“Community Management Would Be a Complete Non-Starter for us Without Swat.io.”

stern TV really values interaction with its target group on social media. The goal of its social media strategy is to get users discussing the topics covered in the show. It’s also meant to raise the profile of the brand by expanding its reach. Community management and community building are key here.

Facebook, Instagram and YouTube are the main social media channels for stern TV. Facebook is their leading channel, with a loyal community ensuring organic reach. This is where they put topics up for discussion. Users often have such interesting stories to tell that they are invited to speak about them on the show. The community is also growing rapidly on Instagram. Here, content focuses on excerpts from the studio and striking quotes from the show. YouTube serves primarily as an archive for previously broadcast episodes. This expands their reach even further, and puts them in contact with another target group.

The social media team is made up of two editors and two community managers. The challenge for them is to adapt the topics covered in the show for the various channels. The team is constantly looking for that sweet spot in a story – the element that’s most likely to spark discussion. This isn’t necessarily the main theme of the show. The social media editorial plan has to tailor topics to target groups to encourage comments and messages. They use a variety of content formats, including videos, teaser clips, picture quotes and link posts.

Community management often involves highly individual concerns. The team is committed to capturing everything and using it in an editorial sense. They want users to feel that their views are given individual consideration. This makes contact with stern TV a positive experience. Swat.io means the stern TV team can bring that personal touch to social media management without losing sight of the big picture.

The stern TV community is highly active, with community management receiving over 10,000 comments and personal stories every week. Without a tool to pool comments, these numbers would be unmanageable. The peak time for the team is Wednesday evening, when the live show is broadcast. But Swat.io keeps everything in order.

The team particularly values the ticket assignment function. Some comments they simply forward to the editorial team, particularly feedback or questions about the contents of the show. They also use the Swat.io role system if they simply need a colleague to read the comment or leave internal notes. For messages that relate to specific themes, the team likes to use tags. This allows them to group together tickets or user profiles relating to particular topics and easily find them again later.