of the most important resources a brand can use to market on social media, so we sat down with Socialtyze Community Manager extraordinaire, Krista Kopina, to learn how to successfully manage online communities.

How did you become a community manager and why?

I’ve always enjoyed connecting with the community- connecting in a deeper sense than just a few hellos or thank yous. The appeal is about really getting involved and genuinely being interested in what people are talking about. I love daily chats and checking in with the “regulars," but the best part is even if I can’t help or provide users with what they need, I can reach out to the community and find someone who can.

How do you get to know a brand and determine a posting strategy?

Beyond talking to the client and hearing out their thoughts and vision, I read anything and everything about the brand: the company website, brand messaging, blogs, Twitter chatter, Google alerts and more. This also means knowing the competitive landscape. What does the brand stand for? Why are they different? What’s their value proposition? Then I build my posting strategy to represent the brand’s messaging and core company values.

How do you encourage fans to engage and post things that move the conversation forward?

Be Human: Humanize the brand. Post with a personality, feature photos and videos of staff members and share content that elicits emotion. Be authentic and honest. And ALWAYS apologize if mistakes are made.

Include a Call to Action: Ask for fan feedback. Get their opinions. Ask them to share your content. Ask them to recommend your page to their friends. These are your brand’s most loyal customers. Get them involved!

Be Brief: Short posts are much more likely to receive a response.

Share a Variety of Content: Keep everything fresh! Share links, videos and photos. Hold contests and sweepstakes to help build buzz and add value to liking your page.

Share Exclusive Content: Provide content that your fans can’t get anywhere else.

Be Consistent: If you post 5 times per week, don’t suddenly stop or drastically decrease your posting frequency. Being consistent with post timing is important, as fans will return to the page with expectations. You always want to give them a reason to come back!

Recognize Your Fans: Encourage user- generated content and always make your fans feel important! Thank your most loyal fans for their involvement and helping you meet new milestones.

What are the most common mistakes in community management?

Trying to control EVERYTHING! The Community Manager’s job is to make the user experience as frictionless as possible by providing content that’s easily accessible and hassle-free to keep fans coming back. However, fans will always have both positive and negative feedback, so just be ready to smooth out the bumps when they happen.

What is the most difficult part of being a community manager?

Definitely balancing the needs/wants of the community with the interest of the business/organization. It can be tricky when there is a desire to give the community what they want and knowing, of course, you may not be able to. Also, not allowing negative sentiment in the community to bring down the positive energy of the brand!

Do you have any advice for a new community manager?

Embrace transparency. Learn to balance the positive and negative by giving rational “haters” a sounding board that allows them to have their say, while encouraging the “lovers” to engage in as much conversation as possible. And of course, always admit your mistakes.