Assume you're a community manager rather than a CXO for the purposes of this chapter. Community managers who lead communities face an additional challenge than a CXO who does the same.

A marketer without a budget is referred to as unemployed. As a community manager, you will frequently have to fight for a reasonable budget. Without a budget to gain visibility for your community, how can you expect any sort of performance? People will not fall from the sky and join your community; they must first hear about it somewhere.

In a world where everyone is competing for your potential member's attention, you must play the bidding game to create a top of the funnel, or you will go down in history as a non-performing community manager.

If you're a community manager, here are the steps you'd take to build top of the funnel:

Step 1 - Fight For A Budget. $1k At Least

COPYRIGHT_MARX: Published on https://marxcommunications.com/community-manager/ by Keith Peterson on 2022-07-20T12:42:22.864Z

More is better. Begin with small experiments and gradually increase budgets as traction develops.

Concentrate almost entirely on a performing channel until it runs out.

Step 2 - Map Out Every Watering Hole Your Potential Members Are On, Even If Your Community Is Exclusive

If you think your potential members watch Mr. Beast's YouTube stuff, for example, you can run advertisements on that content through YouTube ads.

Place ads on NFT news websites if your potential members are constantly visiting them.

Aside from potential interest in your community, this is an extremely powerful page that will tell you exactly what that person is interested in.

Because this page involves some level of invasion of privacy, only people who truly trust you will show you this page, and you should only ask people to show you this page after you've informed them of the consequences.

If you know someone's interests, you can predict which channels and platforms they will use.

Step 3 - Find Relevant Pools And Add Bait

Finding highly relevant pools where your users may congregate is an extension of the preceding step.

Place some bait in your neighborhood, and people may come out to investigate.

Find popular newsletters, pay them a fee to advertise an exclusive piece of well-written content, and ask readers to join your community to gain access to that content.

The advantage of targeting niche, relevant pools over YouTube or Instagram ads is that they are much less expensive and more targeted.

In recent months, YouTube and Google ads have become exorbitantly expensive.

Going after niche sources allows you to get more bang for your buck and reach a more targeted audience.

Step 4 - Allow People To Easily Cross The Gate With A Little Effort

As previously stated, keep your community closed and invite-only at first.

You've never seen a community grow that wasn't initially invite-only (there may be exceptions, but open access communities have a low viral factor, k). After a few months, you can disable invite-only.

The gating, on the other hand, should be straightforward.

People who want to get in should be able to do so if they are willing to wait 2-3 minutes.

It also makes them feel intelligent.

Clubhouse was relatively easy to gain access to even when it was invite-only.

If you do a Twitter search for "Clubhouse invite," you'll find someone willing to give out invites (because it's convenient for them).

Step 5 - Get Influencers

Influencers made a lot of money selling their distribution in 2021.

They're also less expensive than social media advertisements.

Because their audience trusts them, influencers have a much higher click-through rate on advertisements (audiences trust influencers way more than clicking on a random ad in their feed).

According to Medi - aKix, 71% of marketers believe that influencer marketing generates higher quality customers, leads, and traffic than other sources.

Rather than simply running cold ads to a cold audience, you're generating word-of-mouth marketing at scale (there's inherent warmth with your audience when you use an influencer).

Influencer marketing is a cross between "recommendations from people you know" and "social media advertisements."

Step 6 - Run All Ads To Events

Your top of the funnel would be directed to your Playstore or Appstore download link with a traditional product.

When it comes to communities, you should not send them to your community homepage or some random chat (they haven't been through an event induction and are thus most likely dead community members).

The top of the funnel must point to an event. When you advertise an event, they are:

• Hence more likely to convert into an active member
• More likely to listen to you for 30 mins
• More likely to attend the event
• More likely to click

Step 7 - Verbal CTA To Join Community

Remember to invite people to join your community every 5 minutes or so when inviting them to your event.

You should always ask your viewers to subscribe on YouTube and then repeat the process indefinitely.

The same can be said for events.

People will forget to join your community and perish as a result.

Don't make this mistake; people need to be told to join, sometimes repeatedly.

One Last Tip

Most people will see your adverts on their phones, especially if you utilize influencers, newsletters, or other advertising channels where you don't have control over the operating system.

You have spent your money if you do not have a fully effective mobile community platform.

Most new generation community systems, like as Circle and Tribe, do not have fully working or scalable mobile apps at the time of writing, therefore you are wasting your money.

Although web community systems have a good appearance and feel, they are not just costly and provide minimal interaction. Develop your expertise.

People Also Ask

What Does A Community Manager Do All Day?

They manage social networks and content on a daily basis. They are on the lookout for new trends and industry news. They seek genuine followers, or active users who leave comments and like their brand. They generate engagement by publishing content and interacting with other users.

What Is The Difference Between A Social Media Manager And A Community Manager?

The primary distinction between roles is how they interact with audiences. A social media manager promotes the brand's products as the brand, whereas a community manager encourages audience engagement and provides support as an average user. A community manager's objectives are typically broad and long-term.

Is A Community Manager A Good Job?

If you enjoy interacting with others online or in person at live events, a community manager position could be ideal for you. It is also a position in high demand as more businesses recognize the value of social media and community development.

Conclusion

An online community management solution brings your customers or constituents closer together by facilitating one-to-one and many-to-many relationships that strengthen bonds and advance business. As a result, your brand will feel more connected to you.