Building an Audience? Get a Community Manager

Who's responding to and liking comments on your favorite social channels? Who's passing off customer inquiries and reporting adverse events?

A community manager.

Probably not what many companies call us though. Some may lump us into a liaison role or feature us as a task in a social media manager's job description -- which are two separate jobs, by the way. And depending on the company size, we could be listed as a junior copywriter for social or even a content manager (also different jobs).?

So, what does a community manager do??

In short, we manage the community. What a business defines as "community" looks different across industries, making community management (CM) quite a diverse role. Managing the community could be hyper-local when considering something like a shared space. For digital communities, this can include discussion boards, chat lines, or a social channel.

For the purposes of this article, we'll focus on social media and its channels.

A CM is?the frontline for spaces that thrive on community interaction and engagement. For social media, we are the reps who speak (and sometimes create) the brand voice on their respective social channels to enhance an audience's digital experience. However, that's only one function of a community manager.

Community managers are the eyes and ears of a digital community. We build social credibility and equity, as well as share community insights. In strategy, CMs are the conversation starters, opportunists, and extenders. We establish community rapport and help strategy teams decipher what content moves, what doesn't, and where to optimize. And through this data, offer support with guiding how these insights and content opportunities map back to the "big idea," as well as the consumer journey.

If organic content is part of your strategic plan, utilize a community manager to curate, establish influencers and KOL relationships, as well as do a bit of listening. If a company is always on and being social on social, more than likely a community manager is behind the wheel.

Though over time, I learned that while community management is fluid across many industries, the operations tend to differ in both consumer and healthcare communications. As a community manager for a shared space, face-to-face interactions and programming drove sales and prospect building. Among consumer brands, establishing a flow of consistent interactions and support works best on social channels and other digital spaces, but in healthcare, too much interaction can lead to swarm of questions that don't always have answers. Reimagining what healthcare community management looks like, led me to do some research that I'll share in a part two post.

Is community management part of your content strategy? Drop in the comments and let's chat!

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