Our new Director of Community Management, Drew Olanoff, debuts on our blog and newsletter with twenty ways to fire up your community to get satisfaction:

1. Hail to the Chief. Everyone you’re talking to could be the President of the United States. Even if you don’t like the President, you’d respect them when talking to them right? You never know who is on the other end.

2. Please. Always say please, always. “Please email us…” “Please try this to fix that…” Please will get you a long way.

3. Thank You. Always say thank you, always. “Thank you for your feedback!” “Thank you for taking the time to reach out to us.” It helps. Trust me.

4. George Clooney. Your Community is like an ER. People come in with issues sometimes. Your job is to find out what the issue is, how to diagnose it, or get them to the person who can. Triage. Fast.

5. Never let them dangle. If someone is on the edge, grab them quick. Don’t leave someone who has had a bad experience hanging over the ledge. They WILL lose their grip.

6. Everybody hurts, sometimes. Customer Service should be adopted company wide. Even though your CEO won’t be answering questions, they have to know the ins and outs of what you do to keep the Community happy. Good for them and good for you!

7. Everybody cheers, the rest of the time. Share your Community successes with the entire company. Coders, designers, Marketeers, Bizdev…they don’t have the time to see everything that’s going on with your community. Share the good stuff as often as you get it. It makes everyone feel awesome.

8. Roundabound. If you don’t have an answer for someone, engage them until you do. Keep them talking, keep them involved…even if you say “We need a day or so to figure this out…” they’ll know you’re on it.

9. Your word is all you have. Say what you do and do what you say. Don’t write checks you can’t cash, you will get called out on it. If you promise someone something, do it. You will get +10 Satisfaction points.

10. It’s not a freakin’ email. You don’t have to write your customer responses like an email. Sincerely, Blah… is boring. Write how you speak.

11. Spell check. Please.

12. Copy and paste THIS. People can smell a copy/paste from a mile away. If your response “Kinda” fits their question, you have failed. Do you have to type a new response EVERY time? No…but spice it up ya know? “Hey, cute avatar!”

13. Respond to kudos. When someone says something nice, thank them. Ask them for MORE info…don’t get all big headed and let it sit there. They won’t come back and say another nice thing if you don’t.

14. Trust your community. “The customer is always right”. That means no matter what, your customer is always right, even when they’re wrong. Your job is to guide them to show them that you know what you’re talking about and make them feel satisfied. NOT to show them you’re right.

15. Don’t complain. Don’t complain about your customers around your co-workers. It’s like a sickness, and your customers (whether they pay or not) are your lifeblood. They keep you employed. So while it’s not always hearts and ponies, keep the complaining to a -5.

16. Old hat. Just because an issue is “old” to you, doesn’t mean it’s old to the person who is having it. In fact, it’s new to them. Don’t “uh duh!” them, help them out.

17. Spice things up. Get interactive, engaged. Be proactive, ask questions, do a poll. Post pics of cats falling off of ladders. Keep people fresh.

18. Take turns. If you’re lucky enough to have a few support people, trade off on responsibilities now and again. It’s easy to get bored or tired of a community. Working on something else makes you feel sparkly clean when you return to your daily norm.

19. Watch others. There are companies out there doing great things with their Community. Talk to other Community folks, watch how they interact. Learn from mistakes AND from success.

20. The world won’t end. There is NOTHING you can do that can’t be fixed. Other than post pics of your Representative Weiner. Don’t be gun-shy. YOUR fear will kill a community.