Growing Your Community on Social

At Smarty, we believe that customer experience (CX) is the heartbeat of success on social. Creating a team dedicated to monitoring your platforms and engaging with users is critical for fostering connections, combating misinformation, and building brand love.  

What is customer experience?

As the name suggests, our customer experience department extends an experience with a brand through 1:1 communications with its community. At Smarty, CX has a two-fold approach to building community on social: reactive and proactive. Reactive community management involves customer service efforts, specifically platform monitoring and engaging with brand mentions – both on and off our owned channels. On the other hand, proactive community management actions include starting conversations and building strong relationships with key stakeholders. In tandem, these efforts can nurture an engaged following of loyal consumers.

Reactive Community Management looks like: 

• Responding to consumer questions and concerns
• Directing followers to appropriate resources
• Hiding inappropriate or offensive comments 

Proactive Community Management looks like:

• Outreach to followers and current consumers
• Connecting with key opinion leaders
• Sourcing user-generated content

Why is customer experience valuable? 

Posting content alone is not enough to build an engaged community. Socially savvy brands take advantage of the opportunity to interact directly with consumers – and you should too. In our experience, CX is particularly valuable when it comes to gaining trust, addressing misconceptions, and building brand love across platforms.

Gaining trust

Followers see comments and DMs on social as an opportunity to connect with the brands they love. By answering consumer questions and addressing common concerns, reactive efforts help to build brand trust with this key audience. 

Addressing misconceptions

Most brands are no strangers to unfounded rumors. Some are harmless, while others may present a serious threat if left unaddressed. Consistent monitoring can help to identify any emerging misconceptions, allowing a brand to intervene and correct any misunderstandings.

Building brand love

Social media is the modern consumer’s love language. Brands that take the time to engage in 1:1 conversations and answer followers’ burning questions are the ones who maintain an engaged, loyal community. 

What is our recipe for success? 

With 7 team members and over 86 years of combined experience in customer service and management, we’ve learned quite a few lessons along the way:

Establish a clear brand voice. 

For CX efforts, like community management, to succeed, all comments and responses must serve as an extension of the brand itself. This is important, not only for consistency and adherence to guidelines, but also for brand recognition. Before delegating these tasks, be sure that you and your team understand how you want to show up – your social presence depends on it. 

Consistency, consistency, consistency.

When you have multiple individuals interacting on behalf of a larger organization, consistency is key. Any thoughts, opinions, or reactions that are personal or unrepresentative of the brand should be omitted from all communications. Effective community managers use brand values and guidelines as a North Star, ensuring that responses reflect the appropriate POV. 

Plan ahead. 

The social media landscape is fast-paced – your customer experience efforts should be too. Developing a set of answers to frequently asked questions can help CX team members respond to comments in a timely and efficient manner. Keep in mind, FAQ responses will likely need to adapt and evolve in response to change, so do not be afraid to embrace flexibility. 

Know the brand inside and out.

Both customer service and community management are only effective when paired with a deep understanding of your brand, as well as the social landscape. Starting conversations, prompting engagement, and sourcing UGC is most successful when team members have a firm grasp on the “why” behind each interaction. 

Implementing these four approaches will help to streamline your CX efforts, safeguard your brand’s reputation, and engage new communities on social. 

Brands getting it right. 

These savvy brands understand the important role that customer experience plays in a social strategy. Their responses always follow best practices, as they use social-first language, employ key brand messaging, and lead with the brand’s persona in mind. 

Duolingo

This language-learning app’s popularity has skyrocketed on social in response to its community management efforts. The brand’s witty and dry brand persona permeates all comments and follower interactions across platforms. Community managers maintain this consistent tone and voice, resulting in hundreds of comments from followers wanting to interact with the app’s famed mascot. 

Lululemon

This major athleisure retailer regularly responds to customer inquiries and reactions – oftentimes guiding them to the proper resources. They exemplify how brands can use community management as a customer service lever. By interacting with engaged consumers, the brand is encouraging engagement and building trust. Lululemon’s followers have come to recognize the comment section as an extension of the brand’s support channels.

Buffer

As a B2B company, Buffer uses social media to help address consumer concerns and dispel rumors. Their prompt responses help to combat misinformation, troubleshoot customer concerns, and provide additional insights. Buffer’s approach demonstrates how community management is key for preserving brand reputation and perception in the wake of misconceptions.

Invisalign

Current and prospective patients flock to social media to ask questions about Invisalign treatment, locating a doctor, or even manufacturing inquiries. Community managers quickly deliver messages to acknowledge inquiries and provide consumers with insights. Questions that cannot be answered within the platform are directed to the appropriate resources. As Invisalign’s dedicated CX team, we love engaging with the brand’s community.

Meet the Smarty Customer Experience team.

Our dedicated team is full of experts who are adept at navigating the social media landscape. They specialize in on-brand, consistent communications for our clients in heavily regulated industries.