Social Media Managers V/S Community Managers: Are They Really The Same?

Social media and community platforms are two effective mediums of online communication. They both bring people together by enabling the users to virtually connect with each other. Hence, it is natural to confuse the roles of that of a community manager and a social media manager, assuming them to be one and the same. Although social media platforms can be a forum to establish a community, there are many distinctions that establish the clear difference between the two. The key differences between a social media manager and a community manager are:

Role played

A social media manager is in charge of representing the brand of the company on social media. In adherence to a defined social media strategy and personality of the brand, social media managers write copy for postings, respond to comments, and answer questions, among other things. Since they speak to an audience that is already following the brand on social media, their messaging assumes a certain level of user familiarity with the brand A community manager, on the other hand, is in charge of advocating for the brand on behalf of the community members on social media or any online website or forum. Community managers develop their own social profiles and create content to promote conversations within the existing community. Their messaging is targeted toward engaging existing users and attracting new users to the community.

Job description

The job description for a social media manager revolves around a candidate’s ability to strategically develop and distribute content for a business across a range of social media platforms. The key phrases associated with the job description include “content”, “brand positioning”, and “lead generation”.

For community managers, when compared to the function of social media managers, buzzwords like "growth", "engagement", “churn rate”, and “support tickets” are far more prominent. This follows the notion that most community managers are primarily concerned with achieving an engaged, growing community of users who are invested in the brand. The end objective of a community manager is not confined to lead generation. It could also be customer support or promotion of product innovation.?

Responsibilities

A social media manager's responsibilities include: Acting as the brand's voice across social media channels, delivering important news, such as the launch of new products, services, and features, creating and scheduling content and being in charge of analytics and social media strategy.

In the case of a community manager, developing a community for the product or service's users, increasing engagement among current users through discussions, connecting new users with resources to help them get involved in the community, responding to user questions and troubleshooting issues, and looking for ways to improve the user experience by gathering community feedback, are some of the responsibilities.

Interaction

A key difference between the two is how they interact with their audiences. A social media manager portrays a brand in order to sell the brand's products, whereas a community manager portrays an average user in order to stimulate audience participation and provide support.

Workflow

Keeping in mind that no two days are the same for social media managers, their workflow consists of 35% listening and conversation, 25% research and strategy planning, 20% creating and curating content, 10% team collaboration, 10% analytics, and 10% presentation. They spend most of their time replying to consumers and assisting them, then designing and implementing content strategies, reviewing their successes, and meeting with the team to discuss the next steps. For community managers, on the other hand, the workflows are something like this. 40% of the time is spent conversing with brand advocates and members of our communities; 20% of the time is spent gaining exposure and credibility by participating in Twitter chats, and 20% of our time is spent strategizing ways to grow our communities and connect with new individuals. 10% of the time is spent studying which initiatives are generating the most traffic, and 10% of the time is spent building relationships with people from various office teams. A good community manager gives a brand a face that facilitates personal interactions between the company and its customers.

Measurement of success

The social media manager's goal is frequently determined by campaigns. Their objectives are frequently aligned with the company's reach-oriented objectives for the year. If the company wishes to raise brand awareness in a new city, the social media manager will plan posts and advertisements to reach that audience. One can track social media conversion rates and ad click-through rates as sales climb. Often, the measurement is done in a campaign mode i.e. impact of short bursts of activity.

The success of a community manager is measured over a longer period of time. This would include not just measuring the growth and engagement in the community but the achievement of business objectives for which the community was created in the first place. In the preceding example of increasing brand recognition in a city, a community manager would be the first to sense a discrepancy in the intended brand positioning and the actual brand perception by keenly observing conversations among users. The metric that would be closely tracked here would be the brand mentions & the adjectives or values associated with the brand. These insights when relayed to a social media manager could help realign the messaging.

Although there are clear distinctions between the roles of a social media manager and a community manager, they are both important in contributing to the success of a business. They both work in the marketing department and in order to guarantee that content and posts are working successfully, collaborate directly with the social media strategist. Simply having an online presence regarding a brand or a business, is no longer enough in today’s world to ensure success. Brands must also develop community and create excellent digital content in order to foster loyalty. Hence, although social media is important, community management also goes hand in hand, in order for a business to thrive.