Community moderationis all about ensuring your contentworks for, rather than against, your brands, even if it’s not all sunshine and roses. There is a lot of talk about user-generated content (UGC) on the web. There is less control over how people think about brands now that customers have the power to share their experiences and make other people choose them. This is not a bad thing for the public, but for brands, this might be a little upsetting. here's nothing more powerful than UGC for marketing your businessand building a good reputation that spreads across the world when it's used in the right way.
Here's how tokeep your community safe without being controlling:
Set Up Rules And Guidelines For Your Community
Every brand community needs a set of rules and guidelines that help make it safe and healthy for people to talk to each other. Besides the standard rules, like respecting others and being open to different ideas, you'll also want to set rules that fit the goal of your community. This could mean keeping certain groups or forums focused on the subject at hand. It's always a good idea to have a "water cooler" section where people can talk about anything they want, but still within the rules of your community. If you want to be a good community moderator, you'll need to make clear what will happen if people break the rules, depending on how serious each case is.
Lead By Example And Not With Authority
Brand communities are all about user-created content and the relationships that grow around it, so they are called "communities." However, if you don't post value-added content and answer members' questions yourself, you can't expect them to be constructive members. Community moderation is a lot easier if you show people how to do things instead of telling them what to do. If your community moderatorsare always criticizing people for having different opinions or deleting negative, even constructive, feedback, people will start to leave in droves. When there's been a big violation of the community rules, the authority element should only come into play. A moderator should step in and help.
Choose The Right People For Community Moderation
They have a hard job, but it can also be very rewarding if they do it the right way. They have a lot of different jobs, so strong social skills are a must. They do everything from marketing to customer serviceto brand evangelism. They should be able to find and recognize good content, be able to understand people's problems, and be available and communicative at all times. People who live in places where heated debates happen often need to be patient. Also, moderators and managers need to be open to constructive criticism and have to be responsible for the health of the community as a whole, so they need to be careful.
Listen To Your Community
When something goes wrong, don't shut down. Instead, pay attention. Reaching out to users personally shows them that you care, that you listen, and that you're working to solve the problem. If you don't think it's right, then have a manager or an executive reach out for you. This small act will go a long way.
In a time of trouble, don't be afraid to talk to your coworkers. Silence can be your worst enemy. Listen to what people say, let them know they're heard, and try to learn from their dissatisfaction.
Re-Evaluate And Assess Gaps
As a last word, don't be afraid of change. Your rules were never meant to stay the same. Change your Code of Conduct when you need to. Your community's norms and goals will change over time as more people use it; if you need to, make the changes. If you do, make sure you tell your friends and family about it. You could make a general announcement, send an email, or both.
Conclusion
The more your community grows, the more you'll have to trust your members. In the beginning, more control may be needed, like impersonating people to get people to write and making sure early posts follow community rules. Then as you get more and more into it, you won't have to be so involved in every little thing. That's fine!
Your community membersnow know how to keep important discussions going and stop bad behavior on their own. This means that you did a good job. As more people join the community, it will be easier for them to get up to speed because the rules for what content is OK have already been set.
People shouldn't always have to carry all the weight on their own. It's important to be a good moderator because you should teach your online communitymembers how to be good moderators and help them set a good example for new members. Your community is on the right track when people start moderating. They see value in the community and take charge of how it's used.