Theatre Nerds Make The Best Community Managers
For many, a community manager’s daily work sifting through hundreds, even thousands of comments can seem like the worst kind of torture cooked up in a particularly deep circle of Hell. But for theatre nerds and the storytelling-minded, each comment or inbound communication is an opportunity.
As a theatre major at Northwestern University, I learned many different acting techniques. When I sit down to start monitoring for my clients, I remember a quote from famous acting teacher Sanford Meisner. He said, “Acting is behaving truthfully under imaginary circumstances.”
After all, what is a brand’s social community but an imaginary kitchen table (or workbench or fitting room, as the case may be) where people can gather to discuss the brand and its products? And if your brand’s social media pages are the gathering place for your brand’s tribe, doesn’t that make the community manager the expert chef, mechanic, or seamstress?
As I work through the questions, compliments, and complaints, I picture myself in an apron with flour on my hands as I drift amongst the delightful smells of an Italian bakery, or with grease on my face as I roll up my sleeves in an oily, metallic garage.
Imagining myself in these circumstances makes it easier for my responses to come from a natural, authentic place.
If you’ve done your work right, your brand probably has a voice already. Maybe the brand is welcoming and friendly, or tough and smart-alecky. But does your brand have a backstory? Where did your brand grow up? What shows does it watch? For an actor, these necessary questions help create the “truth” of a character, from which stems every action and reaction. Leaving these questions unanswered makes your character flat, dull, and lifeless. Your brand should be none of those things.
This technique was validated for me when a fan commented,
“I would like to add that whomever monitors this site is unfailingly polite & professional. I know that once or twice my responses might have been a bit flippant, (not intentionally, probably just in a hurry) & it has always been met with a gracious response.”
For that client, I had created a character that is empathetic, kind, and helpful. My audience noticed!
Though this method has worked well for me, I’ll leave you with the words of a great thinker in the world of theatre, Constantin Stanislavski. He said,
What techniques do you have for authentically portraying your brand’s character and voice?
