Community management is one of, if not the most important function in the social media process.

You have probably heard the saying “Happy Wife, Happy Life”, well we community managers have our own version. It goes something like “Unhappy community, RUN & HIDE!”

Below are 10 commandments to help you deal with and understand the trials and tribulations of community management. Enjoy.

One: Thou shalt not copy paste responses.

This was written with particular reference to the late Groupon SA (R.I.P) It is just plain lazy and insulting. While there are many factors that contributed to its downfall this was largely exuberated by their lack of effort in dealing with the many, many consumer complaints that came their way.

 

Two: Thou shalt ask for a second opinion

If you are not sure what to respond to a query (angry ones in particular) do not be afraid to take a step back and ask for advice from a colleague. One bad response could cause huge anger and you may even trend for the wrong reasons.

Remember not to take anything personally- they are angry at the brand not at you.

Three: Thou shalt trendjack when the time is right

Just because something is trending doesn’t mean you should jump on it immediately. If the trend is not relevant to your brand you can and will end up doing more damage than good. #Everythingmustfall

Four: Thou shalt be armed with information

The lines between customer service and Community Management have become blurred. Why would anyone call a call centre line when they could just as easily go to Twitter?

As a CM you need to be armed with an arson of information for any and every possible situation.

If you do not have the resources or ability to solve your customers questions then you should not be on Twitter- or ANY other social media platform.

Five: Thou shalt get by with a little help from some tools

The fast paced nature of community management means that it is easy to lose oversight of a situation. On an average day your brain will feel like a scrambled egg. On a bad day- well that’s another story.

I use the following tools and templates to help me stay on top of things:

  • Hootsuite
  • Google Docs
  • Google Sheets

 

Six: Thou shalt not delete comments

If you thought that bat shit crazy consumer was seeing red before, wait until you delete their angry rant off your page. If you must, hide it, but always make sure you have a set of community guidelines available and in place to justify your removal of their post.

Seven: Thou shalt take it offline

The truth is that it is all to be easy to be angry at a brand- but suddenly when you are addressing a real life person the tone changes. This works especially well when you pick up the phone. Try it.

Eight: Thou shalt not feed the trolls

Trolls. We have all seen them. Some of us have even been them. Trolls are key- board heroes. They will look for any and every opportunity to make your life diffi- cult. The best policy when it comes to trolls is to simply ignore them as any re- sponse you generate will only add fuel to their sad fire.

Nine: Thy shalt keep thy witty sarcasm to oneself

Your witty banter will not come off well on the interwebs. If you have a comment so good you just can’t keep it in tell it to a friend.

Ten: Thou shalt keep thy punctuation to a reasonable level!!

I for one am guilty of overusing and abusing exclamation marks! Yes it is good to be excited but no one actually talks like this!! Right!! Be cool!!