Industry events are a perfect opportunity to engage in conversation, build relationships, and get new eyeballs on your content. Why? Because they do half your work for you: getting people to talk and think about topics on which you’re an expert. All you have to do is glide into that slipstream of reduced resistance.

Let me share a still-warm Radian6 example with some ideas you should steal.

Last Monday, January 23, was Community Manager Appreciation Day, an annual event started by Jeremiah Owyang (@jowyang) in 2010. The event has caught on quickly; this year it garnered over 11,000 social media mentions.

Most of our users are community managers, so we decided to run a full-court press. We published 9 blog posts by 9 different team members that day including:

• Separate posts for multiple industries: agencies, financial services, communications and media, CPG and retail, healthcare, and travel
• A recap of the #DellHangout on Google+
• A Community Manager Resource Pack of blog posts, ebooks and webinars.

Each team member also tweeted why community managers rock, under the #CMAD hashtag and we asked our community to do the same. That also turned into a blog post the following day.

The results? Our blog traffic jumped 50%. Our community team processed triple the normal Twitter and Facebook mentions. Most of our team members enjoyed a significant increase in followers.

Event organizer Jeremiah Owyang retweeted plenty of our content, thanked us for a great job, and asked if we could run a report and publish it on #CMAD mentions — which we did the next day.

Best of all, we gave a public pat on the back to seven community managers we love working with, and our user base enjoyed a level of appreciation they really deserve all year long.

Here are 7 things we learned that you should apply when your next industry event rolls along.

1. Plan well in advance. Don’t be caught scrambling the night before. Prepare your topics and resources beforehand. Have all your posts written. On the day of the event, you’ll only have to time to hit ‘Publish’ and then engage.
2. Serve the event. Watch what the organizers are doing and align yourself to that. Brainstorm ways you can make the event more delightful for everybody. Don’t hijack the conversation.
3. Talk about your community more than about yourself. Express your gratitude for what your users and fans have given to you.
4. Be courteous to outsiders. We noticed afterwards post titles with the #CMAD hashtag didn’t fare as well as the others, probably because they confused people who didn’t already know about the event. Make it easy for everyone in your community to participate.
5. Offer up useful content your community will consume and share. You don’t need to produce something from scratch; our Resource Pack was a set of handpicked blog posts and ebooks.
6. Get the whole team on the court. Not only will it spread out the workload, you’ll come up with fresh perspectives and a wider engagement than one person could provide.
7. Surpass yourself every year. The first time is always awkward, but you’ll begin to learn what works and what doesn’t. Document both, and refer to your findings when you start planning next year’s event.

Why do Community Managers rock? On Community Manager Appreciation Day (#CMAD) we asked this question and got answers ranging  from culture-keepers to smiles to those with grace under pressure.

@radian6 The good ones understand the audience and listen. Can’t stress that enough.

— Jason Mollica (@JasMollica) January 23, 2012

@radian6 Because they’re the coolest people I know. It takes a certain personality, and its a great personality to be around.

— Joe Amodio (@Jmodio) January 23, 2012

@radian6 I love that a CM’s answer to “did you hear about/see that…” is always “yes” before the Q is even complete #aheadofthegame #CMAD

— Abady Alzahrani (@AbadyA) January 23, 2012

@radian6 Thanks for sharing the post! Why do you think CM’s rock? Am 1, hence rockage. Huge in Estonia. We r glue that holds it all 2gether.

— Joy Schoeph Helfrich (@iScreamSocMedia) January 23, 2012

Correction: @radian6 #Community Managersgreet you (w/ a warm, inviting personality), guides & keepsconversations rolling. #CMAD ; )

— Coretta(@CorettaJackson) January 23, 2012

@radian6 Community managers rock because you need people, not press releases these days.

— Patrick Hussey (@PatrickRiot) January 23, 2012

@radian6Community managers can help a brand/company be proactive about issues & communications instead of reactive#CMAD

— Vanessa Penagos (@VanessaMP) January 23, 2012

@radian6 Because we’re engagers, innovators, communicators…and we do it with a smile! #CMAD

— Tab Bourguignon (@tab_b) January 23, 2012

@radian6 ’cause our job is the combination between tech and humanism. Understanding humans as a sport to give them information through tech.

— Liza Durón (@TedeFrambuesa) January 23, 2012

@radian6 – Comm Managers are the ‘Culture-Keepers’ of their communities – the only currency that matters in OCs #CMD

— Colm Shalvey (@cshalvey) January 23, 2012

@radian6 Community Managers rock b/c they get to be at the front of the action, share feedback & make things happen on the fly! #CMAD

— Caitlin Madden (@caitm) January 23, 2012

@radian6 Community Managers bring a face to a company and a more personable attitude to every community they work with. #CMAD

— Kim White (@WhiteKim) January 23, 2012

Amazing knack for controlling the uncontrollable > RT @radian6 We’d love to hear from you! Why do you think community managers rock? #CMAD

— Charlie Isaacs (@charlieisaacs) January 23, 2012

@radian6 You’re welcome! A lot of brands have yet to learn that good people are the back-bone of any #SocialMedia strategy!

— Lisa Maynard-Atem (@STYLISA) January 23, 2012

@radian6 They are out there putting out fires on a daily basis and representing your org’s brand.

— Ese(@emerhi) January 23, 2012

@radian6 ComunityManagers needs 2 be celebrated everyday cause they have all entire weight of the brands!! #CMAD

— LetsKalk (@LetsKalk) January 23, 2012

@radian6 @eric_andersen Community Managers rock b/c they personify grace under pressure, delivered with a smile #cmad

— Greg Meyer (@grmeyer) January 23, 2012

@radian6 @grmeyer oh that’s easy – they make the community feel appreciated, which is quite a challenge!

— Eric Andersen (@eric_andersen) January 23, 2012

Don’t see yours on here or have another reason to add? Feel free to share it in the comments section! We would love to hear what you think. If you’re interested in #CMAD, here are some more posts around on the topic.

Community Manager Appreciation Day (#CMAD) was much more than a happy lovefest for community managers everywhere. Yes, hugs, cake-eating and high-fiving was the norm. But it was also a day for thousands of conversations, loads of engagement and the creation and sharing of mounds of content. Let’s take a look at the stats.

How We’ve Grown

Community Manager Appreciation Day started three years ago by Jeremiah Owyang and in the past three years, the social media conversation has grown significantly.

On January 25, 2010 there were 535 social mentions. By the next year, January 24, 2011, conversations increased to 3,721. This year brought in 11,104 conversations.

For all three years, Twitter was the place to be to talk about Community Manager Appreciation Day.

Who’s Doing the Talking 

The 25-34 year old age bracket dominated the conversation, followed by 35-44.

 When it came to the male to female ratio, it was split.

Major cities held the share of conversation. New York (my hometown) was the top spot for Community Manager Appreciation Day conversations followed by San Francisco and then London.

What conversations did you share and uncover during Community Manager Appreciation Day? If you’re interested in the topic, here are some more posts around it.

Flickr photo credit: wwarby http://www.flickr.com/photos/wwarby/

All community managers make the world a better place by giving their companies a human voice, resonating their customer opinions and feedback, embodying empathy, stimulating meaningful discussion, gracefully admitting when their company has made a mistake, taking pride in helping others, and eagerly solving difficult problems… among many other things. Being a community manager for any company isn’t always easy, but as Robyn Tippins of ReadWriteWeb puts it, “Community Management is the hardest job you’ll ever love.”

Today we’re acknowledging all of you who take customer service to the next level by representing your companies on Facebook, in forums, on blogs and beyond.

In addition, I’d like to give my very own high-five to all the community managers who work at agencies. You extra rule.

Here’s why:

Community managers who work for agencies are chameleons (hat tip to @TDJaxTim of Dalton Agency for putting it this way). They do all of the above, but for multiple clients across multiple industries – sometimes all within a given day. An agency community manager masters the ins and outs of each client’s industry and company, and then replicates that knowledge online through engagement with client customers and prospects. Agency community managers have to stay up to date on more industry news, and be able to toggle between their different communities at a moment’s notice. On top of all that, agency community managers may have to jump through additional hoops to get to the information their community needs since they’re external to the company itself.

Radian6 appreciates all that you’ve done to not only transform your clients into social enterprises, but educate and guide them all along the journey. Thank you for being nimble, for working long hours, and for bringing our industry forward (en masse).

If you work at an agency, go give your social media and community managers a big pat on the back. They deserve it!

Throughout today, Radian6 supported Community Manager Appreciation Day (#CMAD). Check this blog post and Twitter (@radian6) for more content around this day.

Financial services is a tough industry for implementing social media on account of the intimidating regulations, and community managers in Finserv compliantly strategize and work around these regulations on a daily basis in order to give their financial organization a warm, valuable voice. This provides efficient customer service, creating and sharing helpful content for their customers and community, and generally provides a friendly face to their company’s name.

On behalf of Community Manager Appreciation Day (#CMAD), here’s a few Finserv community manager rockstars that truly deserve a pat on the back.

David Nosibor

He’s Mazars Group’s in-house social media expert. When he’s not managing Mazars’ social media actions and engaging with the community, he’s busy providing internal training sessions on using social media and developing unique and innovative social strategies.

Veronica Ortega

Veronica is undoubtedly a community ambassador for SunTrust Bank. If you’ve ever been on a community thread discussing banking, chances are you’ve run into Veronica. She actively participates in community conversations while reading community threads and ensuring questions are answered, stimulating existing topics, and starting new industry-related discussions.

Dawn Melesko

Dawn from Webster Bank not only spearheads the development and execution of Webster’s social media strategy, but she is also educating Webster executives on how to use social networking effectively for business results. She engages directly with customers, and she’s consistently finding and creating new content to help Webster’s customers, which of course, increases positive sentiment and buzz around the bank.

These are a just a few of the financial industry’s talented and innovative individuals that respond to customers online – provide excellent customer service, engage with industry influencers, manage groups and forums, and most importantly – develop and foster long-lasting relationships with individuals within your community that will, without a doubt, create brand ambassadors.

Throughout today, Radian6 is supporting Community Manager Appreciation Day (#CMAD). Check this blog post and Twitter (@radian6) for more content around this day.

On this Community Manager Appreciation Day, I wanted to take stock of all the different kinds of community managers I interact with day to day and the things they do to serve their communities and the companies.

Everyday I check in on the Twitter handles from the major television networks that are promoting their programs. Some keep it high level and tweet out promotional information and behind the scenes photos to keep social buzz alive. Some like Syfy’s official Twitter account, which is administered by Chris Engler, one of Syfy’s chief executives, take to their account to answer questions from their community directly.

In the world of publishing there are a number of publishers that make use of community managers. Penguin Books is consistently interacting with their community to promote their books and authors and give back to their community through contests.  Of course, there are community managers for book review blogs that aren’t attached to a publisher but help direct people to their favorite titles. These community managers gain the trust of their followers and help foster online communities for book lovers out of a passion for the written word.

When it comes to media and journalism, the best community managers are often the journalists and reporters themselves although they may be unaware of this fact or even deny it. The reporters who take to Twitter help drive their stories and promote themselves but in so doing they provide their followers with information straight from the source. In New Brunswick, two of the best journalistic community managers (although they’d likely dispute this compliment and refer to themselves as participants) are the CBC’s Jacques Poitras and Dan McHardie. These two journalists consistently interact with their followers and when not reporting, take part in the general conversations related to New Brunswick news and politics.

Finally, the heavy hitters of community managers in this industry are most definitely those men and women who man the corporate accounts in the telecommunications industry. These are the people in the trenches; knee-deep in customer questions, complaints and, of course, the occasional praise. These people live and breath brand advocacy and customer service.

So with that, a very happy Community Manager Appreciation Day from myself and the Community Team here at Radian6!!

Throughout today, Radian6 is supporting Community Manager Appreciation Day (#CMAD). Check this blog post and Twitter (@radian6) for more content around this day.

As part of Community Manager Appreciation Day, there is so much that Community Managers have to be thankful for. Dell has taken a great step in showing their love for Community Managers by hosting a #DellHangout on Google+ . We loved it and wanted to share some of our favorite tidbits with you.

The hangout was broken into 3 Topics:

1. Chief Company Pinata & Cat Herder – Beyond a Day in the Life of a Community Manager

The panelists for this session were: Amy Muller, Mark Harrison and Patrick O`Keefe.

Sometimes Community Management can be an orphan in an organization since it can be challenging to know which department they belong to. Always looking on the bright side of things, the group also indicated that this provides the Community Manager with the opportunity to bring the different departments together.

Often trying to be all things to everyone and keeping everyone happy is a challenge faced. To ensure this doesn’t happen, it’s important to focus on people who care about what you do and are interested in the topic you are sharing.

Top 6 Skills the Group Felt were Necessary to be a Community Manager:

1. Communication
2. Empathy
3. Humility
4. Attention to detail
5. Patience
6. Passion for Community

2. No Matter B2B or B2C; It’s P2P! Whether Business to Business or to Customer; it’s always People to People

The panelists for this session: Jim Storer, Vanessa DiMauro and Lionel Menchaca

Some of the top takeaways from this panel:

1. Get outside of just tactics and think bigger business objectives.
2. When measuring social media impact, one of the big things is focusing on what business process you want to impact. Knowing this will make measurement straightforward.
3. Tie to objectives from the beginning. It’s important to measure in the same language we are already using and draw conclusions based on those metrics.

How do you get Execs Excited about Social Media and Community?

• Get the execs to the “aha” moment. Connect them with folks at their level who have been there and done that.
• Spend some time clarifying  business use cases in social media. Make what you are building clear using examples and case studies.
• Consistently put qualitative and quantitative examples in front of execs. Not always overall numbers, but individual comments as well so they can see anecdotal information.

3. Evolving a Social Business – The Future of the Community Manager Role

Panelists for this session: Jeremiah Owyang and Bill Johnston

Why is the Community Manager role mainstream?

Bill – It may be now, but it was long suffering to get here. Online communities have been around for a long time, but there has been a gradual reinvestment in previous years. It’s about bridging the gap between customers and companies.

Jeremiah – Community Managers are often the largest portion of SM team and social media is the most commonly used medium for customers now. It is also a cost effective way of communicating.

What advice do you have for 3^rd party moderation on Social Media?

Bill- At the end of the day internal staff should be touching the customer/prospect. Outsourcing can be an effective way to compliment, but outsourcing needs to be very limited.

Jeremiah- Outsourcing is happening effectively, but it’s important that the internal strategist is aware of what is going on.

Those are just a few of the great pieces from the Hangout. You should really watch the whole thing when you have a chance! We hope you are still having a fabulous #CMAD!

Throughout today, Radian6 is supporting Community Manager Appreciation Day (#CMAD). Check this blog post and Twitter (@radian6) for more content around this day.

Oh and also, Happy Birthday Bill!

Today is the third annual Community Manager Appreciation Day, when we show our appreciation for the people who give brands and organizations a social media voice. Community managers are a dedicated bunch – they truly enjoy engaging with their communities, have the skills to deal with any social media situation, and play a large part in creating the personality behind a brand. In honor of community managers everywhere, here’s a shout out to the ones in consumer packaged goods and retail who have inspired me.

Amy Jones – Boundary Bay Brewery

When I started engaging within the CPG community, Amy Jones was one of the first community managers I connected with. She oversees the PR and social media for Boundary Bay Brewery and is the voice of the brand’s Twitter and Facebook accounts. Amy does a fantastic job of conveying her personality and engaging with the Boundary Bay community on a variety of topics, making the brand memorable and approachable, and forging friendships in the process. As an aside, I recently discovered that Amy and I have a mutual love of Pinterest. If that isn’t fate, I don’t know what is.

Christina Anderson-Heller – Lynfred Winery

I first heard of Christina Anderson-Heller, the Marketing Director at Lynfred Winery, in this blog post, and have followed her efforts with interest ever since. Christina pioneered the social media voice at Lynfred Winery when she first started with them 12 years ago. She has been instrumental in growing the brand’s social media presence. She is feisty, fun, adventurous, and brings an innovative spirit to the Lynfred Winery brand. Give her a follow and ask for her recommendations on ice wine.

Kim Musgrave/Customer Satisfaction Team – McDonald’s

I was lucky enough to connect with Kim Musgrave and the rest of the Customer Satisfaction Team last year and was immediately impressed. The team is truly customer oriented and focused on providing great customer service, which you can easily see by taking a look at Kim’s Twitter feed. They are genuine and friendly and convey enthusiasm and appreciation for their customers. With over 300 thousand social media mentions a week to track and respond to, being a McDonald’s community manager is no small task, but Kim and her team make it look easy.

Check out the other members of the Customer Satisfaction Team including Brittany and Katie.

Jenny Cisney – Kodak

Last Thursday, Kodak announced it was filing for Chapter 11. Soon after I heard the news, I came across this tweet from the company’s Social Media Manager, Jenny Cisney. The link took me to a well-organized and comprehensive microsite dedicated specifically to providing information around the filing and answering stakeholder questions. In addition to this proactive approach, Jenny also responded to tweets throughout the day, serving as a reassuring and informative presence for the Kodak community and putting a human face to the Kodak brand.

These are just a few of the community managers who have inspired me. Be sure to take five minutes today to thank the community managers in your life and let them know they are appreciated. They deserve it!

Do you have any community managers you would like to give a shout out to? Feel free to share in the comments section below!

Throughout today, Radian6 is supporting Community Manager Appreciation Day (#CMAD). Check this blog post and Twitter (@radian6) for more content around this day.

We frequently write about the value of community building, but in no industry is that potentially more rewarding than in healthcare.  Community, especially in the social media sphere, involves bringing like minded people together and encouraging dialogue. Patient communities abound now and today’s engaged patient wants to be involved in active dialogue with their healthcare providers.

As a large part of your organization’s voice, community managers in the healthcare field must possess some key qualities.

Intellectual Curiosity

Community engagement entails both joining and initiating health discussions of interest. We’re all listening for topics of interest within the industry and adding our voices to the discussion.  A good community manager doesn’t need to have all the answers, but must be willing to toss a question out there. Community managers should constantly seek to further their own understanding by spurring discussions.

Big Ears

We talk about the value of listening quite often but with regards to community management, this is absolutely imperative for a community made up of engaged patients. When people discuss their health issues, they need to know that their healthcare providers are listening.  As the face of your organization, a healthcare community manager has to be vigilante, ready to respond with personalized replies (versus blanket statements and scripted responses).  Community Managers need to show they are actively listening and replying thoughtfully to community members.

Passion

As the face of your organization, community managers need to show a passion for not only your brand, but your role, your industry and your community members.  The key to building a community of passionate advocates is to model that passion for your audience.  Be the brand ambassador your organization needs.  Tout its virtues, put your brand’s stamp of approval on others’ content and not just your own, and keep the chatter going when it begins to ebb. Your passion, whether you realize yet or not, will reflect the passion of your organization as a whole. When it comes to our health, we want to see everyday that the people in charge of our physical well being are passionate (and thus fully engaged) in what they do.  Set the example and model that passionate in your online activities.

Are you a Community Manager for a healthcare organization?  We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments section.  Happy #CMAD!

Throughout today, Radian6 is supporting Community Manager Appreciation Day (#CMAD). Check this blog post and Twitter (@radian6) for more content around this day.

Radian6 Community Managers (left to right) Heather, Melanie, Genevieve, Jenn, Bart, Mike (hidden) & Jason

…. would undoubtedly be social media without community managers.

Think for a moment.

Remember the time when you were upset that the hotel staff ignored your ‘Do Not Disturb’ request by knocking on your door and you tweeted about it?

Or the time you were upset about a flight delay? Lost luggage? Or worse, your guitar got broken so you wrote a catchy song that you never knew would go viral?

Maybe you watched the Costa Concordia cruise disaster and made your opinions clear on your blog.

Alternatively, you’ve tweeted, shared on Google+ and uploaded images of fantastic vacation experiences and otherwise made social media an important part of your travel experience from start to finish.

While social media IS an excellent tool for customers in the travel industry to express opinions, ask questions, seek advice on where to stay, or engage with a resort, let’s not forget the hard-working people behind the brand. The person who answered your one question, or the person who is knee-deep in a crisis and burning up the Twitter feed with lightening-speed responses.

Today is Community Manager Appreciation Day (#CMAD). Behind the Twitter handles, the corporate blogs and the shiny new Pinterest boards, are intelligent, engaging individuals who are doing those little deeds that delight you. That special note that showed up in your hotel room, the adjustment on your vacation package price and the complimentary upgrade for the misunderstanding at your gate? Someone in a community role was looking out for you.

Sure, not all travel brands are equal. Some have invested and believed in community management while others still are dabbling and testing the waters. Just remember, there’s a human behind there. Someone who works very hard and who loves what they do.

Please hug a community manager today (like in this group hug above!) and share in the comments your favorite community manager in the travel industry and why. Give them props. Make them glow.

Throughout today, Radian6 is supporting Community Manager Appreciation Day (#CMAD). Check this blog post and Twitter (@radian6) for more content around this day.

As many other community managers can attest, I love searching the social media landscape for conversations, ideas and insights about community management in order to learn new ways to enhance my job. Well, scour no more because on behalf of Community Manager Appreciation Day (#CMAD), we made that task easy. Here’s a list of our most useful blog posts, ebooks and webinars for community managers. We’ve packaged it up and call it the Community Manager Resource Pack.

Most Helpful Blog Posts:

• Hiring a Community Manager Lessons Learned 
• Surprising Social Media Moves that Grab Attention 
• Monitor Social Media Before, During and After Your Next Crisis
• What Your Social Media Profiles May Reveal
• We All Take Vacation
• 10 Tips for Engaging with Social Media Influencers

Most Helpful ebooks:

• Monitoring and Engaging Playbook
• 30 Ideas for your 2012 Social Media Plan
• Social Media Etiquette – Minding Your Manners on the Social Web
• Four Steps to Creating Content for a Social Media Community
• Getting the Competitive Edge with Social Media

Most Helpful Webinars:

• Understanding the Hidden Power of the Social Customer by Becky Carroll
• Collective Bias – How to Have Relationships with Influencers and Communities 

What helpful content do you have to share for fellow community managers? Do you think community managers rock and if so, why?

Throughout today, Radian6 is supporting Community Manager Appreciation Day (#CMAD). Check this blog post and Twitter (@radian6) for more content around this day.

Companies are spending significant amounts of time and money to build their enterprise social media strategies. If you’re reading this, you might be working for one of them. You might be hiring consultants, going to conferences and creating internal policies and councils. You might be approaching cautiously. Or maybe you’ve jumped in feet first.

But no matter what you do, your social media efforts will fail if you don’t have the right people to put them into practice.

Who are Community Managers?

For many companies, the people on the social media front lines are community managers. A job title that didn’t exist a few years ago, “community manager” applies to the people who respond to customers online, engage with influencers, manage groups and forums, and share with and learn from the extended networks of people who surround a brand and its activities.

It takes a unique set of skills and attributes to make a great community manager. Customer focus. Solid communication skills. Imagination. The ability to think clearly and act decisively. Compassion. Empathy. A sense of humor. A sense of adventure. A rebellious streak. Incurable “shiny object syndrome.” And a near-compulsive need to know what’s going on out there at all times. (Raise your hand if you’ve ever excused yourself from a family gathering to sneak a quick look at your smartphone.)

Some of the best community managers I’ve met have come from customer service backgrounds, others from PR and marketing and marketing communications and some from journalism. Some of those folks have found themselves at times feeling their skills were undervalued. When times are tough, departments like marcom are often one of the first targets for cuts. I’ve experienced that personally. Twice.

But with the speed of social media bringing an unprecedented immediacy to crisis response, customer communication, sales and marketing and brand stewardship, the folks with that eclectic combination of soft and hard skills are ideally qualified to bring value to companies of all sizes.

Spend all the money you want on advertising, on customer satisfaction surveys, on focus groups—your community managers are the people making your brand every day. They create your reputation anew with every interaction. And when things turn bleak, they have the power to turn hate into love. I’ve seen it happen, and that’s something I could never say about a press release or an annual report.

Community Manager Appreciation Day

Take the time today to thank the people who manage your company’s community, whatever community might mean for you. If you haven’t already, one day you will look back and wonder how you ever got along without them.

And on a personal note, since today is Community Manager Appreciation Day (#CMAD), I’d like to thank the community managers I work with—the finest team of online communicators I’ve ever met. I learned about Radian6 long before I came to work here not because of the platform, not because of the functionality, but because of the community team, the content they create and the way they represent the company online and in person. They embody what we call our “Radian6-ness” and share it with the world.

To the Radian6 Community Team: Thank you. We couldn’t do it without you.

Throughout today, Radian6 is supporting Community Manager Appreciation Day (#CMAD). Check back at this blog and on Twitter (@radian6) for more content around this day. Also, tweet to @radian6 why you think community managers rock! Don’t forget to use the #CMAD hashtag.