How can I become a better community manager?
I think there are two primary ways we can gain knowledge. It is either by doing something or by watching how someone else is doing something. If one really wants to master the craft they must do both! So in order to learn how to be a better community manager one needs to practice community management and to read books, articles, etc on how others build communities.
From the perspective of mastering, I think, usually, just doing the job is not enough and we need to work on some pet projects where we can practice things that we cannot do at work. Think of software developers. When they want to learn new or master existing skills, they go and contribute to an open source project or build some fancy apps for fun. CMs can do the same. It should not be something big. I think it is enough to run a group on WhatsApp, Telegram or Slack. Just think of any social group that you are part of offline and like, then create a chat for the group. Invite your friends to the chat and try to implement some cutting edge community techniques that you wanted to try but were not allowed.
In terms of self-education, I personally really like reading books rather than watching videos or listening to podcasts. So here is the list of my top books on community management.
- Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations, if you are interested in online communities from the product perspectives.
- Building Successful Online Communities: Evidence-Based Social Design, if you are interested in community design that is based on scholar research papers.
- The Art of Community: Building the New Age of Participation, this one will help you understand the social aspects of online communities.
- Practical Community Management: Lessons Learned While Working on Stack Overflow (my book), this one consists of useful applied tips & tricks on how to launch and grow an online community.
Have fun!