The tools do not make the Community Manager
We often meet people who want to be Community Managers, and whose main concern is to ask what tools they can use to see the reach of their tweets, to schedule posts on Facebook, to monitor or to perform different analytics.
Yes, these tools greatly facilitate our task as community managers and allow us to focus on other tasks that can not be automated, but, we should not think that by the simple fact of having tools for absolutely everything, we will be better Community Managers.
Just as the habit does not make the monk, the tools do not make the Community Manager.
Managing the online presence of our customers is much more than using twenty different tools, since the main thing is to know how to use them properly, something that many do not. An example: we are in a math, trigonometry test, and we have a calculator on the table, but we do not know how to use the formulas that we have written in it as a chop. What do we want them for? They are useless.
The tools are exactly the same. If we do not have certain knowledge that allows us to make a correct use of them, what do we want them for? Are they really going to help us for something? If, for example, we are using an analytical tool such as Google Analytics, and we do not know what the data that this platform is providing us with, the only thing we will be seeing are numbers and percentages, but we will not be able to incorporate that data into our work and get the benefit we could get from them.
So, we need to think about what needs to be covered, what tools can help us to do our work more efficiently, but also thinking that the most important work is not going to be done by us, for example, writing a post or analyzing a graphic
The fact of using many tools for everything does not mean in any way that we are doing a better job, but we have more means at our disposal. However, there are those who think that the tools are fundamental for the good work of the Community Manager, and that without them, he could not carry out his task. Nothing is further from reality. It is possible to tweet without using hootsuite, just as it is possible to do many other things without tools, but of what there is no doubt is that using them, these tasks are faster to perform.
Know the brand, the company, its philosophy and values
The different tools we find for the functions and work of the Community Manager will always be useful and very helpful. But this work is not only determined by the use of the same but also by the involvement and knowledge of the professional on the brand that represents.
Knowledge of the values and philosophy of the company are just as important as the tools themselves and can determine the way in which to act in social environments. That is, important aspects that require having defined the procedures of action, reaction and response, which in turn implies having a much broader knowledge of its structure, organization, departments, products, etc …
It is evident that the Community Manager can not base his professionalism or worth, based exclusively on the knowledge and advanced use of any type of tool or of the own social media.