community manager

Yesterday I received a tweet from a member of the BlogTalkRadio community. “You know Deb,” it said.  “I’ve been thinking & you have made my BTR experience so much better.” I ask you, for an online community manager is there any better compliment? It’s my pleasure to serve my community (no, really) but a compliment like this is worth way more than a paycheck. It means I’m doing my job right and people are responding.

I was thinking the other day how if community manager jobs were available in the mid 80′s it would have saved me 20 years of trying to find my place. Being a community manager isn’t always Twitter and blogs, however. Most days are good, but we have our not so good days too. If you’re thinking of becoming a community manager, you should know that (like all jobs) there are pros and cons to consider.

Pros and Cons of Being an Online Community Manager

Pro: You get to talk to awesome, passionate people every single day. The people in your community are there because they believe in your product or service. In fact, they enjoy it so much they want to talk about it all the time with like-minded people. As community manager, you must be passionate about the same, because it’s up to you to lead and direct these conversations.

Con: Someone is always disgruntled. Someone always finds something to nitpick or complain about. You’ll have to be smiley and happy even when that’s not what you’re feeling at all. Someone in need of an anger management class is not cut out to be a community manager.

Pro: Social networking. What other job do you know of where you get to hang out on Twitter or FaceBook for the better part of the day? As community manager you get to talk with your community, and invite others to become part of it.You can also share links and product info and get customer feedback.

Con: Some folks may see you as being too spammy. You’ll need to find the balance between chit chat and promotion. If you do nothing than tweet links, folks probably won’t want to follow.

Pro: Online community never sleeps. When I wake up in the morning, my community is always there to welcome me – and vice versa. On weekends, during episodes of insomnia, and holidays, our community is still going strong. You are never alone if you’re a community manager.

Con: Online community never sleeps. Forums and chatrooms still need moderation. Folks are still looking for assistance. Just because it’s the weekend doesn’t mean the community is out having barbecues. If you’re not prepared to be a 24/7 presence for your community, you may as well find a new calling.

Pro: You get to attend cool conferences and meetups. Community managers are often stars of  community meetups and conferences are a terrific way to interact as well.  This is my favorite part of the job. Working the booth and working the room gives me the opportunity to shake hands, get feedback and convince others to drink our Kool Aid.

Cons: You’re traveling to work. When you attend conferences as a representative of a business, you’re not necessarily there for fun. You’re working a booth and hanging out on the trade floor. You don’t always get to attend learning sessions and many times at the end of the day, you’re just too darned tired for parties.

Pros: You’re a reflection of your community. If you have a happy, lively community, you’ll be hailed as a terrific community manager. If you rock the customer service and put out fires in a timely manner, you’ll be seen as one of the best in the business. Your company will be known for having a great community and this will only put them in a more positive light.

Cons: You represent your company. As community manager you’re front and center. You are the first impression many people get of your business and its community. If you do a poor job, it will not only reflect on your community, but your company as a whole. Make decisions wisely and take your role as community manager seriously.

Online community management doesn’t only mean hanging out on Twitter or updating FaceBook profiles. There’s a lot of responsibility there. You have to be a voice for your community. If someone is disgruntled, it’s your job to put out the fire.  You have to help solve the problem and then follow up to make sure there’s closure. You have to see all issues through to the end even if it means you’re staying up until 2:00 a.m. If your business is receiving bad press or publicity, it’s your job to make sure people see the positive and not the negative and if you see folks in need of help, it’s your job to reach out and make sure there’s no more confustion.

I think I have the perfect job, and I wouldn’t change it for the world. However, so many people see community managers as glorified social networkers and there’s much more to it than that. The positives outweigh the negatives, for sure, but only if you’re up to the true task.

Related Posts:

• Where Should You Put Your Community Manager?
• Social Media: You Either Get it Or You Don’t
• What Happens to Your Community on the Weekend?
• Community Manager Job of the Day: Do-It-Yourself Online Community Manager at KaBoom!
• Are You Easy to Reach?

Tagged as: Community Management, community manager, online community manager

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Here’s a scenario some community managers are facing: You’re hired by a business interested in building a web presence. Your superiors consider themselves hip pioneers for jumping on the social media thing, but they reality is they haven’t a clue. As a result, you can’t do your job properly. They question the amount of time you spend on social networks, shuffle you around to different departments, don’t think conferences are necessary, and don’t take any of your ideas for social media promotion seriously, and really, have no idea what to do with you.  Put on a brave face folks, and don’t pull your hair out. You can make it work.

You were hired to create an online presence using forums, blogs, networks and other social media tools. You know you’re good at what you do, and you know there are logical reasons for doing what you do. Now, you have to communicate it to your superiors. This isn’t always easy, and can be very frustrating, but if they didn’t want a heavy Internet campaign they wouldn’t have hired you in the first place, right?

Take a deep breath. Don’t get angry. If you find you’re getting questioned every step of the way or that folks don’t take you seriously, take some time to write up a proposal or outline. List all your social media strategies and why you feel they will benefit the business. Send it to all the players and request a time to discuss follow up.  Now gather data and statistics so you can make your case. You CAN make this work!

It’s hard for many old schoolers to embrace social media but it’s part of a community manager’s job to make sure they get it. Don’t let frustration give in to anger. Use your energy to create a rocking community instead.

Related Posts:

• Re-Visiting Kommein
• Where Should You Put Your Community Manager?
• The Pros and Cons of Being an Online Community Manager
• What Happens to Your Community on the Weekend?
• 10 Tricks for Building a Successful Community from Scratch

Tagged as: Community Management, community manager, social media

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Most community management gigs appear to 9 to 5 jobs, but are they? I work for a 24/7 social radio network and it certainly doesn’t shut down at 5:00 p.m. every day.  Folks are still visiting each others’ chat rooms and talking in the forums and Yahoo Group. They still need me to wear my moderator hat. I’m also expect to provide a blog post or two over the weekend to keep the traffic flowing.

This is something all Community Managers need to think about – what happens to your community on the weekend. Do you just leave it and come back on Monday spending a frenzied day trying to catch up, or do you drop by here and there on the weekend just checking to make sure the joint hasn’t been taken over by trolls?

Even though my weekend time is family time, I still take an hour or so each day to check on the community. Someone might be having difficulty dealing with a situation, and I don’t want them to have to go through the frustration of waiting two or three days for a response.  If I know I’ll be away from my laptop for a few days, someone else takes over.

Everyone knows how frustrating it can be to reach Customer Service personnel over the weekend. Rather than have a frustrated community, it’s probably in your best interest to make sure there’s some sort of presence during the non-business hours.

What happens to your community on the weekend?

Related Posts:

• 6 Tips for Building an Offline Network
• Re-Visiting Kommein
• Where Should You Put Your Community Manager?
• The Pros and Cons of Being an Online Community Manager
• Social Media: You Either Get it Or You Don’t

Tagged as: Community, Community Management, community manager

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Many Community Manager jobs have a telecommute option, which is awesome. As most of my friends know, I have no intention of ever returning to a traditional office job. I enjoy the flexibility of working at home and spending the time with my family. I became spoiled as a freelancer and now I’m spoiled as a telecommuting Community Manager.

That doesn’t mean it’s all bunny slippers and Oprah, however. If you’re hoping to land a gig where you can work from home, let me turn you on to a few things to consider first:

1. Folks don’t always respect your time - It doesn’t matter who you are or what you do. People will think that because you work at home your job isn’t so important. They will call you during your working hours, and drop by for coffee. Friends and family will ask for favors and wonder why you don’t get enough house stuff done during your working hours. Remedy this by establishing working hours and making sure everyone knows you’re not available during this time.
2. Working at home is hard – Flexibility is good, but you have to make a lot of compromises of your time. I spend free time and “lunch hours” driving children to various activities or running errands. It’s very rare that I go out to lunch with friends or co-workers and any time spent doing children’s activities during the day is made up well into the evening. Plus there are constant distractions: The phone, the TV, the Internet, the fridge. You have to be very disciplined to work at home without a supervisor standing over you.
3. You’ll work more hours at home than you do at an office job - Home workers are constantly checking and responding to emails and tweaking projects, even after “office” hours. If the computer is on, you’re checking on work, no matter how often you vow to stay away.
4. If your Skype is on you must be working – Many times your superiors or co-workers don’t consider your weekends or evenings as private time if they know you are online. If they see you on Skype or Twitter, they might contact you with some extra things to do. This happens often among homeworkers. Don’t be afraid to set boundaries.

Working from home is the best thing for me and my situation. However, telcommuters must have discipline and a good work ethic. Are you up to the challenge?

Related Posts:

• Should Every Job Offer a Telecommute Option?
• Where Should You Put Your Community Manager?
• The Pros and Cons of Being an Online Community Manager
• Social Media: You Either Get it Or You Don’t
• What Happens to Your Community on the Weekend?

Tagged as: community manager, telecommute, work from home

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KaBoom! is one of those businesses that give you the warm fuzzies. In a nutshell, it furnishes children in under privledged areas of the U.S. with places to play. KaBoom! builds playgrounds and grows communities…and guess what? They’re looking for someone to help grow their own community.

The Kaboom! Do-It-Yourself Community Manager is looking for someone to develop and manage a community of folks who are building their own playspaces. Duties include:

• Building and fostering community
• Make sure users get the help and assistance they need and build them up from novice to expert builders
• Advise on and manage incentive systems
• Manage communications between all DIY user groups
• Work with other Kaboom! teams
• Determine what areas in the country can benefit from KaBoom’s playground building programs

…and there’s more. Much more. Plus awesome bennies. A Bachelor’s Degree is required and you’ll have to mail your details to Human Resources in Washington DC. For more details on this, and other job openings at KaBoom! visit the careers page.

Related Posts:

• Community Manager Job of the Day: Community Moderator
• The Pros and Cons of Being an Online Community Manager
• Are You Easy to Reach?
• Where Should You Put Your Community Manager?
• Social Media and Community Manager Jobs for the Week of February 8, 2009

Tagged as: community manager, Community Manager Jobs, online community manager

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One of my biggest frustrations is when I want to communicate with a blogger or web site owner and his or her contact details are no where to be found. If anyone should be easy to reach, it’s the Community Manager.

Make sure the members of your community know your email address as well as hours you’re available to chat via Skype or other means.  Post these details on the company blog, website and community forum if you have one. Feel free to establish guidelines, for instance, if you’re only available during certain hours make sure everyone knows. Having a Community Manager who is easy to reach and talk to is one of the most important things a business can do.

Related Posts:

• 6 Tips for Building an Offline Network
• The Pros and Cons of Being an Online Community Manager
• What Happens to Your Community on the Weekend?
• Community Manager Job of the Day: Do-It-Yourself Online Community Manager at KaBoom!
• Community Manager Job of the Day: Community Moderator

Tagged as: Community, community manager, online community, online community manager

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Many Community Managers are fortunate to inherit and cultivate and existing community. Though they will be expected to continue to grow and nurture, the hardest (but to me the most enjoyable) part of the job has already been taken care of – building a community from scratch.

With new websites and services going up each day and new products launching, more and more folks are looking to hire Community Managers to start something from nothing. For me, there’s nothing more challenging and rewarding than building something from nothing. I love watching people first tentatively reach out and then begin full on interaction. When it gets to the point where my community can create discussions without my assistance and interact with each other as they would old friends, I realize I’ve done something right.

I don’t know that I’m a huge community building expert, but having done this for several years with success I feel confident in sharing what I’ve learned with you. Today I give you:

10 Tricks for Building a Successful Community from Scratch

1. Be Welcoming

When you have new guests to your home, you greet and welcome each one, right? Online communities are the same thing. When a new member joins up, be welcoming. Say hello, introduce him or her to the rest of the community and find out how you can help. Just like you’d offer guest towels and clean sheets to someone spending the night at your home, so should you do everything you can to make new members comfortable.

2. Answer Every Question, Comment and Statement

If I was asked what the biggest mistake a Community Manager can make, I’d probably say it’s ignoring the community’s wants and needs. It’s understandable you can’t answer every question sent your way, but if you don’t know the answers, it’s certainly within your power to fine the person who does. Don’t ignore questions or comments because you don’t have the answer. Let folks know you’re looking into it and then find someone who can help.

3. Treat Everyone Like They’re the Most Important Person You’ll Ever Talk To

An important aspect of any community is the ability to gauge the needs of the people who use your services the most. With that in mind, treat every request and bit of feedback as if it’s the most important bit of information you’ve received in a long time. Each and every member of your community is important. The day you forget that is the day you start losing traffic – and reputation.

4. Be Nice

Always be pleasant. Even if you’re on the receiving end of some unfair treatment or an angry diatribe, be nice. Keep your anger in check and respond to the angry missive in a pleasant manner. Don’t kill your brand and your reputation by calling someone a schmuckhead.

5. No, Really. Be Nice. Always

Count to 10. Step away from the desk. Don’t respond or back off let someone else handle negativity if you can’t do so in a pleasant manner. Always be nice.

6. Twitter

I can’t say enough good things about Twitter. Actually, I’m a Twitter addict. Twitter is a great way to direct potential community members without actually having to promote anything. Simply establish relationships with fellow tweeters. Follow people you feel will be a good fit and respond to their tweets. Create a dialogue between other like minded people. Soon they will want to learn more about you and even become members of your community.

7. Blogs

Blogs are an amazing community building tool. Whether you build your own blog or visit other blogs and participate in the comments, if folks are interested in what you have to say they’ll want to follow you where ever you go.

8. Don’t Spam

Visiting social networks and blogs for the purpose of building community is all about relationships. When you get all spammy and talk to people only to promote your links or services it’s a turn off. Get a good mix going. When you’re part of the scene and folks like you, they’ll check out your links. Spend 90% of your time socializing and the other 10% promoting and you’ll see the results.

9. Be Transparent

Don’t lie and don’t hide things from your community. Let them know you have an open door policy and you’ll be as honest as possible. Community is all about trust. If you’re caught in lies or trying to get one over, it will be a long time before anyone else will trust you again.

10. Listen and then Speak

If a member of your community is reaching out to you, listen before you speak. Take time to research the situation from every angle before responding.  Don’t interrupt or accuse. Listen to concerns first. Make sure you have all the details, then respond in a pleasant manner.  The most important part of being a good communicator is to be a good listener.

What are some of your favorite community building tips?

Related Posts:

• Where Should You Put Your Community Manager?
• The Pros and Cons of Being an Online Community Manager
• Social Media: You Either Get it Or You Don’t
• What Happens to Your Community on the Weekend?
• 6 Tips for Building an Offline Network

Tagged as: community building, Community Management, community manager, how to be a community manager

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In my Twitter travels, I come across many folks looking to land a Community Manager gig. Can’t say that I blame them, being a community manager is probably the only job (besides blogger and freelance writer) that I actually enjoyed. And so, as a service to our fellow Community Managers, the Community Manager Job of the Day. Today’s job came from Crunchboard.

Community Moderator Wanted

This job is full time in San Francisco. Note: it’s not a telecommute position and they don’t appear to want to be convinced of the reasons you should work from home. Still, looks like a fun gig if you’re in the neighborhood. Here’s a brief description from the ad:

Looking for a super smart, and bursting with energy senior moderator for a super-stealth new online company backed and funded by some legendary billionaires. We aren’t raising money, we don’t need VCs, and we are hiring!

We are looking for a person who can help make our new online communities the place for the owners and managers of SMBs. We believe in making sure the community members are ecstatic with the community. If you don’t believe that is possible or don’t know what an SMB is, this job isn’t for you.

Responsibilities include:

• Answering questions from the community
• Finding folks to answer questions if you can’t
• Making sure the community is feeling all warm and fuzzy
• Keeping track of stats and growth

Read the full details at the orginal ad at Crunchboard.

Good luck!

Related Posts:

• Community Manager Job of the Day: Do-It-Yourself Online Community Manager at KaBoom!
• The Pros and Cons of Being an Online Community Manager
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• Where Should You Put Your Community Manager?
• Social Media and Community Manager Jobs for the Week of February 8, 2009

Tagged as: community manager, Community Manager Jobs, online community manager

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I was fortunate enough to be the Community Manager for PicApp for a short period of time, and in that time, I did plenty of research, and had some first hand experiences on what it means to manage a community.

What it Takes to be a Great Community Manager

Managing a community requires a fair bit of understanding regarding the product, service, or company in order to properly manage the related community. It also requires a personality that can be charismatic, and lead by example, as well as someone that can constantly network and organize.

The best community managers are those that can balance the needs of the company to market themselves or their product with the needs of the community, all the while trying to find avenues to improve the company or product and increase the size of the community.

It can be very difficult to balance everything effectively, and it requires constant communication.

Community managers have to be able to express themselves in the medium that the community prefers. For PicApp, this was almost all text based, and so I found it in line with what I was used to, having been a professional blogger before hand.

I was also lucky with PicApp because I believe that the product/service that PicApp offers fills a need, and in doing so, it made my job easier. We were also fortunate to have some great relationships with various people using the service.

Community managers really need to be experts at a variety of communication, marketing, business strategy and technology skills to effectively manage a community.

Difficulties of Being a Community Manager

One of the hardest parts about being a Community Manager is taking what you learn from the community, and distilling it into useful information that the company can use, and then waiting for a response from the bureaucracy. The smaller the company, the faster the turnaround, and the more likely they will be to listen to their Community Manager. There are companies that have Community Managers as a public relations arm, rather than creating a two way communication channel, they hope only to build up a following and push out information to various “fans”. This can be hugely detrimental over the long term, and if the Community Manager is trying to push changes in the company that aren’t happening, this can be exasperating.

I didn’t experience this during my Community Manager stint at PicApp, but I know of some people that used to have this issue, and were unable to be happy with their role in the company.

Leaving My Community Manager Position

Why did I move on from being the Community Manager at PicApp? It was a great opportunity, and a great company, but they weren’t really in need a Community Manager. The various people involved in the company were deeply involved with the community, and understood where the shortcomings in their product were. They were all so passionate, and listening intently to feedback that I was nothing more than a reminder of things that they already knew. Also, at the time, I didn’t really understand enough of what makes a good Community Manager and wanted to do too many things outside the scope of my role that stopped me from effectively leading the community that they had created and were already leading in the right direction.

Some companies don’t need Community Managers, despite having the position available, while others don’t have Community Managers, and need to hire someone desperately. Doing due diligence in your research, will help you figure out if the company you are interested in working with actually needs your services as a Community Manager.

Related Posts:

• Where Should You Put Your Community Manager?
• The Pros and Cons of Being an Online Community Manager
• Social Media: You Either Get it Or You Don’t
• What Happens to Your Community on the Weekend?
• Want to Telecommute? Read This First!

Tagged as: community manager, employment, job, picapp, thoughts

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