The job of the Community Manager has been a grey area for many people, mainly because they can’t quite understand the purpose of this position and what it entails. Within my roles at VA Partners, one of the “hats” I wear is the Community Manager. Over the past year or so I’ve come to the conclusion that a Community Manager simply keeps the relationship between the public (prospects/customers) and the company (services/employees) close. This role is a combination of PR, Sales, Promotions and Marketing.
At Venture Accelerator Partners, we offer Part-Time Community Manager services where we manage all these disciplines to maintain an engaged online community.
In order to understand what makes a successful Community Manager, I have highlighted some of my best practices:
Time Management Skills are a Priority
I am essentially the Community Manager on behalf of four different companies, which means organizing my time is important in order to get the job done. I scheduled everything from how long I will spend on social media for a client to how many tweets will go out that day. A small, yet useful, practice I’ve become accustomed to doing every day is setting my schedule in the morning. This way, each client is given time during the day for their community management and expectations on what has to be completed can be set earlier on.
Finding the Right Tools to Suit Your Needs
As a Community Manager, I spend the majority of my time on Twitter, so I had to find applications that would make it easy to schedule and organize information. I’ve utilized both HootSuite and TweetDeck. Using different applications not only strengthens a Community Manager’s knowledge of different platforms, but also provides ways of separating community management services for each client.
A Strong Ability to Communicate
There is no Community Manager without communication. Every company has a specific target audience, and as a Community Manager, it is their job to continue the conversations between companies and between a company and their public. A Community Manager represents a company via social media based on tone and the language used. A good Community Manager will always know the right balance between being personable and being professional.
Knowing and Understanding the Goals of the Company
A Community Manager is not there to simply interact with the public but also to provide quantifiable benefits for a company. If a company’s goal is to increase website traffic and then convert this traffic into sales, it is the job of the Community Manager to attract attention towards the company’s website. One of the most effective ways a Community Manager can help convert a member of the community into a client for a company is to generate attention, than interest than provide reasoning and evidence as to how a company’s solution/service is valuable. A great Community Manager is involved in the every day sales process.
Just like a small business, a Community Manager wears many different “hats” within the course of a day, and the most successful Community Managers are those who excel at juggling multiple tasks and roles. A Community Manager can come from almost any background of expertise. What makes a successful Community Manager is one who is willing and driven to explore the various functions of a company (PR, Promotions, Sales, Marketing and Customer Service) and utilize their expertise in the best interest of the company.
For questions or more information on Community Management, contact us through Twitter, Email or Phone.
