Online communities come alive when community managers actively try to bridge the gap between platforms and their audiences. Your favorite social media page or group is a vibrant place where conversations buzz, questions are answered, ideas are exchanged, etc. - the magic of community management in action. But what makes a thriving online community? In the simplest of terms, it's about creating a sense of belonging, nurturing virtual neighborhoods, and sparking meaningful interactions.
It doesn't always happen, in spite of managers' best efforts. They often have other responsibilities and tasks to attend to, maybe another job, and can't give the virtual community their all. The hyper-realistic digital humans created by Antix are an alternative for virtual community members seeking an immersive and engaging experience.
Limitations of community managers
Successful virtual community management requires identifying and understanding what drives members or followers. For example, a Discord community manager would need to bring in new members, figure out why existing ones leave, and keep the server fresh and exciting to retain them. Community building requires an understanding of members' preferences, interests, and pain points to tailor content and approaches. It always starts with two-way communication.
Communication lapses
The way the manager engages with the audience early on will determine whether members feel welcomed. Talking to friendly, helpful, and responsive people is always easier. Being approachable and sociable is a prerequisite for the role of a virtual community manager - you'd think that was obvious. However, managers are only human, and some days, they won't want to be bothered. They'll occasionally fail to respond, do so unthoughtfully, etc. Not even extroverts want to interact 100% of the time.
Knowing that a question, comment, or direct message is waiting for your response is crucial, but only looking at account notifications can make you miss meaningful community conversations.
Deleting negative comments
There's no such thing as bad publicity, true – but that's oversimplifying it. Disparaging social media comments are a sign that people want to engage with a brand. Still, they're unpleasant to deal with, and deleting negative comments is a natural reaction - a temptingly easy solution but a temporary one. It is perceived as sneaky and inauthentic and can escalate problems that the manager could have resolved. They'll get comments along the lines of, "Stop deleting my comments," and conflict deepens.
Digital humans breathe life into community engagement
Antix's AI-powered, hyper-realistic, personalized digital humans bridge the gap between the real world and virtual ones. They are meeting the growing demand for engaging and immersive virtual experiences and redefining user interactions in digital spaces. Antix's digital humans can serve as virtual community managers on Telegram, Discord, and similar platforms, moderating discussions, engaging with members, providing real-time project updates, and more.
The Antix platform also gives users extensive options to detail and customize these humans. They include tweaking appearance, voice, style, and emotional expressions, ultimately creating a unique digital human whose behavior and looks are only limited by the user's imagination. They look like people but don't have the shortcomings of human moderators, like tiredness, irritability, etc.
What's more, AI-powered digital humans effectively adapt content for different audiences. AI language and text models allow for fast translation and content adaptation for users from different cultures and countries. This ensures a broader community reach and makes content more relevant to different community segments.
Emotional intelligence is hard to ignore as a selling point
Emotionally intelligent AI recognizes mood and tone, allowing systems to respond empathetically. This feature is especially valuable in settings like customer service and personal care but also important in other contexts. Digital humans are conversational AI's most advanced form, combining verbal communication and body language to enhance online interactions. The user interacts with a device displaying a human image that responds relevantly and adequately as an emotionally intelligent person would.
EQ is far from common. While it accounts for more than 60% of people's professional and personal success, just 36% of all people are emotionally intelligent.
Digital humans create value for virtual communities beyond building emotional connections with users. This is possible thanks to advanced technologies, such as AI to process input and learn from patterns, 3D modeling to create 3D models of human faces and bodies, motion capture as the basis for 3D modeling, natural language processing to comprehend voice commands, and natural language generation to be able to respond to them.
Digital humans are available around the clock and need no time off, no running salary, and no sleep. They are an affordable and scalable solution, and their ability to easily switch between cultural contexts and languages enhances their accessibility.
Best practices in moderation and management
The most successful community managers respond promptly when members comment or message. They answer questions, show genuine interest, and acknowledge feedback with a personal touch. They can add excitement by organizing contests and polls, enabling direct member interactions. Contests boost participation and spark competition, while polls are a fun way to gauge opinions.
They encourage members to share their own content, transforming the community into a creative hub. User-generated reviews, posts, art, and stories foster a sense of inclusivity and ownership.
Active and vibrant communities are also hungry for knowledge, so the manager should share informative content like tips and guides that address challenges and interests. This keeps members engaged and establishes the manager as an authority.
Finally, they refrain from jumping on every bandwagon. Incorporating every trend is unnecessary, as canned responses and recycled content quickly undermine the manager's efforts to build a community sustainably. Crafting response templates for FAQs is a great idea, but managers should never copy-paste. Interactions must remain personal and human-centered.
