As mentioned in last week’s post, community management is an essential element of a successful social media strategy.

This week, we continue to highlight the people who are engaging online and creating a human connection with our community, or creating helpful content for them, and embodying a key element of our “Radian6-ness.”

Amanda Nelson, Community Content Manager

Amanda works to build, grow and engage with the Radian6 social media community, as well as curate and create content for the brand. She is also the main editor of this blog.

Amanda has been in advertising for over eight years for full service and interactive advertising agencies in New York and Connecticut. She has worked on a number of national brands and has awards from advertising clubs, New England associations and financial services organizations.

In addition to blogging and writing, Amanda loves working with nonprofits, and playing with her border collie. She recently worked with her town to raise funds to build a dog park. She is also passionate about the outdoors, her Prius, tap dancing and, most importantly, her upcoming role as a mother (she has a son arriving in April 2012).

Mike Girard, Community Engagement Specialist, Communications and Media

Mike started with Radian6 in March 2011. In addition to engaging with that community, Mike writes about Social TV.

Mike comes to Radian6 from the New Brunswick Liberal Party where he helped develop the party’s social media election strategy and handled internal party communications. Before that Mike was an advisor to two of New Brunswick’s Attorney Generals and the Province’s Minister of Social Development. Mike also spent a number of years working with youth-at-risk at the non-profit organization Moncton Youth Residences, in Moncton, New Brunswick.

How do you work successfully with a social media community?

Amanda: Creating unique and helpful content opens doors for gaining and deepening relationships with your community. By sharing this content, you’re giving your community a resource that will help them in their lives as well as keep them coming back. Content is a form of engaging and the more you listen to your community and adapt your content accordingly, the more valuable it will be.

Mike: Be mindful of what your community is passionate about and always strive to feed that fire. Let your community’s enthusiasm for the topic inspire you and match their energy. Strive to be the person people look to for compelling content and always be open to a conversation. In a communities as big and diverse as the ones within the Communications and Media vertical it can be challenging to find your voice amongst the crowd and that’s ok. Listen to what is important to your community and contribute to the conversations with your own writing and thoughts. Most importantly be patient and grow your community organically, one follower at a time. It’s a marathon not a sprint.

You can reach our team at community@radian6.com, or click on Amanda or Mike’s name for their Twitter handles.

Tags: Community, management, Social Enterprise