In today’s digital world, where more than 1 in every 4 persons is a digital buyer, companies have realized the importance of online communities to keep customers connected and informed. They build communities on social media channels like Facebook, LinkedIn, or self-hosted platforms to achieve their specific goals and increase overall revenue.
When these communities grow, it becomes difficult to organize their content, maintain engagement and respond to messages. So companies create teams to handle them. These teams are directed by highly skilled and capable professionals called community directors.
In this article, you will learn about community directors in detail. So keep reading to find out what they do, what skills they have, and how you can be one!
What is a director of community?
A community director acts as the brand voice that connects the brand with its target audience through social media channels, live events, online forums, blogs, emails, etc. His end goal is to increase brand loyalty through different ways such as effective content distribution, post engagement, etc.
Using multiple tools and techniques, he determines what people are saying about the brand on the internet. He reads comments, checks reviews, and goes through direct messages to understand people’s problems and views related to the brand.
Why is a community director important in a company?
There are many benefits to creating, managing, and directing online communities. The following benefits of having a community director indicate why this role is important.
- The director of community forms community management strategies to help people interact with the brand and its users. This increases customer experience, eventually boosting customer loyalty and revenue as more than 85% of buyers are ready to pay higher amounts for an exceptional customer experience.
- A large number of internet users (around 76%) participate in online communities. The director of community can help gather useful data from these communities and target customers more effectively.
- He makes content accessible, making it easier to convert potential customers into regular customers.
- He improves the relationship between customers and the brand by making customers feel valued and respected. A 2020 report concludes that 63% of members of online communities feel that they are heard.
- He supports customer experience and marketing teams and suggests effective strategies to improve customer retention rates.
What does a community director do?
Community directors play diverse roles in organizations. Some common tasks they perform include:
Build and manage communities
They form both online and offline brand communities to engage and inform their audience in different ways. They ensure content is regularly shared on outlets like social media groups, online forums, mobile apps, etc., and people receive a timely response. They become the brand’s voice on all platforms and represent it in the best possible way.
Use analytical tools
It can be challenging to keep multiple communities well-organized and well-maintained. The director uses various analytical tools to find out with a few clicks what others are saying about the brand. He uses these tools to:
- Gather customer feedback
- Monitor comments and tags
- Run campaigns
They help him save both time and effort. Popular tools that community directors use for growing brands are:
- Taggbox
- Canva
- Grytics
- Tweetdeck
- Social Bakers
Increase brand awareness
The key responsibility of a community director is to improve the online presence of the company to increase its online followers, customers, and sales. For this, he runs different social media campaigns, creates captivating content, learns about the latest trends, and tries to stay ahead of competitors.
Track the performance of different activities
In order to understand whether the efforts of different teams are producing desired results or not, the director needs to track important KPIs. It allows him to see where they are lacking and what needs to be changed to improve performance.
Manage reputational crisis
The reputation of a company is one of its most precious assets. A small incident can damage it severely. The director of community forms strategies to monitor key risk factors and get rid of difficult situations before they affect the company’s image on a larger scale. He becomes the company’s voice and ears, making sure he clarifies the situation in front of the public.
Guide marketing and communication teams
The community director oversees different teams, including the content, marketing, and communication teams. He ensures that all teams understand their goals and work hard to achieve them.
If the content team is creating content for online or offline communities, the community director will review it before it is published to make sure it is according to the content strategy. He reviews marketing and communication strategies for the same purpose.
What skills should a director of community have?
Communication skills
The most important skill that employers check in candidates for this post is their communication skills. Since you will be representing a brand and directly interacting with the audience, you should be able to talk in the right tone using the most convincing words. You should know how to communicate in different situations.
Data analysis skills
The director of community should be able to track and analyze key metrics to determine what people are saying about the brand in different communities. He should be able to collect information and data and use them to design more effective strategies.
Content management
The community director has to engage community members with interactive content. He should know which kind of content is suitable for a particular audience and when it should be published in communities to get the maximum response from its members.
Empathy
He should be able to put himself in his customers’ position and understand their emotions. It will allow him to build a lasting relationship with them.
Conflict resolution
A community director talks and engages with customers on a daily basis. He has to interact with all kinds of customers, including the unsatisfied ones who are not happy with the company’s service or product. Handling such customers or tense situations can be challenging. Any wrong word or action can aggravate the situation.
A community director should have the ability to resolve issues with customers in the most effective manner. He should be able to understand the customer’s perspective and offer the best possible solution.
How can I become a director of community?
Complete a university degree
Community directors usually need at least a bachelor’s degree to apply for this position. Your degree should be in a relevant field that shows you have gained enough knowledge throughout years to serve the company in the best possible way.
Get training and certificates
While not required, obtaining training can give you a competitive advantage over others, especially if you get training in tools and skills that the company needs or has mentioned in its requirements.
Gain industry experience
A community director should have 6 to 10 years of industry experience. If you are a student and plan to become a director in the future, you should look for internship opportunities while studying. This will help you improve your skills and gain experience.
Craft a resume
Build a professional resume that highlights your education, work experience, and skills. You can build an online portfolio to showcase your expertise. It can be in the form of a website, video, or blog.
What is the expected salary of a director of community?
As of September 2022, the average salary for a director of community in America is approximately $60,663 per annum, which works out to be around $29.16 per hour. You may have more or less than the mentioned value based on your location, skill level, education, and years of experience.
Expert tricks and tips for community directors
Plan ahead
A community director has to perform multiple tasks every day. Planning ahead can help you save time and stress in many ways.
For instance, if you want to gain your audience’s attention, you need to publish posts in online communities consistently. You should arrange all forms of content, like campaigns, contests, posts, etc., in a content calendar and check it regularly to ensure you and your team follows it.
Set measurable goals to calculate the success
Tracking the success of online communities can be tricky as their results are often not very clear. Many things are happening in communities, and you may not know which of them is contributing to sales directly.
Therefore, you should set particular goals that help you determine success. Identify the metrics you value the most and then track them to see whether your efforts are generating results.
Identify your target audience
Before creating online communities, you need to first find and understand your target audience. It will help you post content that interests them and use the right communication techniques to approach them.
Promote authentic communication
When a person joins your online community, they do this to talk to or share ideas with someone real. So you need to interact with people on a human level. Pay attention to their words to show you respect them. Keep your tone professional and consistent. All these efforts will eventually help you gain your customer’s trust and loyalty.
Consider follow-up interactions
Let’s say you have recently talked to a customer who received a faulty product, and now you are sending them a product replacement. People often assume doing this is enough. But you can make a better impression on your customer by putting a little extra effort.
You should contact the customer again and ask whether they have received the product. If they say yes, then ask how did they find it to show that you value their views. If the customer is satisfied with the product, request them to leave feedback.
Make your customers feel heard
Giving importance to someone’s words is a great way of gaining their respect and loyalty. As a brand, getting your customer’s loyalty can help you beat your competitors and take your business to the next level.
So next time you talk to a customer, pay attention to their words and stay interested throughout the conversation. Give them prompt responses and genuinely thank them for choosing you over other brands.
Automate processes to save time
A director of community performs multiple tasks every day. Doing them manually can be time taking and tedious. Therefore, instead of doing repetitive tasks manually, try automating them using online tools and software. This will allow you to do more in less time.
Gather and use customer data
A community director interacts with customers regularly. He understands their needs and problems better. He knows how his target audience responds to a particular kind of content and what queries they have in mind. This makes him a great source of customer data for the company.
So don’t let your knowledge go to waste. Use it to design communication and community management strategies. You can group customer data by topics or customer issues so you can use the data more efficiently.
FAQ:
What is the difference between a director of social media and a director of community?
A director of social media is responsible for creating, overseeing, and improving the social media profiles of the company. On the other hand, a community director helps the company create and manage an online community of customers or potential customers to improve the brand’s relationship with them.
Is this role in demand?
Because of the increase in social media usage, more and more companies are now promoting their products and services on social media channels. It has created numerous opportunities for work for social media professionals, including community directors. So, we can say that this role is in demand, and its demand is expected to further increase in the coming years.
Summary
Community directors oversee the health of online and offline communities to see what people are saying about the brand. They resolve problems in close-knit communities to maintain a positive image of the company.
Among a community director’s main roles are planning content strategy, interacting with community members through daily posts, maintaining the company’s reputation, and analyzing data and trends to stay ahead of competitors.