Community manager: who is he and what does he do?

Community manager is a new profession that has begun to develop on the territory of our country relatively recently. At the same time, it arouses genuine interest in many young people.

Who is a community manager and what does he do? What are the requirements for a specialist? What training is required and what are the career prospects? You will find answers to these, as well as some other questions in our material.

Community manager Is a specialist who manages communities of people (the term itself came to Russian from English)... Such specialists are involved in organizing communities of people on the Internet (most often in social networks).

Like any other profession, the profession of a community manager has its own characteristics and characteristics. Moreover, they are both positive and negative. In this regard, before applying for the position, you must familiarize yourself with all the pros and cons.

The advantages of work include the following characteristics:

• the opportunity to show your creativity (due to the fact that one of the functional features of the profession is content creation, the community manager has the opportunity to show their creativity and creativity within the framework of the workflow);
• convenient work schedule (very often, community managers work remotely, which saves time on the road, as well as combine work duties and household chores);
• lack of educational standards (if desired, the position of this specialist can be taken by almost anyone, since there are no strictly defined educational requirements);
• work in a developing area (professional activity of community managers is directly related to the use of new technologies).

Among the disadvantages are:

• irregular work schedule (first of all, this applies to community managers who work with online communities - force majeure can occur at any time of the day);
• high stress levels (due to the fact that these specialists work with different people, stressful situations cannot be avoided);
• great responsibility (due to the fact that a large number of tasks are assigned to the community manager, he has a high level of responsibility);
• low wages (a large monetary reward for your work can be obtained only if you have a lot of experience or you are a popular specialist with many positive reviews);
• complexity of tasks (The functions of a community manager consist of a large number of diverse tasks, so the employee needs to have a large amount of knowledge and skills).

The job responsibilities of a community manager largely depend on the specific place of work, as well as the employer. Usually, when applying for a position or during the initial interview, the employer will offer you to familiarize yourself with the job description, which will contain all the tasks that you will have to perform in the course of your professional activity. However, due to the fact that the specifics of the work of different companies have their own differences, such job descriptions may change, for which you need to be prepared. In addition, before applying for a position, you must be absolutely sure that you can handle all the responsibilities.

If we try to compile a standardized and universal list of job responsibilities of a community manager, we get something like this:

• creating a variety of materials for information platforms (such a task may include writing posts, layout, etc.);
• monitoring of network resources (very often, simultaneously with the functions of a community manager, a specialist working in a given position performs the tasks of a moderator);
• writing reviews;
• analytical work with a large amount of information (domestic and foreign sources);
• product promotion;
• content analysis;
• communication with users and clients;
• development and creation of projects;
• collecting reviews;
• discussion management;
• writing and publishing news;
• teamwork, etc.

Often, employers put forward rather stringent requirements in relation to community managers. The thing is that these specialists play a key role for many projects, and therefore they must have sufficient qualifications and competence.

As for the key professional skills and abilities, the community manager is obliged to fulfill his job description 100%. In addition, he must have additional skills, for example:

• understand algorithms and be able to work with a variety of social networks (VKontakte, Odnoklassniki, Facebook, etc.);
• be able to analyze the audience;
• identify the most popular content;
• work with statistical and analytical data;
• formulate editorial policy;
• build partnerships with other projects, etc.

Despite the fact that the professionalism and qualifications of a community manager plays a significant role, the individual qualities of this specialist are no less important. So, certain character traits will help the community manager to do their job well. It is believed that a specialist must have the following characteristics:

• sociability;
• politeness;
• friendliness;
• high intellectual level;
• stress tolerance;
• ability to make decisions and take responsibility for them;
• perseverance;
• creativity.

The combination of professional and personal qualities will allow the community manager to become a first-class specialist, widely in demand in the labor market.

To date, there are no specific requirements for the education of a community manager. The thing is that such specialists are not taught in universities or colleges. That is why most employers emphasize that the specialist has all the necessary skills and abilities. At the same time, some employers still insist on the availability of a higher education diploma from their subordinates, but do not specify a specific profile. An advantage will be the availability of a certificate of completion of the relevant specialized courses - today such trainings and master classes can be passed both online and offline.

As for the immediate career path of a community manager, it is worth noting the fact that the professional life of a specialist can develop in a variety of ways. So, for example, you can grow to a project manager if you are interested in vertical promotion. In addition, it is not uncommon for community managers to open their own creative agencies and content projects, hire employees and develop their own projects, or engage in consulting activities.

Today the profession of a community manager is considered to be quite widespread and in demand. That is why you can find similar vacancies on message boards. Also, check the websites of the companies you are interested in, as they can post job vacancies on their official platforms.

It should be borne in mind that the work of a community manager is most often remote. This means you don't have to come to the office every day to do your job. This fact attracts many job seekers.

As for the material remuneration for the work of a community manager, it can vary within fairly wide limits. The immediate amount of salary may depend on a variety of factors: your qualifications, the region of operation of the company, the scope of the company, etc. The minimum bet is 15,000 rubles.

Thus, you were able to make sure that the profession of community manager is fast growing and quite popular. However, before you graduate from courses in your specialty and look for appropriate vacancies, you need to carefully assess your strengths and understand whether you can cope with such a job.