i was thinking of doing a short series of posts about some of the questions we get a lot, when we explain to recent acquaintances what we do, or how we live. here is one i get rather frequently:

“what exactly does a community manager do?”

well, basically, a community manager… manages… a community! shocking, i know, but true! :)

above all, my job is to listen to people. i think that’s the most important thing you can do when you offer a service: your members are your most valuable asset, and your goal is to keep them happy. i keep people happy by reassuring them that someone cares.

our community is online, rather than offline – but you can imagine it as a neighbourhood association. the people in our community have a common interest, and plenty of concerns, worries and ideas about it, which they voice all over the internet. my job is to listen to them, and do something about it. most of the time, it involves answering a looot of questions, guiding members, mediating disputes, and welcoming the new-comers.

i also help gather community input. lots of users have ideas on how to make things work better, but more often than not, they don’t know enough about the product/service to judge whether their ideas are feasible or not. my job is to be the middleman between them and the programmer, filtering the ones that are well-intended but unfeasible, from the ones that might actually be genuinely good – and passing those on.

additionally, i help the community come together. i promote the events they organise, manage social media pages, organise contests, and generate and curate content about themes that are relevant to their interests – all to keep them happy and excited and to keep the conversation going.

that’s it, i think! i’m a sort of ambassador/helpdesk/peacekeeper/spec-gatherer/social marketeer :)