Building a Community Management Team: Where Should You Start?

In another post, I talked about the many tasks that often end up under a Community Management role. TL;DR there are a lot, and although they all do touch community growth in some way, they require very different skills. By reimagining the singular community management role and categorizing those responsibilities into buckets, we can see a natural expansion path emerge for building a community management team from scratch.

I think this role can be broken into four buckets of skills and interests.

1. Community Managers as Content Creators

The goal of this role is to inform, educate, and entertain through creative content. A love of writing and other various forms of content creation helps perform functions like:

• blog writing - creating content that is informative, SEO friendly, timely, and pertinent to the product or project
• producing podcasts - locating guests, deciding on topics, planning episodes, producing and posting, editing
• creating videos and hosting informational webinars - educating the community on new features or functionality in the project or product
• documentation - filling the gaps in product or project documentation that people often struggle to find or need assistance with
• newsletters and email management - writing timely updates for subscribers and understanding the basics of spam and email marketing so those email messages actually go through

2. Community Managers as Caretakers

This role requires a hands-on engagement with the current community, with the goal of fostering and nurturing a welcoming and inclusive space. It involves a lot of personal relationship building and interactions, and might include these various functions:

• contributor (or user, customer) experience - generally making sure concerns are heard and that everyone is having a great experience as they interact with the product or project
• moderating online spaces - keeping an eye on the community's discord or forum and handling disputes, as well as booting bad actors and enforcing the code of conduct
• onboarding new contributors (or users, customers) - making sure newcomers can easily find their way and acting as a friendly point of contact for new community members, reaching out to them, and providing resources to them
• contributor (or user, customer) recognition and appreciation - keeping up with who is contributing what to a project, and making sure they feel valued and appreciated so they continue to be in the community
• public relations - when bad things happen, the community manager is typically front and center and managing damage control
• sending swag to people - making sure those who want to be part of the community through swag have an opportunity to show their support through swag
• answering support tickets - helping customers or users find their way or troubleshoot (yes, really) and keeping track of customer sentiment and pain points to communicate back to Product

3. Community Managers as Organizers

This behind-the-scenes role requires someone that is very organized and detail-oriented. Although equal in importance, this role is the the support mechanism for the other three roles, and the glue that holds them together. These community managers ensure that nothing falls through the cracks and that the community is on track. Responsibilities might include:

• data analytics and reporting - building dashboards and reporting mechanisms for tracking effectiveness of campaigns, clicks, likes, conferences, or whatever else is needed
• meeting facilitation and coordination - keeping a calendar up to date and facilitating community meetings, being familiar with conferencing apps and able to handle multiple time zones
• event planning - bringing the community together in person for small or large events, sometimes responsible for all parts of this complex ship (everything from registration to venue coordination to catering to planning post-conference social events)

4. Community Managers as Growth Drivers

This role is focused on outreach and bringing new faces into the community. It entails a mix of writing and public-facing activities. This person might be responsible for:

• social media management - understanding the nuances of and posting to various social media and responding to comments or mentions in a timely manner
• blog writing - creating content that is informative, SEO friendly, timely, and pertinent to the product or project
• sponsoring and publicly supporting other initiatives - building goodwill and aligning with other projects or companies to boost public community sentiment
• public relations - when bad things happen, the community manager is typically front and center and managing damage control
• representing the product or project at conferences - giving talks, coordinating the booth setup, staffing the booth, traveling to various conferences, making sure there is enough swag to hand out

In a Perfect World, We'd Have all Four From the Start, But the World Isn't Perfect

So if I'm building a project or I have a startup, and I could only afford one of these, which would I choose? I'd recommend starting with the Community Caretaker position. I think many people start with the growth piece, and I think that's a mistake.

Why Start with Community Caretakers?

There are a few reasons why I think this is the role to start with:

1. Many of the other tasks are covered by other teams. In a pinch, marketing folks could handle outreach and growth driving activities, Documentation or Design teams could handle the content creation piece, and there is likely an exemplary administrative staff that could handle the organization piece. While the goal of those teams may differ, these folks all have skills and expertise in these areas already.
2. Community Caretakers are force multipliers. If a caretaker is doing their job, the other community-based roles will have a much easier road ahead. Community members that feel engaged, included, and invested in the community will advocate for you. They will help other members find their way. They will be more willing to answer questions. And, they will be excited to do all of these things.
3. They lay the foundation for truly inclusive community growth. One could argue that growth is the most vital function of a community manager, especially for startups or new open source projects. And ironically, the Community Caretaker position isn't actually focused on community growth, but caring for the community that already exists. The thing is, you can work very hard to bring new people to your community, but if they do not feel it is worth their while to stay, or if they have a poor experience when they get there, they will immediately leave. (And they may even be vocal enough about their experience to deter others from joining). Building this solid foundation for growth first ensures that you are ready to not just open the door and invite someone into your community, you will make them feel right at home and they are more inclined to stick around. Like a gardener that prepares the soil before the seeds are planted, a Community Caretaker lays the healthy foundation for growth.

So while I don't think that any of these four faces of community management is more important than the other, I do think that there is a progression of expansion if you are building a community management team.

Secondly, Add Community Content Creators

If you have a good community base built, you can now begin to build your library of content. Having resources in place for existing community members and any new ones that have been organically drawn to the community will be super helpful for everyone.

1. Community Caretakers will have things to point to. As the one interacting with community members the most, having these resources available will be incredibly beneficial for them and for the community members. Having something to reference is much more effective than explaining things or answering the same questions repeatedly.
2. This builds on the foundation and sets the community up for growth. People are now slowly coming to your community, and having something for them to do or read or learn about will keep them engaged and interested in what's going on.

Thirdly, Add Community Growth Drivers

You can likely begin to focus efforts on outreach and growing the community, now that you have a stable foundation. You can feel good about bringing new people in to your community because you know they will be taken care of and they will have resources at their disposal for learning about the project or product.

The Final Icing is the Community Organizer

With a solid inclusive space built, where people can learn and engage with each other, and new faces coming in all the time, you definitely need someone to be the glue that brings it all together. This person helps the other three people communicate and coordinate, and supports their efforts. It is a truly vital role that can solidify the success of a community growth team.

In Short, Set Yourself Up to Throw a Successful Party!

If we think of a community as a party where people will gather, we first need a host and someone who will make sure the guests have a good time and that they feel comfortable and welcome (your Community Caretaker). Then we need someone to handle the snacks, music and any party games to keep the guests entertained and engaged (your Community Content Creator). Next we are ready to open the doors and to begin to broadly invite guests to our party (your Community Growth Drivers). And as the party grows, we need someone who can coordinate what the others are doing so nothing falls through the cracks (your Community Organizer). As a team, they will throw the best party on the block and people will be clamoring to attend.