Community Manager is a new job related to Web2.0: that's for sure. But, as we see on the many blogs and comments that talk about it, the outlines of this new function are still undefined, and that's a good thing for a young booming profession! It is defined by several skills that interact with each other and it is at the border of communication and marketing. The three dimensions of the Community Manager. "His/her role is to speak and above all to make people speak as much as possible about the brand”, we assigned three hats, which could well correspond to three different professions. Depending on the company, one and the same person holds one, two, or all three roles:
-The Content manager is the one who creates and develops the content of the site
-The Social Media Manager is the one who follows the digital identity of the brand on social networks by practicing influence communication to develop positive messages. This is the facet of the job that is closest to the concerns of a communication department and that requires an institutional profile.
-The Community Manager is the one who moderates and animates the discussions on a forum or a blog, internally, and it is he who follows the conversations that take place about his brand or his products on other blogs or sites, externally.
The added value of the Community Manager
Social Media Managers. Generally, their role is to develop complicity between a brand and/or a service and its consumers and their added value lies in their ability to:
Mobilize a community of interest around a brand or products
Seizing opportunities for conversation with vivacity, while speaking truthfully, generates positive buzz.
Use places for conversations by posting comments on blogs or creating a page on Facebook or groups on Myspace or LinkedIn.
Demonstrate multiple skills: curiosity, the spirit of synthesis, communication skills, operational sense
The Community Manager and Social Media Manager are at the heart of brand conversations. In this context of customers speaking out and the growing power of influence, Community Managers and Social Media Managers are becoming the key functions of companies that want to put consumers and customers back at the center of their development! I have a feeling that these two functions will be as necessary as a Product Manager.
