What do you do?
If you’re in PR, odds are you get asked that question a lot, and may struggle to explain your job to people unfamiliar with our industry. (I’ve been doing this for a while, and I think my parents are just starting to figure out how I spend my days.) Our career — and the specific value and tasks we offer — can be hard to describe. But, I think we’ve met our match. Community managers face similar confusion and misconceptions.
Let’s get one thing straight: Community managers do much more than just play on Facebook and Twitter all day. (Just as PR people do more than pitch media or plan parties.) Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, today is Community Manager Appreciation Day — a time set aside to recognize hard-working individuals who, despite wielding significant influence on the web, are often unrecognized because they spend most of their day behind a computer screen (or screens!).
Marketwire teamed up with TheCommunityManager.com to produce an ebook, “A Collection of Community Management Advice.” After sifting through more than 600 responses, the best-of-the-best answers to the following questions were included in this handy guide:
- How do social media managers and community managers differ?
- What role does community management play in marketing?
- What is the relationship between customer service and community?
- Describe the biggest lesson you’ve learned in your time community building.
- How do you envision the dream community/social team set up at a company?
- What advice would you give to a brand new community manager?
I’ve embedded the ebook below, or you can click here to see it on Slideshare.
Marketwire is a Geben Communication client; however, they did not ask me to write this post. I’m sharing it because the content is incredibly helpful for PR people and anyone involved in community management. Happy reading!
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