Things I’ve Learnt As A Community Management Lead During Covid-19

Navigating a world pandemic as Community Management Lead has been a mixture of emotions over the last month and a career highlight I will never forget. I get to lead the communities of some of New Zealand’s biggest most successful brands for Socialites and I’ve done it through Covid-19 and all the challenges that arose from it (with the help of my award-winning team). I’m proud, and a little tired… but proud. I’ve been doing some reflecting since we went into Level 3 and here are my key learnings from everything so far: 

Patience Is A Virtue

We’ve heard it all before and honestly, I’ve learnt that I have more patience than I ever knew imaginable over the last month. Prior to Covid-19, I would never have thought of myself as a patient person. It’s true. My patience has been tried and tested to the extreme levels with my online communities and I am so grateful to have become hyper-aware of this. I’m fully embracing this newfound strength and it’s being put to practice every day at the moment. I’m sure every other community manager out there can agree that having patience, especially during these times is a prerequisite. 

Listen To Your Gut

100% always. It took me a while to get there, and we all have that seed of self-doubt at times, but I have never been more in tune with myself and listening to that gut feeling. Communities can change at the drop of a hat right now and even the most amazing, feel-good content can stir up negative commentary and discussions. Just last week I remember seeing some Facebook comments coming up with a negatively skewed viewpoint. I quietly watched, waited and then that gut feeling hit and I knew it was time to alert the client and get the ball rolling with a plan. Turns out, I was right and within a couple of hours, a potentially brand-damaging disaster was fixed. I feel like I can sniff out a PR nightmare waiting to happen before it’s even started now. Don’t question yourself, always ask, get that second or third opinion for reassurance and keep your clients (and communities) smiling. 

Be Kind, But Like… Extra Kind

I’m such an empath and can literally feel what others are thinking around me. They don’t even have to be saying anything. It’s true… pretty cool huh!? This superpower means it’s easy for me to relate to others, and makes me the perfect individual for dealing with customer problems, queries, and soothing those angry/scared community members who are dealing with Covid-19. Never in my life have I realised how important it is to make others feel ‘heard’. This is one of my top tools as a community manager because most of the time, even the angriest customers and community members just want someone to listen. I have been actively going above and beyond to make sure customers feel listened too and that I fix their issues as quickly as possible. I had a conversation last week with a customer who was complaining about a faulty product and turned it around to become epic banter about Netflix suggestions during the lockdown. This is one of my favourite parts of being a CM Lead, helping others and finding special ways to inject a little sparkle. It just feels so good! #DigitalHugs

Working Remotely Rules

I lived in Thailand for a few months last year and did some freelance writing during my trip to sustain my yoga classes and 3+ coffees a day (they have great coffee in Chiang Mai). Anyway, I really got into the swing of remote working and never thought I would enjoy it as much as I do. Working for a social media agency during lockdown with the constant Zoom calls and increased phone calls has been a real challenge. My dogs are constantly barking in the background, my partner is distracting at times, my hair is a mess, it’s difficult managing a remote team of five and I’m constantly looking at the fridge for snacks. But it turns out this introverted extrovert is super productive working remotely and ticks more things off her daily to-do list than ever before. 

Now I mentioned in my first paragraph that this whole ordeal has been a career highlight for me, and that’s 100% the truth. “What????” I can hear you all screaming. It’s been a rollercoaster of emotion, stress, and some seriously grumpy people. I’ve lost sleep worrying about work, and stressing about life in general (as most of us have during this time) but I wouldn’t change a thing and here’s why.

This has been a massive learning curve for me and I’ve learnt so much about myself, my limits, my strengths/values, my communities, my clients and the type of community manager I want to continue evolving into. I know myself better than ever since Covid-19 and I can hand-over-heart say this is a rocky ride I will never, ever forget. Or regret.