Editor’s note: This article was first published in October 2011, when the community manager role was new in Spain; the salary range of €15,500 to €43,000 a year, the “customer 2.0” label and the lack of specific training it describes reflect that time.
Few people or companies are clear about what a community manager is, and even fewer are clear about what this professional’s duties should be, what qualifications they need, the requirements, which department they should join, and so on. Few people know what it is, but the fact is that it’s in demand. This week I met several community managers: some of them earn €15,500 a year and others €43,000 a year.
Let’s take a close look at what a CM is and isn’t, their duties within the company, and the skills and qualities they need.
We’ve already given our own plain-language definition of this professional, but according to the definition provided by AERCO (the Spanish association of online community managers), the community manager is the person responsible for sustaining, growing and defending the company’s relationships with its customers.
What a community manager does
Monitoring what is said online about the company
The CM must constantly use various tools to monitor the most relevant online conversations about our company, whether on blogs, news sites, social networks or forums, in order to gauge how satisfied users are with our brand, or to defend our brand against a rumour or an article taken out of context that could damage our business’s image.
Internal analysis
Once the CM has monitored online conversations about our company and gathered information on what our competitors do better, they should give the company the relevant information to improve our brand’s image. In the same way, they should contribute new ideas for products or services to make our company more competitive. They need to know how to listen to consumers and pass on what they want to the relevant department.
Interacting with the online community
The CM is the company’s spokesperson on social media, so they are responsible for building a close, warm bond between the “customer 2.0” and the company. They are also responsible for explaining the company’s position on temporary circumstances or specific events.
Encouraging community participation
The CM is responsible for helping our brand go viral online, so they will often have to invite users to take part in contests, games or conversations. The aim of this participation is to grow the online community, as members invite their friends and contacts to join.
What a community manager is not, despite their duties
- A CM is not the company’s general manager. However, since there’s no specific department for them to belong to, and they have a hand in every department, in some companies the CM effectively sits above the manager, because in a technological age the company’s growth depends on how it is managed online.
- A CM is not part of Human Resources, although they will need to hire or ask for the collaboration of leaders, people or media that are influential on the internet. Nor are they a salesperson or negotiator, yet they will need sales and negotiation skills to get an influential social media figure to talk about our company’s brand at little or no cost (depending on the CM’s skill).
- A CM is not a “blogger”, although they will need to keep the company blog updated with the content most relevant to users. They must be a great communicator in writing. Not only must they write well, they must also enjoy it.
- A CM is not a “geek”, although they will need to use, understand and keep up with the latest technology, and with all kinds of software tools and apps that can help them in their role and, at the same time, make it easier for users to take part.
What qualifications should a community manager have?
As we mentioned in a previous article, there is no degree for this role, although various courses have appeared (some better than others). Even so, companies tend to ask for a university degree in a wide variety of fields, from computer engineering to business administration.
This week, having met CMs with a range of profiles, the only thing that has become clear to me is that the more requirements a company asks for in this professional, the less the company knows about what the role involves. As we can see, a community manager is a kind of “Superman” within the company, and their professionalism will be backed more by experience and aptitude than by qualifications.
Featured image: Robert Neff, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
