If you have an online store and want to promote your brand on social media, you need to start asking yourself: do I need a Community Manager for my eCommerce business?
Time savings, social media know-how and management can be the major advantages for any eCommerce owner who wants to invest in professional social communication for their brand. Setting strategies to get feedback from our followers would be one of the key reasons to hire a Community Manager for your eCommerce business.
First of all, do we know what a Community Manager does?
It’s not just that person sadly known for spending all day on Facebook; it’s also the expert in managing, building and running a brand’s or product’s online social communities.
The link between the company and its customers, a voice close to the user’s perspective that can understand and handle criticism of the online store’s products or processes. It’s important to understand this dual role of every Community Manager: the company’s image across all social networks and the customer’s perspective within the eCommerce business itself.
All this leads us to ask what qualities any Community Manager should have:
- Brand knowledge: they must know the eCommerce business’s sector, what it sells, its main features and how it can make people’s lives easier. Remember, this is the person who will handle all your brand’s information on social media, so it’s essential they know everything about the company and the brand they represent.
- Analysis: knowing the ideal social networks for the online store, the target audience posts should address, and who the ideal customers are will help build brand loyalty and drive visits and even conversions in the online store.
- Communication and writing skills: spelling mistakes are not acceptable for any Community Manager. Their command of grammar and spelling must be flawless. They will also always strive to be an objective, neutral voice for the online store. A communicative profile is a must: someone who knows how to reach users and whose answers try to resolve any questions that arise on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc.
- Common sense: they are the face of the brand and the person who interacts with its followers across all social networks. Clearly, a lack of common sense in such a key role could be very damaging. Managing communication between the brand and users is a task where humility and respect must prevail in every post and reply.
- Social media expertise: as an expert profile, they are expected to keep training continuously on the latest social media updates. Staying up to date is essential for this kind of professional.
What are a Community Manager’s goals?
The Community Manager is the person who carries out the eCommerce business’s Social Media strategy across the different networks, and is therefore responsible for managing them. With that mantra repeated once more, let’s look at the main goals every Community Manager should set:
- Together with the company/brand goals, draw up a social media strategic plan with measurable, tangible objectives (number of followers, “likes”, RTs, number of visits from social networks, etc.)
- Analyze the data from measurement tools and adjust the strategy if truly necessary.
- Interacting, listening and solving problems are the 3 key skills every Community Manager must master.
- Use all the information received from users or brand followers, once managed and organized, for the company’s benefit.
What a Community Manager should NOT do
Some of the actions, replies, comments or posts made by Community Managers at big companies are known as Epic Fails. They caused plenty of laughs among followers, but surely the brand owners weren’t amused, and they did their corporate image no good.
We should pay special attention to the following: the real benefit of adding this kind of communication profile to an eCommerce business is bringing the brand and the user closer together. Constant feedback that becomes highly beneficial for the company.
At Trilogi we know how important a good Social Media strategy is for any kind of eCommerce business, which is why we recommend adding this professional profile or a Social Media management service to your eCommerce strategy.
After everything we’ve discussed, are you still hesitant to get a Community Manager for your online store?
