The Seven Deadly Sins of

Community Management

By Ben Martin

@BenjMartin #SXSELondon

Who am I?

- Global Community Manager

for AVG Technologies

- 6 Years Community Manager, ex-agency, now in-house

- Brands I have worked for or with include….

@BenjMartin #SXSELondon

• Although it’s existed in some shape or form for decades, Community Management is still considered an “emerging” role

• There are no absolute “right” or “wrong” ways of doing things in Community Management- there seldom are in social media - anyone who tells you otherwise is a charlatan

• There are, however, some cardinal sins which should generally be avoided…

@BenjMartin #SXSELondon

A bit of

preamble…

Lust • A community should be

treated like a (loving) relationship

• You get out what you put in, but be prepared to compromise

• If you treat a community like you’re only in it for one thing (i.e. sales), your members will soon move on

• Related tip: Don’t search for Ron Jeremy pictures with SafeSearch off

@BenjMartin #SXSELondon

Gluttony

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• A community can be a great source for research, product ideas, feedback and traffic

• BUT don’t indulge heavily

• Don’t bog your users down with continuous requests for research and feedback

• Balance what you use your community for, or they’ll stop bothering with you, because you’re asking too much

Greed

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• Numbers are great. Having high numbers (Likes, Followers, RTs, Engagement Rate etc) is obviously better than having low numbers

• However, they are not the be-all and end-all to a community - in fact most of them are just for show

• While having thousands of likes is great, how many people are actually returning and contributing?

Sloth

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• Being a community manager is not a 9-5 job

• You need to spend time nurturing and building trust with your members

• When not interacting, you should work on ways to improve your community

• If you spend more time broadcasting than interacting & responding, you’re not a Community Manager

Wrath

@BenjMartin #SXSELondon

• When someone’s misbehaving or mouthing off, it’s tempting to break out the ban hammer

• This is seldom the best course of action, find out what’s motivating the trouble maker and fix it

• Openly publish and discuss your community’s rules and guidelines – if it’s community sourced, even better

• However, beware the trolls!

Envy

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• It’s easy to get wrapped up in what other brands are doing, especially if their numbers are higher

• Every community is different, even if the subject matter or product is similar

• Use competitors and others as inspiration or motivation, sure, but keep your focus on doing what works for your community (and be platform agnostic!)

Pride

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• Criticism can be hard to take as a Community Manager

• Accept all feedback and never censor – respond positively

• It’s also easy to get wrapped up in your own achievements, without recognising the community members that make a difference

• Recognise and reward your community superstars, they are invaluable!

• These “cardinal sins” are not a set of do and do nots – I am guilty of committing some of them myself from time to time

• An online community is a continuously evolving environment, with ever-changing goals and priorities

• As such, your approach needs to be just as flexible. It’s ok to “break the rules”, as long as it’s the community that benefits

@BenjMartin #SXSELondon

That all

said…

• @Jhenning for writing the blog post that inspired this presentation (and for his permission to use it as my basis)

• @CatTurner for keeping me amused on Twitter whilst I was trying to write this presentation

• Larry Page & Sergey Brin for inventing Google image search

• Liam Neeson, because after having watched Taken, I’m doing all I can to stay on his good side

@BenjMartin #SXSELondon

Credit to…