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This article is courtesy of Eastline Marketing, an award winning digital marketing solutions provider operating since 2006. "Our philosophy is to work with our clients as if they were our partners, maximizing their strengths and ultimately their success through the richest online marketing strategies."

“It is never what the community managers did wrong; it’s usually what they never did at all.” We are currently witnessing a huge surge of growing businesses acquiring social media community managers to grow their social presences. After all, social media has proven itself to be the most efficient mean of marketing and communication.

Community Managers are a key medium to any successful campaign; they are nevertheless the voice of brand on the social web. It is their task to reach out to the targeted audience and mirror the best of the brand. Moreover, smart or passionate CMs can turn brand haters into brand advocates with the right approach to fans and followers. This is exactly why if you are trying to develop an online community, look for a community manager that is most passionate about the brand and its vision.

So, what would a passionate community manager do?

Bearing in mind that social media’s depth l building a two way communication stream between the brand and its consumers, listening and responding become the most important tasks a community manager has. He must listen and observe carefully what is being said across the social networks in order to respond accordingly. Moreover, no communication at all is the worst course possible. Ignoring the fans will only create distance between the brand and its consumers. This is exactly the case of some of the most well liked brands on twitter for example, they generate press release-like tweets, ignore their mentions and followers, wrong – so wrong.

It is definitely not easy for CMs to shed their character and reflect constantly a positive image; however, good community managers know how to convey the brand’s voice and sentiment.

Good community managers also think twice before posting or answering, making sure to be objective equidistant and respectful.  Furthermore, engaging and answering to the fans without the proper or correct information weakens the community’s trust in the brand as a reliable source.

Speaking of a good source of information also, sharing valuable content is always king on the social web.

Good content will get you checked out once but it is ‘Killer content’ that will make them want to come back. Knowing how to appeal to the fans’ interests strengthens the relationship with the online scene. So please do not engage with the fans and followers without having accurate answers, people can Google instead.

To sum up, it’s not an easy task to manage and communicate with the online scene; it takes some dedication and a great passion for online communication.