Fake it ’til you make it… as a social media community manager
Liking, tweeting, moderating and keeping up with hashtags, Homaira Razi from Yahoo!7 tells us how.
What does a social media community manager do?
Post, tweet, share and repeat. You need to be online all day and watch the world through your camera phone lens so you don’t miss a moment for others to enjoy. In this job you also get to watch TV all day. We are constantly on the hunt for the latest trending topic and tweaking our strategy so we can remain entertaining and relevant to fans across social networks. Social media is the new opium of the masses so it is important not to get too high on your own supply.
So it’s just a lot of re-tweeting and ‘liking’ stuff then?
Everyone these days is a social media expert. People think this is a one-way communication job: post a few pictures or comments then put your feet up and hope for a storm of ‘likes’. Back in the real world, we’re developing unique targeted content for social media from the earliest point, often as early as when TV shows are in production. It needs to be relevant, timely, fun, engaging and most of all make sense to each user. Fans are very vocal; it’s definitely a two-way conversation.
Yahoo!7 social media manager Homaira Razi
How important is moderation?
Unless your dream is to be a star on Media Watch, it’s very important. If you post the right content and invite fans to participate in discussions that make sense to them, they will self-moderate. Language filters help but we also keep a close eye on the conversation and hope for the best.
Is there any lingo we need to know to do your job?
‘Like’ and ‘don’t feed the trolls’. It’s really important to stay across social media terms – ‘hashtag’, ‘trend’, ‘check-in’ and ‘share’ are all words we talk about daily. By following celebrities and influencers on Twitter and Facebook it’s easier to stay on top of trends in social – our future dialogue is in the hands of Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga. To keep communities entertained, you’ve got to know the shows and their characters. To be authentic you have to tap into the language of varying demographics. For example, a show like My Kitchen Rules attracts loads of conversation on social media but using teen slang and acronyms wouldn’t work in that space.
Who are the most important people to know?
Here at Yahoo!7 it is crucial to know:
- The River Boys
- The network publicity team
- Executive producers
- Die-hard fans: they’re dedicated, honest and sometimes extreme.
What’s the greatest challenge in your role?
Apart from RSI the greatest challenge is trying to keep all of our fans across Facebook, Twitter and Seven’s social media companion app Fango engaged while ensuring the content we are posting is relevant and does not ruin TV viewing for people in other time zones. It is also impossible to switch off as you may miss something and social media disasters always seem to happen on Friday afternoons or weekends.
Tell us about a typical day on the job.
Depending on what’s on TV that day, start and finish times vary. I’m thinking about our fans (yes, and hashtags) all day long. Posting timely content is crucial in this job so I always log on when I wake up to make updates. If I head for an afternoon coffee, I think fans must be doing the same, so I post something they can enjoy quickly.
Homaira Razi is a social media manager for Yahoo!7 TV.
- This article first appeared in Encore magazine. Download the iPad edition, now free.
