This has been a rollercoaster of a year in the cryptocurrency markets as we have seen a fall from the all-time highs as well as an explosion of ICOs and projects getting funded. The amount of ICOs in just the first half of 2018 was more than the total from the previous year, and the funding has more than doubled. Unfortunately, due to the less than ideal market conditions, many of these newly launched projects have floundered and faded into obscurity. One thing that all successful projects have in common is a robust and engaged community of supporters and investors that sustain the excitement about the project’s progress and current state.
What exactly is a CM?
To facilitate this positive and supportive community, you need a line of communication. Having a direct line to the project team is always nice, but not feasible in most cases, especially as projects gain popularity. This is where community managers come in. As a project progresses from a whitepaper trying to gain interest, onto the lengthy ICO process, and into maturity, there will be questions. Many, many, questions. The CM acts as a form of customer support in some of these more difficult phases where community members will have questions on how they can get involved with the project by buying tokens, or more details on the token sale itself. Despite the wonderful announcements and guides your marketing team put out, there will still be questions. Lots and lots of questions. One of the busiest times filled with plenty of important questions is in the early stages of a project as they prepare and launch their ICO.
With the abundance of ICOs reaching the market this year, it may seem like an easy task to simply have a great idea and raise millions of dollars to figure out the rest. Unfortunately, as anyone involved in the planning process of a successful ICO will tell you, it is immensely more difficult. With the proliferation of projects that have not delivered on their lofty goals and promises, in addition to the difficult market conditions, many investors have become much more wary now than they were even 6 months ago. This has led to a climate where finding funding is much more difficult, and would-be investors will want to know every detail possible before putting their hard-earned money towards your great idea. By having a thorough and well laid plan that is full of details, a CM can not only answer an interested investor’s questions, but they can also communicate what issues are coming up repeatedly and what may need altering in the project plan.
As you move past the ICO stage and have received the funding you were seeking (thanks in part to the help of your trusty CMs), your investors will want to know what’s going on, and often. Some of these questions will be quite basic and easily answered, but others will require a deep familiarity with the project and its technical details. A good CM will be well versed in the project’s history, knowing the development progress as well its current status to be able to answer questions and keep the community members informed. The CM can then relay relevant information to the team and let them know issues that may arise, and questions that keep coming up, perhaps pointing to a miscommunication or a different way of looking at things that offers a new insight.
Benefits a Good CM Provides
By constantly being available for support and helping the community, a CM can understand the sentiment and overall feeling of the community. This information can be used to assist the team in discerning how to effectively get their message out, and what kind of marketing has been successful. This sentiment can help them time the release of new updates to keep momentum up, as the CM will see a dip in interest and engagement. This information is vital as a project progresses and matures, especially in slow times such as the bear market. While it is advantageous for a team to use this time to focus on development and long-term goals, it is important to keep interest and retention up. By surveying the climate of the channel, a CM will be able to tell when an update would be pertinent and keep visitors coming back which helps to maximize efficiency and let a team get by with the minimal marketing necessary, saving them money.
What Makes a Good CM?
So now that you are convinced about how an engaged and active community is necessary and that a CM is the best way to foster and monitor this group of supporters and interested parties, how do you find one? Just as there was a boom in ICOs as of late, there has been an influx of companies offering their services to help, but how do you know which is right for your project? While some of that depends on the scope of the services you would like, there are some things that set apart the good from the bad when it comes to community management.
A good CM team is consistent in everything they do. They always have a professional but friendly attitude to the community members and are on the same page with what the team expects and wants. By having a small group of regular CMs to cover the day they become a part of the community and get a better sense of the overall mood and what people are concerned about. By being involved they can help guide conversation and keep things positive, while still being empathetic to the struggles and issues that may arise. They should also be knowledgeable, not just about the specific project, but the cryptocurrency market and blockchain technology itself.
At Informance, we have a group of well trained, highly knowledgeable, and friendly Community Managers who are ready to help your project no matter what phase it is in. Our CMs are articulate, patient, and great ambassadors to keep the line of communication between your team and its supporters open, while letting you focus on the fun stuff like developing your dream idea! For more information contact us at our website Informance.io or message us on Telegram at @BrianInformance.