Last week we covered the many benefits in working with an Editorial Calendar when managing an online community. In this article I will explain how to actually develop this calendar, provide examples of what you could add to it and offer a special bonus – your very own print-and-keep sample editorial calendar.
So, let’s get started…
The first step is to figure out how frequent you want to be creating regular events or editorial initiatives for your members to participate in.
Social media isn’t something we have to learn. We just have to apply what we already know to a new social environment. The same personal qualities and social skills that you (hopefully) learned growing up are what will make you successful at social media. Here are 10 things an older relative probably told you at some point that you can apply to social media.
via 10 things your grandmother can teach you about social media | Social Media Today.
The surest way to develop the right type of followers and friends is to deliver the goods. No shortcuts.
Delivering the goods means impressing people enough that they want to connect with you. Bring people value and they will follow. From the dawn of time this axiom has been true and it remains true in the glare of social’s spotlight as well. As you prove your value to people, they will follow you, friend you, spread your word and recommend others join the crowd as well. If you WOW these people every day, they will remain loyal and help boost your profile online.
via Bing How to build a social following – Webmaster Center blog – Site Blogs – Bing Community.
The decentralized nature of social media is its greatest strength. Anyone can participate. Everyone has a voice. This is also the greatest challenge for brands that must manage the inherent conflict between empowering their own organization to participate while still maintaining continuity and quality of customer experience. The current sprawl represents a great waste of energy and resources. As organizations continue to invest in social media, and the market continues to demand a “social media strategy” articulated in every board room and annual report, the terms of success will move from isolated pages and campaigns to connectedness and coordination. For that, we need social media architecture.
via 3 Ways to Improve Your Company’s Social Media Architecture.
There’s no doubt in my mind that using social media in the right way is a powerful tool to advancing your brand and can be a powerful weapon to come out on top of competitors. But if you’re using these tools to connect with your audience, don’t be just a faceless, nameless corporation. I believe one of the most important elements in a successful social media campaign is to keep it human in social media.
via Wake up! 7 tips on how to be a human in social media – TNW Social Media.
Once your brand is on Facebook, the question becomes: How you engage those fans and sustain a meaningful online dialogue with your customers. Facebook fans will only want to engage with us if we serve up relevant content and truly participate. We also forget about EdgeRank — Facebook’s News Feed algorithm that helps display “relevant” stories. The News Feed only displays a small subset of stories generated by the friends and brands users engage with the most. The more popular your story, the more likely it is to show up in people’s News Feed. News Feed optimization becomes as important as your content strategy.
They believe in the brand/drink the company Kool-Aid. This should be a no-brainer, but it bears repeating. Hire someone who believes in what your news organization stands for. They’ll be interacting with your users/customers/readers every day. This will come through in the interview process moreso than through a résumé. They might even come to the interview with a list of recommendations for how to improve the Facebook or Twitter page, or suggestions for new platforms to venture into. Are they overeager? Probably. Do they believe in the company and the brand? Definitely.
They’re obsessed. When I was in journalism school, one of my professors said that you should always be thinking of a story. When you’re sitting in a restaurant, having dinner, make sure you’re alert. Something could happen, and a story could appear before your eyes. Well, it’s the same way with community management. An effective community manager should always be thinking about the community that they are overseeing. You read a sign, and the wheels start turning: “This could work in my community!” Or, “I wonder what the community would think of a partnership with this business?” Community management is not a 9-5 job, so don’t hire someone who talks like it is.
They’re antsy. It’s 15 minutes until the next post is meant to appear on the Facebook Fan community that you manage. You’ve got this link to a story, that appears on the news organization’s website. You know, given how the community has reacted in the past to content, that this could be a big story. But you’re also second-guessing yourself. What if the community actually doesn’t react? What if they aren’t as interested as you think they will be? After all, the community/Fan Page isn’t yours, it’s theirs. Your job is to supply content and discussion topics. An effective (or obsessed) community manager cares about the content that is presented to the community for discussion and reaction. The Facebook page shouldn’t be hooked up to the news fire-hose. Look for someone who understands that, and appreciates the art of content curation.
They’re competitive. Social media isn’t a race, or a competition. Nobody “wins”. But that shouldn’t matter to whoever is managing your news organization’s online communities. There’s nothing wrong with a bit of “friendly competition”, is there? The person (or people) who manage you communities, should be aware of what’s happening in the communities of competing news organizations. They will believe in the news organization and in the brand, and will want to see it come out ahead of everyone else. Their metrics of success may not be typical. Instead of having the biggest community, they might want the most active members, or the most response per item. Regardless of what it is, they will want to steer the community into the spotlight as a leader.
via 4 Traits of an Effective or Obsessed Community Manager – 10,000 Words.
