What is a community and who is a community manager?
By definition a community is a group of people who interact with one another in the same environment. To narrow it down to the internet use case, we can define an online community as a group of people connected by a shared goal, an interest or a purpose and communicating with each other.
Community manager is an enabler, who activates users and makes them work together efficiently. Community manager needs to master three very critical skills: relationship building, communication, and managing conflicts.
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Relationship building. In the essence, all community initiatives are requests to users to help with something. The better the relationships, the more time and resources the users will be willing to contribute.
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Communication. There are two primary communication skills that a community manager should have. The first is the ability to tell short and engaging stories that spur users’ actions. The second is the ability to get others to talk. The more frequently others talk to you, the more willing they will be to listen to you when you talk.
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Managing conflicts. The biggest danger to communities comes from the community itself. Community manager needs to work with difficult people and keep them productive and resolve conflict situations.