The Community Manager is in charge of the Internet and Social Media presence of the club.

Building a strong online presence

A strong club online presence is like a magnet for new members, guests, and media interest.

Persistence and regularity are some of the secrets of successful community managers. Try to post at least once a week.

Things to post about

Here are some ideas about what to post:

• Of course ... meeting and other event announcements
• Welcoming new members
• Sharing posts from other clubs or Agora Speakers International.
• Recognizing members' achievements - both within Agora's educational program and outside of it. For the latter, those achievements need to be somewhat related to the club's mission. If a member publishes a book or gives a keynote speech at a convention - those would be good examples.

• Meeting recordings
• Share examples of speeches that you've liked
• Language improvement charts, tips, and puns are almost always well received, especially for enriching members' vocabulary.

• Summaries of meetings for those members that missed them.

You don't need to figure out everything yourself - Do encourage members to suggest ideas and topics.

Useful Posting Tips

Here are some useful tips that you might want to consider:

• Use hashtags.  Apply a mix of Agora hashtags (#AgoraSpeakers, #SpeakLeadMakeHistory, etc.), with your own local club tags, with post-appropriate tags.
   
• Tag or @mention interesting people in your club's social media posts -  (This activity should be coordinated with the Vice President of Marketing). Tagging people that might be interested (media, local leaders, celebrities, prospective members, etc.) in interesting posts is a good way to draw their attention, as long as it is done carefully.
   
• Monitor groups where you can provide meaningful replies.  There are many groups where people ask all sorts of questions that you might be able to answer - meetup groups, public Facebook groups, Quora, Reddit, etc.  Usually, you should be monitoring a set of subjects such as:
  • Public Speaking
  • Debating
  • Critical Thinking
  • Stage Fright
  • Professional Speaking
  • Sales Presentations
  • Leadership
  • Career Development
  • Self-Improvement
  • Self-Confidence
  • ... in general, any of the skills that we train in
• 
  Once you see an interesting comment or post where you can chime in, write a reply. Usually, if the reply is not merely spam but provides some insight and content, you will be allowed to have a few promotional hashtags, maybe even a link to your club.

Content Moderation and Group Rules

As a Community Manager, you're also responsible for the atmosphere, civility, and focus of the groups where members and visitors can post comments. Some general Agora principles need to be enforced in all groups:

• Hate speech of any kind is not allowed.
• Promotion of topics contrary to the bylaws (including pseudo-science) is not allowed.

Apart from those, you´re free to define the general parameters of the club´s online presence:

• Will you allow guests and visitors to post?
• Will you allow commercial postings? Which ones?
• What topics are considered valid?

Addressing Feedback

As a Community Manager, part of your responsibilities includes handling general feedback and questions from different sources.

• Always start by thanking the person that wrote, even to the harshest criticism.
• Try to reply to all requests in one day at most.
• Even if providing the information or dealing with the specific request will take time, do write a short answer that you'll get back to that person and try to provide an estimate. For example, "I think we're around 200 clubs worldwide already, but let me get the exact number, and I'll get back to you."
• If the question is about Agora and the way we work, if you don't know the answer, do reach out to your fellow club officers and us ( [email protected] ) so that we can help.
• No matter how negative a piece of feedback is, try to use it as a learning opportunity.
• Never start an argument with someone. You'll be not only fanning the flames, but you will make the poster gain followers. Here you can see some examples of handling very negative feedback efficiently.
   

A note about privacy

Privacy is fundamental in today's world, and you must be especially vigilant to avoid inadvertently violating other people's right to control their own information. Failing to do so may not only create a lot of ill-will, but you also risk losing a member, getting scathing negative feedback about the club posted, and even legal troubles in jurisdictions like the EU.

• Never use group communication systems that make the participants' private information visible. For example, creating a WhatsApp group automatically shows everyone's phone number to everyone else.
   
• When asked about contact information, always ask the relevant party for permission, or reverse the information flow.
  For example, imagine you get the following request:
  
  "Hi. We're Organization SpeakersOfTomorrow. I want to get in touch with Club President John Doe, as we're looking for keynote speakers for our conference and would like to discuss the specifics with him. On what phone number can I reach him?"
  
  instead of immediately providing someone else's phone number, you should
  
  1) Check with the president first, and then provide the information if he or she agrees
  2) Invert the flow of information: "Thank you so much for this request. I'll ask John to call you as soon as possible. How can he reach you, and which hours would be most suitable?".