Every community manager has a few important commandments she lives by, and the best ones apply to more than just brands – they can even help an entire city succeed. Social media and community engagement specialist Meghann Ackerman is the woman behind @somervillecity, one of our favorite neighborhood accounts and the official feed of the City of Somerville providing news, events, city alerts, and a direct connection to Mayor Curtatone and his staff. How does she do it – and how can you do it, too?
1. Keep the “social” in social media. It sounds cheesy when you say it, but making sure your social media presence is indeed social is important. People use social networks to connect, share, and ask questions. Engage with your audience and be there when they have questions, comments, and suggestions.
2. Experiment. Try different types of posts and watch your analytics to see what resonates with your audience. Use what you learn to craft posts that are engaging and that energize your audience. Being a city, we’re not interested in reaching more people for potential sales, but we are interested in making sure information gets to as many people as possible.
3. Make different content for different platforms. First, pick the right platform(s) for what you’re trying to accomplish. Once you do, know that many people use multiple social networks. This is great because it gives you more chances to drive your message home, but people will tune out if you just post the same thing in several places. Get to know the culture and advantages of each platform you use and tweak your content to fit.
4. Have fun. Automated social media feeds get very low engagement. Why? Because people like talking to real people. Don’t be so formal that you sound like a robot. Develop a personable tone, throw in a little humor, and really enjoy interacting with your audience.
