Community Manager is an increasingly popular job title.
I think of the community manager (also known as social media manager) as a classical conductor dedicated to showing the online community (the orchestra) how to get in sync, never through force or coercion, but by using the magical powers of suggestion alone.
So, what exactly falls “under the jurisdiction” of the community manager?
Here goes:
Responsibilities of a Community Manager
I’ve outlined several typical responsibilities here:
The above scopes of work are some of the most important public relations activities.
The Community Manager Appreciation Day
Many community managers I talk to tend to have this one thing in common. They often feel underappreciated. No wonder the profession has its own day every 4th Monday of January — the Community Manager Appreciation Day.
Bonus Resource: The Inbound PR Strategy
Inbound vs Outbound
The inbound mindset is a fundamental shift in public relations.
Instead of focusing on trying to spawn non-existing audiences, PR can do so much more with existing online publics.
If your inbound PR strategy is good enough, you might not even need an outbound PR strategy.
Read also: The Inbound PR Strategy
Bonus Resource: The Follower Contract
The Follower Contract
Many brands must rethink their approach to having followers, fans, and subscribers. Having a brand community is your privilege, not theirs. How can you honour their engagement?
Think of every single follower, fan, and subscriber having this agreement with your brand:
Dear Brand,
Best regards,
Your New Follower
Read also: The Follower Contract
Bonus Resource: The High Road Tonality
The High Road Tonality
An organisation is the total sum of all its coworkers. Imagine taking the most mature traits from each coworker and combining them into one voice — the high road tonality.
Bonus Resource: The Social Objects Workshop (SOW)
The Social Objects Workshop (SOW)
To promote word-of-mouth for your brand, you need an idea about what social objects to create content around.
Social object = what people talk about with each other. A social object could be a thing, a person, an event, a concept etc.
For your brand, there are different types of social objects:
The workshop: In the first half, spend a few minutes on each type of social object. Write each idea as one sentence on a Post-It starting with, “Have you heard…”. In the second half, run through the ideas discussing, “Is this something real people would say?”
Read also: 9 Types of Social Objects and How To Use Them for PR