What Is a Community Manager? And How Can You Become One?

For businesses with a strong social media presence, good community management can be the backbone of building loyalty among customers/fans. It’s a way of creating a personal connection that goes beyond posting relatable content on social media. Perhaps most importantly, it’s a way of making people feel heard and involved.

That said, there are more than a few misconceptions out there about what a community manager is and what they do. Today we’ll be helping to clear those up with a breakdown of what exactly the role is, what it looks like practise, and how you can become a community manager.

What Is a Community Manager?

As a role, community management largely started in the online gaming niche where games studios would need a way to communicate and interact with fans. At the same time, fans were looking for spaces to congregate and discuss their favourite games. Platforms like Discord and Reddit became natural bridges where both fan interaction and studio announcements could exist more or less side-by-side.

That’s not to say it was all smooth sailing however. If you know anything about online fandom and gaming culture it’s that toxicity can breed quickly and all too often wholesome interactions can give way to hateful ones.

In many respects, this is the problem community managers exist to solve. On the one hand they often moderate official forums, ensuring that fans can feel safe and comfortable being part of a fandom. At the same time they provide a level of accountability for studios, allowing a healthier back and forth between creators and fans.

With gaming in particular, a lack of communication between the people making the product and the people consuming it can easily breed resentment. If fans feel a legitimate grievance hasn’t been heard, it’s easy for a mob mentality to develop, even when most participants have the best intentions.

Of course, this situation isn’t unique to gaming which is why the practice of community managers has quickly spread to other niches – particularly software niches. At the end of the day, even a company acting in complete good faith can lose their reputation if they’re not taking the time to make people feel heard.

Community Management VS Marketing

Some people assume that community management is essentially a marketing role. This is understandable as both have a lot to do with protecting/fostering the company’s reputation and building excitement for a product.

Nonetheless, there is a big difference between the two. At its core, marketing is about exposure and conversion. You want new people to learn about you and you want to maximise the number who hand over their money. Community management isn’t about finding an audience but looking after one.

A community manager isn’t trying to bring new people in. They’re trying to make sure the people who are already here are happy.

Of course, in the long run, a health community is very beneficial to marketing. People who join a community and find they enjoy it tend to stick around. They tend to be more likely to get invested and they tend to recommend it to others.

But that growth is, ultimately, passive. If both marketing and community management are doing their jobs effectively then it should happen, but it’s not the primary aim.

How to Become a Community Manager

There are a few paths into community management depending on the industry you’re in and the career path you’ve followed.

If you’ve already got experience in social media and marketing, then the jump to community management will be a fairly light one. You can pretty much apply directly to roles and you’re likely to get interviews.

It’s also not uncommon for people to transition into community management from a different role within a company – especially for startups who are rapidly expanding. Even if your main skillset was more on the technical side of things, your understanding of the product and the company makes you a valuable asset while community management can be learned on the job.

Lastly, there are those who go directly into the role. It’s hard to become a community manager with no experience at all, but your experience doesn’t have to come from a job. Experience moderating discords, subreddits, and other online platforms is often more valuable than any job you might have worked.

It also helps to run a social media channel of your own – particularly one sharing video content. It doesn’t have to be big but it should be reasonably polished. Being comfortable and charismatic on camera is one of the most valuable skills a community manager can have.