In addition to working in the world of PR/Marketing, I run a little men’s and women’s fashion blog on the side for fun.
It’s not the biggest site in the world, but it’s gained enough traction to prompt various brand relationships to be created over time.
Speaking of those relationships, something happened the other day that felt wrong; almost as if the person on the other end of the conversation (on Twitter) had no clue of the relationship that had been established between their brand and my fashion blog.
It was as if I was an absolute stranger, and it didn’t exactly feel comforting given that I’d (the fashion blog) previously had a great relationship with this brand.
My first thought was that they obviously have a new person acting as a community manager, but then I started thinking about how this is such a pivotal role and how disruptive the community manager transition can be. When these changes transpire you can have all of the transition in the world taking place behind the scenes, but for the outside world it needs to be seamless.
By not having a community management transition plan in place, brands risk taking two steps back with influencers (not saying that’s what I am by any stretch of the imagination) and alienating advocates, both of which are unfortunate and not necessary.
3 Tips for Smooth(er) Community Manager Transitions
- Create a relationship list that can easily be referenced and consider breaking it down by categories such as media, business, influencer, consumer advocate, etc. You’ll also want to create a notes section where you can capture the extent of the relationship (Ex: wrote article, business partner, blogger friend, consumer fan – those are just examples and you could be much more descriptive.).
- Always have a second person involved with community management. No matter if it’s once a month, every couple of weeks or every week, the backup should be kept apprised of influential relationships and conversations that standout. [This is obviously not referencing a robust team that has multiple positions for this type of job.]
- This item is a bit blogger centric, but you should have a plan in place to let those you have relationships with know that changes are occurring. Change happens and everyone understands, but a heads up will not only help the brand, but it will also help the blogger. There’s nothing worse than emailing / calling your contact only to find that they’ve disappeared. I’ve seen the transition messages happen on a number of occasions (frequent in the fashion world) and they are very helpful for all involved.
That list could certainly be longer, but those three tips should help make community manager transitions a bit smoother should they need to occur.
I’ve talked to a number of people on the content (blog/website owners) side of things, and almost every individual has experienced the negative impact of an unplanned, and unprepared, community manager transition.
Have any tips of your own? Feel free to add to the list by leaving a comment below.
