What does a good community manager look like and how do you find them? And, once you’ve snagged the perfect hire, how do you keep them?
If you invested the time, energy and resources into creating a community, hiring a community manager is critical for your success, sustainability and return on investment. Don’t be fooled -- not just anyone will do. The right match, both in skills and temperament, make all the difference. I like Feverbee’s breakdown in this post and definitely think it stands the test of time.
So what does a good candidate look like? There isn’t necessarily a one-size-fits-all description, so we’ve updated our list of top traits good community managers have:
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Passion for community management. Like any job, if your community manager isn’t excited about being a community manager, it will be a short lived, grueling “career.” That’s why passion and commitment should be the first box checked. How do you know if they’re passionate? Ask about previous experience in forums. It doesn’t need to be professional, but it says a lot of your candidate enjoys participating in communities like Reddit or other common interest groups.
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Interest in industry or organization. As for your specific organization, your community manager doesn’t need to be an expert in your industry, but curiosity and a little knowledge is helpful. Not only will they be more excited about coming to work, but they’ll be able to listen to and understand what your customers/members talk about on an industry level. Take industry passion with a grain of salt, though. Don’t discount an otherwise good candidate who knows nothing about your organization -- you could be surprised at how quickly they learn and grow.
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A personality that fits the community. Not all communities are created equal. Some are filled with boisterous, active members. Others are calm and slow moving. When narrowing down candidates, think about what would happen if you drop them in the middle. How will their personality react with the general personality of the community? Maybe you have a quiet community and want a quiet community manager. Or perhaps you have a quiet community and want to liven it up with an energetic manager. Sometimes people have different personalities online than they do IRL (“in real life”). Look at your candidate’s online presence, like a blog or their Twitter account, to get an idea of what they’ll be like virtually.
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Good communicator and listener. Community managers interact with people all day so you need someone who can withstand that -- even if some situations are stressful or uncomfortable -- and not lose their professional demeanor. They also need to be able to listen to members/customers and shape the community so it fits their needs -- not just the organization’s. Likewise, you need a community manager who is good at working with both customers/members and organizational leaders. Building and maintaining all types of relationships is key. Community management isn’t just about managing the day to day of the community, it’s also about communicating needs and outcomes to the organizational higher-ups -- a tricky but necessary job.
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What about skills? A few hard skills are important -- like basic HTML, effective written communication and internet etiquette (i.e. not spamming members/customers). But don’t forget about “softer” skills. Community management centers around people, so knowledge of social sciences, group thinking and psychology go a long way. Business acumen is also a major plus -- being able to connect and articulate community with business outcomes is important for proving value. Finally, project management is a must, especially if you’re planning on launching a community or any new major initiatives. A community manager needs to be able to juggle many balls at once.
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Experience. This can be a sliding scale. Are you hiring a community manager for an already well established community or are you starting a community from scratch? If you’re at the very beginning, the more experience the better, because it will be especially hard work training and recruiting members. But if the community is well established, experience may not be as important if the candidate fits all your other criteria well.
When hiring a community manager, you don’t want to make this rookie mistake: thinking community management and social media management are interchangeable. Sure, there are similarities -- both jobs require interacting with people via online platforms -- but they require different mindsets. A social media manager makes sure that the brand is the center of all interaction. A community manager focuses on the members’/customers’ needs.
Now that you found the perfect community manager, how do you train and retain them? Since community management is an emerging field (that’s what makes it exciting!) this part of the puzzle can be hard and resources difficult to find. If you know where to look, there are many tools out there for community managers -- it just takes a little digging to find them.
For example, FeverBee, Ben Martin and The Community Roundtable each offer excellent classes for community managers. Since community management is a new and evolving field, it’s important for your new hire to be a life-long learner. There are many good books and blogs to read and gain information from. Community managers are often lone wolves in the organization, making outside inspiration and support crucial -- make sure your community manager finds their own community or forum they can go to for help.
Hopefully this is obvious, but it’s so important it deserves mention: your organization needs to support your community and community manager 100%. The organization needs to understand the mission, purpose and value the community brings. If you don’t, how can you expect a community manager to be excited and motivated?