Community Management Appreciation Day not only brought an outpouring of love (thanks!), but also brought up a discussion that is as old as the job itself – What makes a good community manager?
Whether they’re a renaissance man or just a jack-of-all-trades, community managers need to have a very diverse set of skills. Their backgrounds can come from customer service, marketing, sales, or even strategy.
Ben Cotton of Edelman Dublin wrote a very helpful top 10 list of absolutely necessary community manager skills. A few stood out:
1. Issues Identification – Flare-ups and crisis’ are a regular part of community management. Being able to quickly identify the problem, its severity and the resolution is a key skill.
2. Attention to Detail – Consistency and persnicketyness create a comfortable environment for your community. The little things matter, and good community managers know that.
3. Authenticity – This may be the one that’s hardest to teach. The best community managers not only have a wide array of skills but are also part of the community. Their personality and interest will show through no matter what. Those who naturally are part of a community will best manage it.
Read the seven other skills at Edelman Digital
Luke Winter 1:34 pm on February 9, 2012 Permalink
Hi Ben,
Couldn’t agree more. The role of a community manager is broad and requires a lot of different skills working simultaneously.
You’ve focused a lot on the skills a community manager needs in order to interact with the user community, but I think it’s also interesting to look at how community managers function within their organisations.
If a community manager is locked away with little interaction with the engineers making the products customers are asking about, I don’t think they can be as effective in communicating with customers as a community manager who is truly in touch with all parts of their organisation.
I think that each company’s approach to positioning community managers within their organisation will be the factor really influencing how effective they can be going forward. Perhaps this will be easier for smaller companies with fewer employees, and that will put them at a communications advantage.
No doubt we’ll both be fascinated to see how it turns out.
Luke Winter
Community Manager
OneDesk
Pat McCarthy 11:06 am on February 10, 2012 Permalink
Hi Luke,
Thanks for your comment! And a great point!
Part of community management is inward facing. Perhaps you could call yourself a community liaison. Without communicating the insights from the community, only half the job is done.
- Pat