The 10 roles that a Community Manager plays

A Community manager is someone who is literally the voice of your company; and the first point of contact between your brand and your audience. They say that one should always treat a community manager well. Why?
Here’s a classic example 🙂
Bad times? Good times? A little confusing. 😛

More such examples here.
So, getting to the point, let’s take a look at the 10 different roles that a Community Manager plays and how they have to wear different hats at the same time:
1. Communicator- Without a doubt a Community Manager needs to have exceptional communication skills. He/She should never fall out of words and not hesitate to initiate conversations to keep the community engaged. The best ones usually keep humor quotient intact in their communications.
2. Moderator- He/ She must be good in simplifying complicated stuffs and present in a simple way to the audience. An ideal community manager knows how to communicate in a way which is neither too technical nor too plain.
3. Facilitator- Facilitating and providing audience to speak up their minds is another quality which a Community Manager needs to possess. He/ She should enable audience to participate in discussions in a way that they feel privileged to express themselves.
4. Researcher- A good Community Manager needs to be updated on what’s happening around the world- what’s hot and what’s not. This means one has to do a lot of study and research on a given subject, so as to include meaningful input while engaging with the fans.
5. Educator- An ideal Community Manager will be able to inform and educate people by sharing knowledge.
6. Curator- A pro Community manager curates and makes use of latest events to dispense news in a way which relates to the brand.
7. Creator- Managing a Community does not only involve sending out tweets or Fb posts. It requires intelligent thought process to come up with content that will drive the audience to engage in a discussion. Even though there may be dedicated content writers or designers, more often than not a Community Manager has to step in their shoes.
8. Influencer- Handling a brand’s reputation is no child’s play. A Community Manager has to look into a number of aspects at the same time, from posting status to managing a new hire to building their individual name. One has to actively engage and involve in meaningful discussions to build a name that influences strong strata of people.
9. Monitor- From monitoring countless channels online to keep a check on audience’s behavior to monitoring time. A Community Manager‘s job role is so critical and on the edge that they may find it difficult to manage time. It is typically a 24*7 job, to constantly keep an eye on any negatives so as to handle them on time.
10. Developer- Engaging and participation is only one aspect of the job, building and growing the community, another. A Community manager has to be up on the sleeve to come up with creative ideas at all times, be it ideating a campaign or strategizing on how to increase traffic to website.