If you’ve been on our #TwitterSmarter chat, you’ll know how engaged everyone is. The enthusiasm is infectious. That’s what a good community looks like—everyone’s happy welcome newbies and they go the extra mile to help each other. But none of that happens without Madalyn who puts in tremendous effort to nurture the #TwitterSmarter community. And that’s what we wanted to talk about on our chat this week.
We invited social media manager and strategist Chelsea Bradley to discuss how brands can manage their Twitter communities successfully. Here’s a summary of our chat.
Guest: Chelsea Bradley
Topic: Managing a Community on Twitter
Format: Eight questions directed at the guest. Everyone’s welcome to share.
A community is a group of people who gather to have conversations about common interests. As our guest articulated so well, it’s not a place to make one post and then go away to do something else. Instead, a Twitter community is where you make connections and develop lifelong friendships.
A1: A community on Twitter is a place where humans come to have conversations w/humans + the humans behind the brands. It's not a place for posting + ghosting. There is a lot of life beyond "Marketing Twitter" – it's also place where we unexpectedly gain BFFs #TwitterSmarter
— Chelsea Bradley (@ChelseaRhane) January 21, 2021
Marianne said it beautifully—a community is a tribe. Not only do people share interests, but they also support each other’s work like family.
A1: A community is like a family. Some refer to as a tribe which I quite like.
It's a group of people with common interests, values and understanding who support each other. #TwitterSmarter
— Marianne Avery | Social Media Manager (@sociallymaz) January 21, 2021
Most of us think a community is developed from scratch. But as Chelsea pointed out, every brand has a community whether or not they realize it.
For instance, even if you don’t think you have a community as active as #TwitterSmarter, you’ll still have a group of people who talk about your brand on social media. That’s your community. And it’s important to engage with that community and nurture them because they provide you with the data essential for you to improve your business. For example, not only is your community giving you insights on what you need to fix, but they’re also telling you what you do well. They are your cheerleaders—leverage their knowledge to grow your business.
A2: Brands have a community whether they like it or not – people are always talking about it & they have likes, dislikes, interests, need answers, or have ideas – communities are the data (+ dollars) leadership typically doesn't understand is at their fingertips. #TwitterSmarter
— Chelsea Bradley (@ChelseaRhane) January 21, 2021
As Jim added, your community is vital because they spread the word about you. People remember how a brand makes them feel, and they share it with their friends and family. That’s why you should have an actively engaged community.
A2 Look up "word of mouth," and you'll see a community. Brands need to get the word out about what they do, and a community is vital to their marketing. #TwitterSmarter
— Jim Katzaman – Get Debt-Free One Family at a Time (@JKatzaman) January 21, 2021
As we mentioned in the previous answer, your community gives you the information you need to succeed. Make use of it—engage with them and make them feel seen and heard. If they’ve taken the time to respond to you and show their support, it’s only decent for you to reciprocate. Not doing so will send all the wrong signals to your community.
A3: It's important to be involved w/your community bc they've taken the time to engage w. you – the thing you want & report on – plus, it's just basic human decency to respond to someone. Your community will help drive content, strategy & even product launches #TwitterSmarter
— Chelsea Bradley (@ChelseaRhane) January 21, 2021
Jake drew an excellent parallel to drive the point home. Engaging with your community is like nurturing a relationship. The more effort and time you spend on nurturing your relationships, the longer they’ll be around.
A3: Like any relationship, it requires attention.
For the things we love to grow, we need to put in the effort—the time, the energy, engagement, nurturing.
Also, like relationships, the less effort you put in, the quicker it fades and dies.#TwitterSmarter pic.twitter.com/tk4PsZxJkC
— JZ ? Jake Zachariah (@jzjakez) January 21, 2021
Juliann added how nurturing your community opens up further discussions. Every business needs to hear and consider varied perspectives and feedback to offer a well-rounded service. When you put in the effort to listen to your community and encourage these conversations, you’ll hear a lot of interesting and helpful points of view.
A3: Bring new ideas or angles to the table. Like how you are bringing in Clubhouse for an after-party#TwitterSmarter
— Juliann Fritz (@JFritzPR) January 21, 2021
A good way to keep your community interested is to voluntarily initiate and participate in conversations. It’s great to respond to notifications and join in on threads people have tagged you on. But it’s even more beneficial to jump in on related conversations and showcase your expertise. Not only will you help someone, but you’ll also make good friends.
A4: A great way to keep your community engaged is to continue engaging w/them. Be proactive about outbound engagement (not just responding to what comes in). I've become personal friends w/many diff clients' fans bc of this. Your community is your bottom line! ? #TwitterSmarter
— Chelsea Bradley (@ChelseaRhane) January 21, 2021
Masooma shared some more ideas such as showing up consistently, offering value with every post, hosting giveaways, and engaging in one-on-one conversations.
A4. Ways to engage your community:
– Show up and engage consistently
– Pay attention to each individual rather than bundling everyone into a ‘whole&
– Be consistent at offering value
– Host giveaways, quizzes and other interactive content #TwitterSmarter— Masooma | Content Writer (@inkandcopy) January 21, 2021
But of course, the most important of all is to listen, as Laura explained. When you listen and observe intently, you’ll identify how you can help your community members. And when you know that, go out there and be yourself.
A4: Keep your community engaged by truly listening to them.
Be sure you are not only listening for ways you can benefit or make a sale.
Be authentic!#TwitterSmarter https://t.co/oEMkALnqTW
— Laura Denny (@ldcreativemedia) January 21, 2021
It’s important to realize early on in your Twitter journey that community management isn’t an overnight job. Rome wasn’t built in a day because it takes years to build up a community that’s willing and able to build a Rome.
Measure your success by observing how much engagement your posts have received, and the volume of user-generated content like reviews and comments. If you manage your community well enough, you’ll naturally see an increase in the number of people responding to your posts and their frequency of participating in your conversations.
A5: Building a community takes time, but it's worth it. Success can be measured by engagement & increase in UGC. If you are engaging w/your community, you are successful – the end, no metrics. Think about all the brands you've reached out to & got 0 response. #TwitterSmarter
— Chelsea Bradley (@ChelseaRhane) January 21, 2021
As Alyx from Charlie Appel Agency pointed out, you can also ask your audience to see how engaged they are. Run polls, ask open-ended questions, conduct short events, and Twitter chats to encourage participation.
A5 Most SM platforms have either insights or metrics for tracking how your content is doing, which is a great start
Having quick surveys and polls for your audience to interact with is another great way to make sure you're addressing what they need/want
-Alyx #TwitterSmarter https://t.co/XFjgjASxtN— Charlie Appel Agency (@ColfaxInsurance) January 21, 2021
A canned response is an automated response to a question. In many cases, businesses use canned responses for FAQs and support messages. However, canned messages are obviously fake. Some bad canned responses don’t even directly address your audience’s question. As our guest so nicely said: every customer deserves a real response. Take the effort to type out a personal message.
A6: I am anti-canned. I use them in DMs to answer product locator or customer service ?s but I also have auto-responses for those topics. Everything else, I type out. Everyone deserves a relevant response & canned responses aren't received well #TwitterSmarter
— Chelsea Bradley (@ChelseaRhane) January 21, 2021
In specific circumstances, such as a Facebook chat message, you might be using automated chatbots as first responders to customer questions. In those cases, automated responses are acceptable as long as you provide helpful information and a human response as soon as possible.
Kelly shared some examples of acceptable canned responses we see every day. These are dedicated for common questions that always have the same answer such as hours of operation, return and exchange policies, shipping charges, etc. Always be cognizant of where you place your canned responses.
A6: I think it's appropriate to use them for general FAQs that will always have the same answer (ie. hours of operation, general shipping practices, etc.). Anything typical that doesn't require a personalized response. But only use them for those things! #TwitterSmarter https://t.co/LFbhl0epDw
— Kelly Kostanesky (@kmmkcomm) January 21, 2021
It varies from brand to brand, but in most cases, it’s a good practice to sign off tweets with the manager’s name. Sometimes, as our guest explained, once you’ve built a strong relationship with your community, you and your brand might be more comfortable to engage on a more personal level.
A7: Depends on the brand, I think. I clearly respond as a human from my clients' accounts & after building a relationship may reveal who I am on a private level. In B2B, I think knowing the human behind the brand is crucial – like Christin on Convince (miss her?) #TwitterSmarter
— Chelsea Bradley (@ChelseaRhane) January 21, 2021
As Rachel from Express Writers reminded us, if you’re engaging as a brand, even if you use your name, you have to follow your brand’s tone and social media practices. You are, after all, still representing the business—be professional.
A7: It's nice being able to put a face to the team members working behind-the-scenes, but it's also important that they represent the brand in a professional manner. So, if team members engage as themselves, it's smart to keep that in mind. #TwitterSmarter
— Express Writers | Your Content Writing Partner (@ExpWriters) January 21, 2021
To have a good community management strategy, you have to be authentic and consistent. That means you can even get away without having a stringent strategy—sometimes the more planning you do, the less freedom you have to be spontaneous. Keep that in mind when engaging with your community. Even though you’ll still need a social media strategy, your community management can be a bit more… natural.
A8: ANY brand authentically and consistently engaging has a good community management strategy. CMGT doesn't necessarily need a strategy – it just needs to happen. The more planned, the less authentic it really is. #TwitterSmarter
— Chelsea Bradley (@ChelseaRhane) January 21, 2021
As for brands that do a great job of managing their community, our chat goers’ favorites included SEMRush, WinnieSun, EmailHour, Aviation Gin, Wendy’s, Content Marketing Institute, Hootsuite, Buzzsumo, and—as a special mention from our friend at Advance Urban Marketing—our #TwitterSmarter regulars, Wholesome Media.
A8
Our friends @media_wholesome for sure!
I have seen them do so many of these, I thought I'd give it a try, and it is honestly so much fun!#TwitterSmarter
— Advance Urban Marketing (@AdvanceUrban) January 21, 2021
Well, folks. That’s all from me this week. Thanks for reading and for more insight from our chat with Chelsea check out this Twitter Moment that Joana put together. We’d love for you to join our conversation—tune into #TwitterSmarter at 1pm every Thursday. See you then!
About me, Narmadhaa:
I write all the things—technical and marketing copy to fill the pocket; haiku and short stories to fill the soul. A social media enthusiast, I’m a member of the #TwitterSmarter chat crew, and always happy to take on writing gigs.
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