I suppose that's what these Mashable stories are for, eh?
Stephanie
· 8 months ago
Love it! Great post. You are right on target with all of those points. I am the community manager of E.Factor, and while it is an exciting job, you must also be obsessed with your cell phone, computer and all other forms of communication. Communicability is Key.
Christina Chiles Jones
· 8 months ago
I have left one community management job for another this year, and I really can see the value of #5, since that is where I am the weakest at the new company (that I didn't start with at the beginning and knew the ins and outs and who does what). I wish I knew how to improve upon #5 quicker than the natural ebb and flow of getting to know a company. Thanks for the great post Stuart!
Tia Marie
· 8 months ago
I couldn't agree more with #1. I'm a Community Manager myself and I have found that above everything a love of your Community/Job and a great amount of patience and flexibility. If you don't love it and can't feel an ownership over the Community you're working with, you simply won't enjoy the job. For all of the work/time/effort it takes when you love your job it's a breeze and every amount of what you do satisfies you.
Ha. You'd better. You're a community manager for a community tool!
AmberNaslund
· 8 months ago
Stuart,
Bang up job on the post, my friend. Great work. You've really solidly captured so many of the elements that are required to do this job and do it well. And I have to say, there are new things that crop up every day that make it challenging, rewarding, and teach me something new. I'll look forward to the "Where Are They Now" version in a year or two when this crazy social world has evolved even further. :)
Cheers and thanks so much for including me.
Amber
Stuart Foster
· 8 months ago
Glad to do so Amber :)
Daniel_Honigman
· 7 months ago
Stuart's no fool, Amber. You know a ton about this.
Connie Bensen
· 8 months ago
I would add that creativity is imperative. There is a bit of routine, but much of the work requires product knowledge, excellent communication skills and the ability to think quickly on your feet.
Connie Bensen Community Strategist, Techrigy @cbensen
Brett Borders
· 8 months ago
Enjoyable read. Some great insights from some of the most knowledgable people in the industry.
J. Ray Sparks
· 8 months ago
3b) Ability to not take assaultive personal insults personally -- I manage communities for two top rated "fake news" shows. And through this experience I have learned that simply having that "power" will cause some fans to hate your f***ing guts, no matter how nice and empowering you are. That's OK. When someone says you're stupid and you have a big nose and they hate you, just keep reminding yourself that not as many people think you're a douche-bag as they do Glenn Beck.
Jennifer H.
· 8 months ago
Great article, overall. Good food for thought, esp. those of us who aspire to community manage ourselves.
Now is it just me, or does the quote attributed to Sonny Gill in trait #3 not make any sense? I've read -- and re-read -- it, and the first four or five lines do not make sense, Is there a missing section by any chance?
Vinyl Banners
· 8 months ago
Really great post! I totally agree! loving your job is a good way to start! =)
HowMuch
· 8 months ago
How much does a community manager make?
Stuart Foster
· 8 months ago
Ranges considerably, based on experience and personality. (Size of brand is really important here too)
Nathan Ketsdever
· 8 months ago
Great post. Its arguable that it also helps to know the product....maybe even more important than knowing the company. Being an "insider" in the sense of being an active user of the product can go a long way to making your advice being both useful and authentic.
Facebook User
· 8 months ago
cool article
Jacques
· 8 months ago
Very good post. The main nugget of wisdom still is your No.1 essential trait. Loving your community and service will help you breeze through the 4 other steps
Guillaume
· 8 months ago
Vision is very important as you need to find the perfect balance between what you can say and what you need to keep within the company. It is diplomacy I guess.
tvamy
· 8 months ago
I wind up a community manager as the interactive anchor in local TV and love it. I am turning into the "first" point of contact in the social media world - and agreee the passion and desire to connect with the community is so critical. I've been in the market 20 years and never closer to the viewers than in this last year and a half using social media and building up TheRibbit.com
Melinda Moses
· 8 months ago
Great post Stu. I absolutely agree that it takes a very special, passionate, transparent person to manage the community.
I'm curious what people think about the role of the community manager to create new value-oriented programs that drive RESULTS through the community ... kind of as an outgrowth of product management/marketing ... or focused more on keeping the community involved in what's already there?? Where do you draw the line??
Stuart Foster
· 8 months ago
Walk that line. You have to be the voice of reason in both communities. Share the company's position with the community and the community's position with the company. I've found you can do both (and benefit both parties) if you do this effectively.
Christian Jacobsen
· 8 months ago
I realized about ten years ago that I was a "Community manager", although at the time the term "Evangelist" was more common, and falling out of vogue. So I assumed the title of "Community Energizer", and have been serving in the capacity for a number of companies in the US and Europe ever since then.
In response to the "How much does a Community Manager make?" question, there is a lot of clarification needed. As Stuart says in Point #1 of his article, you have to love your job to be good at this job. People who love their job are not so focused on the money side of the equation. I have taken a large pay cut to have the opportunity to serve the community I currently work with. (And yes, it is worth it. Without question.)
Stuart's Points #3 and #5 both require that you have been with the company for a while. This is not the information and connections that your learn from the first-day-on-the-job training videos. You must be in the organization for a while, earned trust, and you know how things work at all levels. Only then can you be an effective Community Manager.
So in the end, expect to pull in $30-$50k, depending entirely on the profitability of the company.
Community Manager, Tech Support, etc: you simply cannot do a cost/benefit analysis on these kinds of roles that deal in "intangibles". And placing measurable limits on these roles will diminish their effectiveness. So I could see this range as being wildly divergent, depending on many factors.
But looking forward to coming to work every day? Loving your customers rather than loathing them? How can you place a value on that?!?
My name is Christian and I am the Community Energizer. And I love it! :-)
Mary Maher
· 8 months ago
Thanks for the thoughtful post--a rare treatise not about technology, but instead about advancing the organization's mission, providing good content and service, building community, empowerment. That's where the responsibility lies.
Kris
· 8 months ago
You also have to have time to work on the boards, too. Right now this is a side part of my job and I feel like I can't give it as much attention as I'd like. I go in and look at my section, but unfortunately, it's not a huge part of my job and don't spend much time there.
Also, you can't be power hungry. I'm on a board where there are new mods after many years of the originator of the site and their friends were mods and now that it's part of a media network, it's much more stringent in it's rules. It's still better than other boards, but some of the mods need to lighten up, especially if someone creates a duplicate thread. It's a huge board the the search is not that great. I understand the need to maintain it, but a warn or note??? That seems a bit excessive!
Scott Moore
· 8 months ago
I would add knowing how to build trusting relationships between community members. It's touched on in #2, but promoting others is only a part of building trust and then mostly building trust with your brand/company/org. The real magic of community is exposing value, building relationships and fostering trust *between* the community members. When hiring, I look for a background in managing volunteers (where you must persuade, but cannot dictate), conflict management, negotiations especially in a group or crowd situation (because often you cannot avoid having an audience).
I agree with J. Ray Sparks about not taking it personally and want to add that knowing how to recover and learn from mistakes is important for long-term community work. Failing to acknowledge, apologize, recover and learn from mistakes will erode hard-earned trust.
A year ago, Tish Grier posted an article, Seven Traits of Highly Effective Community Managers, http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=31&aid=145283 and I recommend it to those who are interested in the work and those who are hiring community manager positions.
Lou Sagar
· 8 months ago
I am very active advising clients on the organizational roles and responsibilities for a social media team. In addition to the ones outlined above, an essential skill for "community management" demand good writing skills, and the ability to create a "voice" that is consistent.
Brett Kopf
· 8 months ago
Bravo! This post was really helpful. "You need to really thrive on connecting with people" Thanks for sharing the great insight on a new 21st century position!
Great list! Another I would add is a strong sense of curiosity--it helps a community manager get to know community members personally, because you can't fake genuine interest. Also if someone has a questions that you're generally curious about to, you'll definitely be prompt getting them an answer.
web tasarımı
· 8 months ago
very good
Jehnee
· 2 months ago
Excellent!
alisonjuli23
· 2 months ago
We help you discover topics that best fit your industry niche. www.contentunltd.com
All Comments
http://snurl.com/fc9lv
I suppose that's what these Mashable stories are for, eh?
Giannii
DISQUS
Community Manager
help@disqus.com
http://twitter.com/giannii
You have it all setup right =)
Giannii
DISQUS
Community Manager
help@disqus.com
http://twitter.com/giannii
Bang up job on the post, my friend. Great work. You've really solidly captured so many of the elements that are required to do this job and do it well. And I have to say, there are new things that crop up every day that make it challenging, rewarding, and teach me something new. I'll look forward to the "Where Are They Now" version in a year or two when this crazy social world has evolved even further. :)
Cheers and thanks so much for including me.
Amber
Connie Bensen
Community Strategist, Techrigy
@cbensen
Now is it just me, or does the quote attributed to Sonny Gill in trait #3 not make any sense? I've read -- and re-read -- it, and the first four or five lines do not make sense, Is there a missing section by any chance?
I totally agree! loving your job is a good way to start! =)
I'm curious what people think about the role of the community manager to create new value-oriented programs that drive RESULTS through the community ... kind of as an outgrowth of product management/marketing ... or focused more on keeping the community involved in what's already there?? Where do you draw the line??
In response to the "How much does a Community Manager make?" question, there is a lot of clarification needed. As Stuart says in Point #1 of his article, you have to love your job to be good at this job. People who love their job are not so focused on the money side of the equation. I have taken a large pay cut to have the opportunity to serve the community I currently work with. (And yes, it is worth it. Without question.)
Stuart's Points #3 and #5 both require that you have been with the company for a while. This is not the information and connections that your learn from the first-day-on-the-job training videos. You must be in the organization for a while, earned trust, and you know how things work at all levels. Only then can you be an effective Community Manager.
So in the end, expect to pull in $30-$50k, depending entirely on the profitability of the company.
Community Manager, Tech Support, etc: you simply cannot do a cost/benefit analysis on these kinds of roles that deal in "intangibles". And placing measurable limits on these roles will diminish their effectiveness. So I could see this range as being wildly divergent, depending on many factors.
But looking forward to coming to work every day? Loving your customers rather than loathing them? How can you place a value on that?!?
My name is Christian and I am the Community Energizer. And I love it! :-)
Also, you can't be power hungry. I'm on a board where there are new mods after many years of the originator of the site and their friends were mods and now that it's part of a media network, it's much more stringent in it's rules. It's still better than other boards, but some of the mods need to lighten up, especially if someone creates a duplicate thread. It's a huge board the the search is not that great. I understand the need to maintain it, but a warn or note??? That seems a bit excessive!
I agree with J. Ray Sparks about not taking it personally and want to add that knowing how to recover and learn from mistakes is important for long-term community work. Failing to acknowledge, apologize, recover and learn from mistakes will erode hard-earned trust.
A year ago, Tish Grier posted an article, Seven Traits of Highly Effective Community Managers, http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=31&aid=145283 and I recommend it to those who are interested in the work and those who are hiring community manager positions.
http://twitter.com/brettkopf
www.contentunltd.com