The term “community management” might not sound like a vital part of your business, but it is. When done correctly, community management can help an online business grow.

But what exactly is a community manager? And how do you become one? In this guide, we’ll walk you through what this job is and who needs to hire someone for it.

We’ll also go over the difference between a customer support manager and a community manager and discuss the future of this field.

By the time you finish reading, you’ll have all the information you need to decide whether community management would be right for your company—or whether it’s something you yourself could do.

What is a community manager?

A community manager, or CM, is a person who manages an online community.

Community managers handle the growth and maintenance of online communities, with their primary focus being on the relationships between members of that community.

The CM is expected to be knowledgeable about the different social media platforms and how they can be used effectively in order to grow their community.

They’re often tasked with developing strategies for increasing engagement within that community, as well as identifying potential partners or vendors who could benefit from working with them.

Since most companies have multiple products or services offered under one brand umbrella (think Apple), community managers may also bring together all interested users who share common interests around those products/services so that they can share best practices and create content together that helps promote each other’s businesses — which leads us into our next section:

What do community managers do?

The community manager handles the growth and development of the community.

They are a key player in the success of any program, as they are tasked with managing all aspects of it.

How are community managers different from customer support managers?

Community managers and customer support managers are both in charge of the social media presence of a company, but their roles differ significantly.

Whereas customer support focuses primarily on answering questions and serving as the first point of contact for customers, community management is much more about building relationships with your audience.

In fact, you may wonder how a community management agency can even be considered a profession if all it involves is posting on social media channels like Facebook and Twitter.

However, community management is much more than that.

A community manager is someone who works to build and nurture a community of people around a common interest or goal.

They do this by creating and curating content, moderating conversations, and engaging with members of the community.

Community managers are often the face of a company or brand, and they play an important role in building relationships with customers and fans.

If you’re looking for a career

Getting Started with Community Management

To get started with community management, you’ll need to know who your target audience is (or at least who they think they are) so that you can build an online environment that will attract them.

After identifying your ideal demographic, think about what kinds of questions they might have about a particular product or service.

Then create content that answers those questions—and keep creating it until you’re confident that people will come back, again and again, to see what else you have to say!

Once this happens (and it will), then move on to creating fun contests where members can win prizes such as coupons redeemable at participating retailers within certain geographical areas; these contests could also tie into other marketing efforts being executed simultaneously by another department within the same organization (eForum).

 

Community management best practices 2022

Social media is changing rapidly, and what is working today might not work tomorrow.

That’s why it’s important for community managers to stay on top of the latest trends and best practices.

Here are a few community management best practices for 2022:

Increase collaboration with other teams: Community management shouldn’t operate in a silo. Make sure to collaborate with other departments, such as marketing, product, and customer success, to ensure that everyone is on the same page.

Be more proactive: Don’t wait for someone to report a problem before you fixed

Keep your community organized: One of the best ways to keep your community organized is to use a tool like Discourse. Discourse is open-source forum software that helps you keep track of threads, posts, and users. It’s also great for SEO.

Encourage positive behavior in your community: By setting clear guidelines and expectations. Be sure to moderate and enforce these guidelines so that your community

Community management tools

Community management tools are essential for any business that wants to build and maintain a healthy online community.

These tools help businesses keep track of conversations, measure engagement, and track progress over time.

There are a number of different community management tools available, each with its own set of features and price points.

The right tool for your business will depend on your specific needs and goals. Some of the most popular community management tools include:

Slack: it is a cloud-based team collaboration tool.

It’s a great way for teams to stay in touch and share information, whether they’re in the same office or distributed around the world.

Slack can be used for real-time messaging, file sharing, and task management.

It’s available on all major platforms, including the web, iOS, Android, Windows, and macOS.

If you’re looking for a way to improve communication and collaboration within your team, Slack is definitely worth checking out.

Discourse: Discourse is a new kind of platform for community discussion.

It’s designed for long-form, thoughtful discussions on topics that go beyond the traditional Q&A format.

GetSatisfaction: GetSatisfaction is an app that allows businesses to manage customer satisfaction and feedback.

The app provides a platform for businesses to track customer issues, measure customer satisfaction, and get feedback from customers.

The app also allows businesses to create a knowledge base of customer support articles.

GetSatisfaction is available on iOS and Android devices.

Vanilla Forums: Vanilla Forums is a powerful, open-source community platform that allows companies and organizations to create their own branded social spaces for their customers, employees, and partners.

The software is flexible and easy to use, making it a popular choice for organizations of all sizes.

Vanilla Forums offers a wide range of features, including custom branding, granular permissions, and integration with third-party applications.

UserVoice: UserVoice is a tool that helps businesses collect feedback from their customers.

It’s a way to get direct feedback from the people who use your product or service.

UserVoice provides a platform for customers to submit, vote, and comment on ideas and problems they have with your product.

This feedback is then organized and prioritized so you can see what’s most important to your customers.

You can use UserVoice to track customer satisfaction, measure customer engagement, and get insights into how to improve your product.

UserVoice is a valuable tool for any business that wants to listen to its customers

What is the future of community management?

Community management is an important part of the marketing mix. It’s also an important part of customer service, brand building, and customer loyalty—and it isn’t going away. In fact, we’re at a time in our industry where we need to discuss community management in this way more often.

In order for community managers to be successful at their jobs, they need support from those above them in their organizations—they need those higher to understand what they do and why it matters.

If you don’t believe me when I say that your CEO needs to understand the value of community management yet, ask yourself if they know what SEO stands for or if they would even know where to find it if someone asked them (it’s not “search engine optimization”).

Managing a Community On Your Own

As a community manager, you will be responsible for a lot of different tasks.

You’ll have to delegate, prioritize and multitask.

You’ll need to work independently and in teams.

In order to get the most out of your community management experience, it’s important that you learn about these areas:

Delegating: Who do I ask? What do I delegate? When should I get involved? These questions can all be answered by reviewing our guide on delegating tasks as a community manager.

Prioritizing: How do I know where my time is best spent? This article talks about how to make sure you’re focusing on what matters most in your day-to-day activities as a community manager.

Multitasking: What are some best practices around working with multiple teams or people at once while also keeping up with social media channels or helping new customers onboard into their account (or yours)?

Check out this article for tips on making sure everything gets done without feeling overwhelmed by trying too many things at once!

When done right, community management can help an online business grow.

Community management is a strategic, collaborative approach to marketing that engages people in a community around common interests.

It’s also an important part of customer service, helping organizations use feedback from customers and employees to improve the way they do business.

Community managers develop relationships with audiences on social media and other digital platforms; cultivate brand awareness; connect with customers; identify gaps in knowledge and fill them with valuable content; facilitate conversations among members of the community; identify opportunities for collaboration within groups and communities;

Responding appropriately when these interactions become heated or negative in tone; providing support when needed while allowing others in the group or community space to share opinions freely, without fear of reprisal or censorship.

Conclusion

As the popularity of online communities grows, so too does the demand for community managers.

For every new community that springs up, there are new skills to be learned and applied.

This type of work is both exciting and challenging because it involves a lot more than just managing social media accounts or posting on forums.

If you’re interested in becoming a community manager yourself, you can start by learning how to manage your own group of friends or family members before applying those same principles to larger groups of people such as those found on Reddit, Facebook Groups, etc.

If you’re looking for a community management agency that can help you take your business to the next level, contact Miragesketches today.

We would be happy to help!