A social media community manager is very different from a social media strategist, although the same person can often wear both hats. A strategist will help you analyze the existing channels, your current marketing plan, and your budget and help you identify the best way to leverage social networks to share your message and engage your community.
Your community manager, on the other hand, will be the person who is tweeting, posting, friending, commenting, responding, and engaging with your customers, employees, and the members of your online community. Finding the right community manager can be critical to your social media success, so here are a few traits that I recommend you consider when searching for the social media “FACE” of your organization:
is for Flexibility – Community management is not easy. Sometimes the members of the community are happy, sometimes they’rre angry and being able to work with the members of your community to solve problems requires creativity and flexibility. Add to that, the job of developing new content ideas and finding new ways to share valuable information and that’s a lot to ask from one person. Ask any community manager and they will likely tell you that their day working with their community rarely goes as they had planned.
is for Attention to Detail – Mistakes can (and will happen), but having a community manager that has a close eye for detail will help you avoid a lot of mistakes. Whether they’re simple mistakes like grammar or spelling, or big mistakes like sending a message from the wrong account, you’ll want to avoid them by choosing someone with a close attention to detail.
is for Cool – A good community manager needs to have both a cool head and a cool hand, because ‘C’ also stands for Crisis. Every brand that leverages social media is going to have to deal with a crisis at some time, so having someone who doesn’t lash back at the community or engage in flame wars is critical. Additionally, they often have to understand how to convince social media ostriches of the value of social, an activity that can sometimes be extremely frustrating.
is for Empathy – A good community is able to listen to your community, understand their wants, needs, and concerns and be able to truly understand how to help. A community manager that doesn’t care about your community is of no use. Choose someone who is willing to listen, learn, and understand how your customers or community members feel. A little empathy goes a loooooooong way!
One suggestion for locating a community manager is to look within. Often, organizations have employees who already know their products and services and have a high level of interest in social media. Sometimes, this makes for a nice fit. Alternatively, search online job postings for community manager positions and see what qualities and experience other companies in your industry are seeking
Have other traits that you have found valuable, I’d love to hear them in a comment!
FACE: 4 Traits To Look For When Hiring Your Social Media Community Manager http://zite.to/ntmh7n via @zite
4 Traits To Look For When Hiring Your Social Media Community Manager http://zite.to/ntmh7n via @zite #communitymanagement #smmanagement
4 Traits To Look For When Hiring Your Social Media Community Manager http://t.co/GfORFr6 #socmed /via @SocMedSean
4 Traits To Look For When Hiring Your Social Media Community Manager http://t.co/1DGkSvu (via: @socmedsean)
This was a great blog post! I am the community manager at Uptown Treehouse and it most definitely takes the listed traits to be good at this job. Reading this has already got my mind reeling for a new blog post. I’d love your feedback once it goes live. Happy blogging!
Always,
Laura K.
Facebook.com/UptownTreehouse
Laura,
Would love to see the blog post! If you’re interested, I am also putting together a private community specifically for online community managers where we can share tips, best practices, articles, and case studies. It’s in early beta right now, but if you’d like to check it out, feel free to visit http://www.withinfluence.com and check it out.
Cheers!
–Sean
I love the way you put it in such a memorable way. FACE. I could even memorize it immediately. Excellent work.
Also, as an employer I would like to add the mistakes in hiring that I’ve learned from the past years of experience in hiring.
First, hiring only local people like only on Workopolis or any other local site (since I’m in Canada) means missing out on other talented people on other parts of the world.
Second is failing to test them before hiring them. Most of these people just look good on paper and are never able to perform their tasks well.
Third is neglecting the possibility of working from home. This could equate to more productivity for your business.
There are a lot more to take note of but these are the most common.
FACE: 4 Traits To Look For When Hiring Your Social Media Community Manager http://t.co/VQtRrBvP via @socmedsean
FACE: 4 Traits To Look For When Hiring Your Social Media Community Manager http://t.co/xc0Ydl44 via @socmedsean
FACE: 4 Traits To Look For When Hiring Your Social Media Community Manager http://t.co/ZR5V6nzH via @socmedsean
Attention to detail & a cool head. 2 of 4 important traits for a social media Community Manager, says @socmedsean http://t.co/awFLfFy5
FACE: 4 Traits To Look For When Hiring Your Social Media Community Manager http://t.co/cuECGVxB via @socmedsean
What’s difference between a SoMe Community Manager and a SoMe Customer Services Manager ?
If there’s not so much of a difference I’d like to buy an ‘S’ for Service too which would make me a winner with ‘FACES’ then.
FACE: 4 Traits To Look For When Hiring Your Social Media Community Manager http://t.co/qzJlMe0V via @socmedsean
FACE: 4 Traits To Look For When Hiring Your Social Media Community Manager http://t.co/Al0GMPBT via @socmedsean
FACE: 4 Traits To Look For When Hiring Your Social Media Community Manager http://t.co/zxmRcZR1 via @socmedsean
Flexibility-Attention-Cool-Empathy [FACE] traits to look for in a community manager http://t.co/HVosTcdl via @socmedsean
FACE: 4 Traits To Look For When Hiring Your Social Media Community Manager http://t.co/Mg6X0PK3 via @socmedsean
FACE: 4 Traits To Look For When Hiring Your Social Media Community Manager http://t.co/DUo7dbxX via @socmedsean
Yeah – I agree FACE is very memorable – not just specifically for a social media community manager – but for any manager !
FACE: 4 Traits To Look For When Hiring Your Social Media Community Manager http://t.co/Oi5RuZXJ via @socmedsean
I enjoyed this article!>> FACE: 4 Traits To Look For When Hiring Your Social Media Community Manager http://t.co/BVDKppwK via @socmedsean
FACE: 4 Traits To Look For When Hiring Your Social Media Community Manager http://t.co/NLWH2yzT via @SteveCassady
#eav (e)locris FACE: 4 Traits To Look For When Hiring Your Social Media Community Manager http://t.co/Rg8v1Kqu via @socmedsean
FACE: 4 Traits To Look For When Hiring Your Social Media Community Manager http://t.co/IaBwO5EM via @socmedsean
FACE: 4 Traits To Look For When Hiring Your Social Media Community Manager http://t.co/u1LZTKDY с помощью @socmedsean
FACE: 4 Traits To Look For When Hiring Your Social Media Community Manager http://t.co/NHR4e3yo via @socmedsean
FACE: 4 Traits To Look For When Hiring Your Social Media Community Manager http://t.co/WAK7mytF via @socmedsean
FACE: 4 Traits To Look For When Hiring Your Social Media Community Manager http://t.co/LnsA15R0 via @socmedsean
FACE: 4 Traits To Look For When Hiring Your Social Media Community Manager http://t.co/ySRPqOtV (/@socmedsean)
Traits To Look For When Hiring Your Social Media Community Manager http://t.co/iaK0Ev20
FACE: 4 Traits To Look For When Hiring Your Social Media Community Manager http://t.co/GIw1FkfL via @socmedsean
FACE: 4 Traits To Look For When Hiring Your Social Media Community Manager http://t.co/PHomZib0 via @socmedsean
FACE: 4 Traits To Look For When Hiring Your Social Media Community Manager http://t.co/2x9iauwr via @socmedsean
#eav (e)locris FACE: 4 Traits To Look For When Hiring Your Social Media Community Manager http://t.co/mOswHIB5 via @socmedsean
FACE: 4 Traits To Look For When Hiring Your Social Media Community Manager http://t.co/F5w8PjqM via @socmedsean
7 Qualities of a Good Social Media Community Manager http://t.co/xxkPbNPs
FACE: 4 Traits To Look For When Hiring Your Social Media Community Manager http://t.co/kStaqRac via @socmedsean
Lovely work keep it up !!
FACE: 4 Traits To Look For When Hiring Your Social Media Community Manager http://t.co/yXdMxs7K via @socmedsean
FACE: 4 Traits To Look For When Hiring Your Social Media Community Manager http://t.co/rNXpSBr4 via @socmedsean
Very useful and I think it is really what people should look for.
Quite helpful. Thanks for your insight.
I enjoyed this article and thought that your point about looking within the organization was well taken. Too many times entities get suckered into trying to find a social media manager guru from the outside who knows nothing about the business.
Not all organizations can afford to have both. Many non-profits are lucky to have 1 person doing all things with social media. I think this needs to be considered.
Definitely something to think about, Michelle! Budget, org size and appetite to engage are definitely considerations.
Cheers!
–Sean
FACE: 4 Traits To Look For When Hiring Your Social Media Community Manager http://t.co/u1LZTKDY с помощью @socmedsean
FACE – Nice anagram to remember the four traits my.
I really like the FACE structure and the points are all key.
Online community managers may serve a variety of roles depending on the nature and purpose of their online community, which may or may not be part of a profit motivated enterprise.
Here are few questions that you might want to ask your potential community manager. What is:
brand, social media, PR, loyalty program, business mission, customer relations…
I’d add Clarity, being able to clearly communicate with the public, with users. It goes along with paying attention to detail so that they can really listen and communicate.
Completely agree, David! Clarity is good addition!
Cheers!
–Sean