The Rising Demand for Web 2.0 Community Managers

Online community management is a growing web 2.0 career field and the rising demand couldn't have happened at a better time. Businesses large and small are hiring community managers left and right. A once niche career field is experiencing growth in a down economy.

A definition

An online community manager is someone who moderates online conversations and web 2.0 relationships while providing outreach for a brand. A community manager may work directly with a marketing team, in public relations, in customer service, or may be part of a stand alone department. Large enterprise level businesses may have a dedicated team of community and project managers working together.

A growing need

As more organizations are adopting social media, the need for community managers is rising. Once a task that might be dedicated to an already set position, many decision makers have come to the realization that smart community management requires hands on activity, a strategic plan, and tasks that can't just be delegated to a receptionist.

Are you qualified to be a community manager?


The best community managers are naturally social people, but also have a knack for technology. Not only are community managers most often responsible for communicating directly with the public, they also have to use a wide variety of tools. This makes the requirements for the position quite different than other positions. An ideal candidate  will be a jack of all trades to some extent. Skills in copywriting, html, and design are great to have. Strong communication skills and the ability to think on your feet are strongly recommended.

A day in the life

The responsibilities of a community manager very greatly with the size of the company, the industry, legal restrictions, and the adopted best practices of the brand. A non profit may operate with a different communication policy than that of a B2B tech startup or that of a government agency. Typically a community manager is expected to monitor online discussions around a brand and take part in web 2.0 conversations as needed. Content creation may fall into the hands of the community manager or be dealt with by a different department. Community managers employed by smaller businesses typically tend to have a wide variety of obligations such as overseeing Facebook and Twitter accounts, writing blog posts, creating videos, taking pictures, and playing webmaster as needed. Larger organizations may have a community manager dedicated solely to listening who uses tools such as Radian6 or Sysomos for tracking conversations.

Moving forward

It's an exciting time to be a community manager. The wild west days are among us and the career field is literally being paved right before our eyes. Best practices are still being established as new networks emerge and social media as a whole matures and gains acceptance.

Photo Credit: Flickr