Is Community Management for You?
The digital era is creating new jobs that recruiters are having difficulty finding talent for. One such area of job growth is social media and the evolving role of a “community manager”. This role may be an ideal career succession for out-of-work copywriters or journalists because many already possess the key components of being a community manager: excellent writing skills, an understanding of marketing, and strong research experience. But, where most traditional copywriters fall short are having a solid understanding of on-line cultures and trends.
Considering a job as a community manager not only requires writing skills and social media know-how, but it also requires a passion for the brand you’ll be representing.
Can You Play The Role?
Recruiters approach community manager hiring as part job interview + part casting audition. Finding the right fit of person based on the brand persona can be just as important as writing skills and social media knowledge.
Here is a checklist a recruiter might use to consider you as a candidate:
__ Do you have a presence on social media sites like Facebook, LinkedIn,
Twitter, FlickR, or You Tube? Does the content on your profiles reflect that
you have a good understanding of etiquette in the social media space?
__ Do you have a blog? For how long?
__ Do you use a book-marking site? Which one?
__ Do you have writing samples – including headlines?
__ Do you have examples of generating story ideas and editorial strategy?
__ Do you subscribe to RSS feeds? Which ones? What are your favorite blogs?
__ Have you done community management for any other organizations? What was your approach?
__ What email service to you use? Does it reflect your brand? Are you using a cutesy email handle? Are you using an outdated email provider?
__ Is your personal brand a good fit for the brand you will be representing? Will you be able to relate to the demographic of the community served? Are you passionate about the cause?
What would you add to the list?
Check out tomorrow’s post for ways to help you build your expertise.
Traci Armstrong
@tannarmstrong
Comments
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Good post. Would add:
Do you have common sense? Do you know the difference between being real, transparent, authentic and airing dirty laundry or saying something stupid?
also a good idea would be technical capacity in code/understanding of the search engines and how people might be trying to use the community to abuse them.
Its a great new evolving role idea though!
We have recruited three community managers in recent weeks on behalf of clients and for a blog ad network.I agree with all and would reinforce “Passion” as a must-have prerequisite. Only this when coupled with technical ability will separate great community managers from the pack.