Sajeda Hori Naiko: “A community manager is a creative strategist”

With a rapid growth in the field of communications, various new job opportunities have emerged. Graphic designers, web designers, content managers, SEO managers, social media managers and of course, community managers. Sajeda Hori Naiko, community manager since five years, talks about this exciting new position in the tech world. Explain the role of a community manager. How relevant is this job nowadays? Perhaps no other role in the advertising industry has such as diverse range of responsibilities, with its practitioners setting editorial calendars, reporting analytics, creating content, responding directly to consumers, handling crisis management, liaising with clients and providing insights to creative and strategy. It must be specified that every business has its own definition of the job and therefore, community managers across the industry have wide-ranging responsibilities and a disparate amount of power. Nowadays, we find that smart, forward-leaning brands have brought on qualified community managers with a background in digital marketing, public relations and communications. In some agencies, experienced community managers are brought into strategy meetings and help plan campaigns, advise clients on how creativity might be developed, based on the data and knowledge gleaned from monitoring the brand’s fans on social media. [[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"15235","attributes":{"class":"media-image wp-image-25522 alignleft","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","width":"257","height":"715","alt":"Sajeda Hori Naiko"}}]]Is it about being creative? Some people see you as being creative while others see you as a strategist. Others will simply see you as a ‘copy monkey’. In fact, I have stayed away from some agencies because they would hand me the copy that I would have to type out and that is the end of story. The job of a community manager is much more than that. Marketers need to fill more community manager jobs with strategists with the clout to make strategic decisions, to keep up with the real-time pace on social, web and to do any type of real-time marketing. Community managers are to be empowered to respond to consumers as they see fit in real-time, or at least have a direct line to someone who can quickly approve posts. What social media platforms are you on and which do you find most important for business? I am mainly on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Viadeo, Instagram and Pinterest. Your business should be on social media but that doesn’t mean your business should be on every network. It’s important that you choose and nurture the social platforms that work best for your business so that you don’t spread yourself too thin. If you want to create a successful social strategy, you need to familiarise yourself with how each network runs, the kinds of audiences you can reach and how your business can best use each platform. What makes a good community manager? Let’s keep this one simple. I guess that 10 elements are essential to make a good community manager and they are: Strong communication skills; sound judgement; empathy; dedication; organisation skills; adaptability; level-headed attitude; background in analytics; ability to enable the community and passion for the brand How important is it for companies to have a solid social media strategy? Well, for this one, I will definitely say it is indispensable. Social media is quickly becoming one of the most important channels businesses can use to interact with their customers. Similar to every other form of communication out there, it is paramount to arm your business with a smart, nimble team to ensure every inbound message and to address outbound opportunities. What tips would you give to any business who wants to go social? Social media networks are fantastic resources for businesses of all sizes looking to promote their brands online. The platforms themselves are free to use, and they also have paid advertising options specifically for brands that want to reach even more new audiences. Social media allow companies to reach millions of customers across the world. It will boost awareness about your enterprise, increase your web traffic, improve your website ranking on internet searches, reduce your advertising costs, boost customer relations and create a new identity for your business. Follow her on Twitter @shorinaiko or via LinkedIn: horinaikosajeda27